Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. - The Lafayette men's basketball team began to settle in during the second half, but it was too little, too late on Wednesday evening in Worcester, Mass. as the Leopards fell to Holy Cross by a 71-54 score.

The Leopards were off for the majority of the night, scoring just 13 points in the first half, their lowest output since putting up 11 at Boston U. on Jan. 9, 2016. The loss drops the Maroon and White to 6-10 overall and 2-3 in conference play, while Holy Cross improves to 9-9 on the year and 3-2 in Patriot League action.

The effort was definitely there for Lafayette in the second half as it trimmed what was once a 33-point advantage down to as little as 15 in the final minute, not giving up until the buzzer sounded. The Holy Cross defense was stifling, though, holding the Leopards to 18-of-51 shooting from the field (35.3%) and 6-of-27 from beyond the arc (22.2%) on the night.

Junior Matt Klinewski continued to be solid offensively, leading three double-figure scorers for the Leopards with 14 points to go along with seven rebounds. Freshman Hunter Janacek added 11 and four assists, while sophomore Paulius Zalys chipped in with 10 and seven boards. Freshman Lukas Jarrett made his first collegiate start, ripping down a season-high six rebounds to go along with six points.

On the other side, Karl Charles led all scorers with 20 points, hitting 9-of-10 from the free-throw line. Malachi Alexander added 19 and six rebounds, while Patrick Benzan scored 11. The Crusaders made 51.1 percent of their shots, dropping 24 of their 47 attempts from the field.

The game started slowly for the Leopards, who didn't get their first bucket until the 15:01 mark, as an Eric Stafford lay-up in transition made it 7-2. Those struggles continued through to the midway point in the half as an Alexander triple stretched the Holy Cross lead to eight at 12-4 with 11:49 left.

Nick Lindner's three cut the edge to five on the next possession, but all that did was spark a 12-0 run the other way as Holy Cross continued to expand its lead, up 24-7 at the 7:44 mark. The lead got to as many as 20 on a Matt Husek three at the 6:57 mark and that's where the lead would stay to the break as the Crusaders went in with a 33-13 lead.

It was all Holy Cross again to open the second half as a Charles three-point play on the low block opened up a 27-point lead at 47-20 with 16:34 on the clock. The lead grew to its largest point at the 13:30 mark with the score at 54-21, but five straight from the Leopards midway through the stanza chipped it to 25 at 56-31 with 10:39 to play.

The lead stayed there through the eight-minute timeout as Zalys free-throws put the score at 61-38 with 7:42 remaining. Those free-throws started a spurt of nine straight for the Leopards that cut the edge to 16 at 61-45, but time ran out on the potential comeback as the Crusaders hung on with a 71-54 final.

Lafayette returns home this weekend, hosting Navy at Kirby Sports Center on Saturday at 2 p.m.