SOUTHFIELD--Senior Brandon Beavers scored 23 points and junior Aaron Dolny added 20, but it wasn't enough as the Lawrence Tech men's basketball team lost a hard-fought 82-81 decision to Madonna University in a Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference nail-biter on Wednesday night at the Don Ridler Field House. Lawrence Tech falls to 8-7 on the season, including a 5-5 WHAC mark, while the visiting Crusaders (12-3 overall) stay atop the conference standings at 8-1.

Lawrence Tech Highlights

• Senior Nathaniel Ward scored 12 and had a team-best eight rebounds to go along with a game-high three steals. He also had four assists.
• Beavers also dished a game-best five assists, grabbed seven rebounds and had two steals.
• Junior Cameron McEvans joined Ward with 12 points.

Madonna Highlights

• Brendan Young poured in a game-high 33 points on 13-for-17 from the field, including 7-of-9 from three-point range.
• Matthew MacLellan added a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds to go along with two blocked shots.
• Isaac Anderson chipped in 12 points and had a game-high five assists.

How it Happened 

• Madonna made 50.9 percent of its field goal attempts (28-55) while LTU was at a 41.2 clip (28-68).
• Despite the low shooting percentage, the Blue Devils were able to stay in the game by converting 16 Crusaders turnovers into 21 points.
• For its part, LTU committed only seven miscues.
• Two of the WHAC's most prolific three-point shooting teams combined for 26 makes (MU-14) and 63 attempts (LTU-33) beyond the arc.
• Madonna led 39-32 at halftime and built its largest lead of 13 points at 66-53 after three consecutive treys with 9 minutes and 29 seconds remaining before LTU went on a 17-4 run over a 4:15 span to get within 72-70 on a Dolny 3ball.
• Madonna stretch the advantage to 80-73 at the 2:10 mark.
• But LTU fought back on a Dolny corner 3 and two free throws from reigning WHAC Player of the Week Alejandro Gonzalez to make the deficit 80-78 with 54 seconds left.
• On the ensuing possession, Madonna increased the lead to 82-78 as Young made a layup with 27 seconds showing on the clock.
• Then 10 seconds later, McEvans' corner 3 made it 82-81.
• Needing another possession, LTU fouled Young to send him to the free throw line for a one-and-one opportunity with 10 seconds left but he missed the front end.
• Gonzalez grabbed the defensive rebound and gave it to Beavers to bring the ball to the frontcourt for the Blue Devils' final possession. Gonzalez fed Ward who filled the key from the weak side, but his floater bounced off the rim as time expired.
• Dolny scored the first bucket of the game and that was the only time LTU had a lead.

Beyond the Boxscore

• Madonna is receiving votes in the last NAIA Top-25 poll.
• The Crusaders lead the Blue Devils in the all-time series 19-5.
• The one-point margin was the closest ever between the teams.
• LTU is 2-2 this season versus teams receiving points in the national rankings.
• Through 15 games, more than half of LTU field goal attempts (976) have come from behind the three-point line (516).
• The Blue Devils lead the WHAC with 180 treys and rank second in the nation with 12.0 three-point field goals made per game.

Up Next

• The Blue Devils will travel to Adrian on Saturday when they will play WHAC opponent Siena Heights at 3 p.m.