January 21, 2015

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Lafayette men's basketball team suffered its second straight heartbreaking loss on Wednesday evening, this time at the hands of Holy Cross. An open look from senior captain Seth Hinrichs at the final buzzer went long to give the Crusaders a 74-73 victory.

With less than a minute to play, Holy Cross' Mitchell Hahn took the ball to the rack in transition, finishing through a Dan Trist foul to put the Crusaders in front, 72-71. On the ensuing possession, sophomore Nick Lindner drew a blocking call and hit both ends of a one-and-one to take the lead back at 73-72 with 22.1 seconds remaining.

The Crusaders' Justin Burrell, working a switch on Hinrichs, drove to his right and finished falling away with 6.5 seconds on the clock to put the home team in front, 74-73. Lindner grabbed the inbounds pass and went coast-to-coast, only to have it knocked out of his hand and out of bounds with 2.6 seconds left. Off the baseline, senior Joey Ptasinski found junior Zach Rufer in the left corner, who took one dribble and found Hinrichs for a wide open look from the left wing. Unfortunately, his shot was long and right, sealing the game with a final score of 74-73.

With the defeat, the Leopards fall to 3-4 in Patriot League play and 11-7 on the season, while Holy Cross moves to 7-10 overall and picks up its second league win of the year at 2-5. The Crusaders' victory also breaks a five-game winning streak for the Leopards at Hart Center, who before Wednesday night, had not lost on the road at Holy Cross since Feb. 15, 2012.

Trist led the way for the Leopards offensively with 18 points, while Hinrichs recorded his first double-double of the year with 14 points and 10 rebounds, also adding seven assists and five blocks to round out his stat line. A three from Ptasinski in the first half helped him to reach the 1,000-point plateau as the 41^st player in Lafayette history to do so. In reaching that mark, Ptasinski, Trist and Hinrichs also become the first trio of 1,000-point scorers on the same team in Lafayette history.

Sophomores Monty Boykins and Nick Lindner chipped in with 12 points apiece for the Leopards, who shot 27-for-53 from the field (50.9%) and 12-of-19 from three-point range (63.2%). Holy Cross won the rebounding battle, 29-28, and scored almost half of their points from inside the paint, leading in that category, 36-16. Malachi Alexander tallied 17 points to lead the Crusaders attack, while Malcolm Miller helped out with 13.

Lafayette connected from all over the floor in the early minutes, hitting its first five shots to take a four-point lead into the opening media timeout. Holy Cross didn't find much resistance on its offensive end either, however, as a lay-in from Taylor Apt at the 12:20 mark gave the Crusaders their first lead of the contest at 20-18.

Lafayette moved back in front on a Ben Freeland finish at the rim a minute later and a triple from junior Bryce Scott at the eight-minute mark put Lafayette in front 26-25 entering the latter stages of the opening half. However, a 7-0 Crusader run forced a Lafayette timeout at the 6:02 mark with Holy Cross on top, 32-28.

Five straight right back from the Maroon and White took the lead at 33-32, but Miller's dunk over Trist with less than five minutes remaining put the Crusaders ahead, 34-33. Ptasinski's 1,000^th point, a triple from the right wing at 4:02 in the half, knotted the game at 36, but the Leopards went into the halftime break trailing, 45-42.

The second began similarly to the first as both teams found success on the offensive end. A triple from Boykins with 17 minutes to play put Lafayette back in front, 51-50, but a response on the other end switched the lead in Holy Cross' favor at 53-51.

The Crusaders held that edge until the 11:50 mark when a Scott three from the corner in transition put the Maroon and White ahead, 59-57. However, an Alexander jumper from the foul line with nine minutes left helped the home team take the lead again, this time at 63-61.

The lead jumped back-and-forth between the two sides midway through the second half before a triple from Lindner with eight minutes left gave Lafayette a two-possession lead at 67-63. Trist's jumper at the five-minute mark made the edge six at 71-65, but a lay-up from Green with 1:30 left pulled the Crusaders within a bucket at 71-69, before the final 1:30 played out in favor of Holy Cross with a 74-73 final.

The Leopards return to the friendly confines of Kirby Sports Center on Saturday for the 220^th matchup of Lafayette-Lehigh at 2 p.m.