Grand Rapids, Mich. – The Saints men's basketball team returned home tonight (Jan. 11) to take on a tough (RV) Madonna Crusaders side. Aquinas led for a majority of the game, but a pair of free throws at the end of the game just snuck the Crusaders past the Saints at the end. Madonna managed to leave the Sturrus Center with a 69-68 win.

AQ falls to 7-10 with a 4-7 WHAC record. (RV) Madonna improves to 14-4 on the season with a 7-3 conference record.

The first half got off to a slow start with Madonna scoring the first points three minutes into the game. A jumped from Gabe Overway and a three-point bucket from Tommy Gregwer had the score tied at five with 15 minutes left to play in the first.

Following the first media timeout, the speed of the game picked up a bit. Menalito McGee scored a pair of jumpers to get the Saints out in front. A good defensive possession and a layup from Andrew Larson quickly gave AQ a 13-7 advantage. Nick Henry converted a layup of his own to make the lead eight, but a dunk from Madonna on the next possession would change the momentum. A 16-5 run from the visiting side gave the Crusaders a 23-20 lead with 6:53 left to play in the half and forced Aquinas to use its first timeout.

Donovan Brown-Boyd capitalized off the stoppage and immediately tied the game with a three-point-play. Brown-Boyd remained hot and scored the next five points for AQ to give them a 30-25 lead late in the first. Overway followed Brown-Boyd's run with a 6-0 run of his own as an 11-0 run from the Saints quickly gave the home side a 36-25 lead.

Madonna used a timeout in an attempt to stop the Saints' momentum and scored four points off of the timeout. However, Overway scored once again with two seconds left on the clock as the Saints entered halftime with a 38-29 advantage.

Overway finished a great first half with 12 points and five boards. Brown-Boyd also finished a strong first half with eight points and five rebounds.

Brown-Boyd remained hot to start the second half, scoring back-to-back threes to give Aquinas a 47-35 lead, its largest of the game. However, Madonna turned the tides and go on an 11-0 run over the next four minutes to tie the game at 49.

McGee came off the bench after a stoppage in play and immediately hit a three pointer to stop the Madonna run and give AQ the lead back. MU scored on the next possession, but McGee hit another three ball to extend the AQ advantage to two possessions.

Both teams traded buckets over the next four minutes with Madonna eventually tying the game again at 59 with 6:07 left to play. McGee, once again, hit a three to give AQ the lead back as both teams were trying to pull away.

Consecutive layups from the Crusaders gave the visiting side a one-point, 64-63, advantage. Overway picked up an offensive rebound on the next possession and put the layup away to immediately give the Saints the lead back. This back-and-forth continued down to the wire with Brown-Boyd scoring his fourth three-pointer of the game to tie the score at 67 with 1:22 left to play.

A wild series events proceeded to unfold after Brown-Boyd tied the game. The Saints clamped down the Crusaders with a great defensive possession. Devon Boyd picked up the defensive rebound and the Saints took a timeout to prepare for the next offensive possession with just 35 seconds left on the clock.

Coming out of the timeout, Overway drove the basket with 20 seconds left and was fouled, giving him two free throws. Overway converted the first free throw, but missed the second, leading to a one-point game with Madonna pushing the ball down the court. With just seven seconds left, Brown-Boyd picked up a huge steal and was fouled, giving him a one-and-one opportunity at the free throw line.

Unfortunately, Brown-Boyd missed the free throw and Madonna was able to get the board. Then, with just 1.1 seconds remaining on the clock, Madonna was awarded a shooting foul. With the pressure on, Madonna scored both free throws to take a 69-68 lead. The Saints heaved the ball down the court and connected with Overway, who shot a spinning fadeaway three-point attempt before the clock hit zero. However, the ball bounced off the backboard and away, giving Madonna the win on the road.

In total, the game was tied nine time with eight different lead changes throughout the game.

Overway led the team in both scoring (18) and rebounds (11), giving Overway his second double-double of the season. He shot an impressive 8-14 from the field while adding two assists and a block to the stat line.

Brown-Boyd ended another good game with 17 points, six rebounds, four assists, a steal, and two blocks. He shot 6-13 from the field and 4-7 from beyond the arc.

McGee posted 15 points himself and was second on the team with seven boards. He shot 6-9 from the field and 3-5 from three. He also led the team in assists with five and steals with two.
Overway, Brown-Boyd, and McGee combined to score 50 of AQ's 68 total points.

As a team, Aquinas outshot Madonna from the field (50-42.9) and the three-point line (42.9-29.4). The Saints also had more rebounds (35-33) and assists (20-17). Madonna held the advantage in steals (9-4) and turnovers (9-17). The Crusaders were also able to score more points in the paint (40-30), turnovers (22-6), second chances (12-10), fast breaks (10-2), and the bench (29-13).

The Saints are back in action this weekend (Jan. 14) to take on Siena Heights on the road. The game is set to kick off at 3:00 PM this Saturday.