Box Score EASTON, Pa.- The Lafayette men's basketball team overtook Holy Cross 62-48 inside Kirby Sports Center on Saturday afternoon, extending a Patriot League winning streak to three games. This marks the largest win streak since the Leopards recorded a five-game streak from Jan. 2-17, 2020.

The Leopards shot 38.2 percent from the field, led by TJ Berger with 19 points, shooting 6-for-13 from the floor. Senior captain Leo O'Boyle followed up with 15 points of his own, shooting 40 percent from the floor and beyond the arc as well as making all five attempts at the charity stripe.

The Maroon and White defended their home court and held the Crusaders to 48 points, 16.9 under their average of 64.9.

Three free throws from O'Boyle and a CJ Fulton 3-pointer opened the scoring for the Leopards to take their first advantage of 6-3 within the first two minutes of play.

Berger also put points on the board early, adding a 3-pointer and a driving layup as part of a 13-4 run until 15:25, 16-7.

Lafayette continued to hold that lead, overtaking the Crusaders by 13 at 7:49, 27-14, the largest of the game. Some back-and-forth play preceded a 12-2 Holy Cross run, where the Crusaders crawled within three, 29-26, down to 1:58.

Berger and Fulton both added 3's to secure a 35-26 advantage going into halftime.

Holy Cross outscored the Maroon and White 10-2 coming out of the break, 37-36 at the 16-minute mark. The Crusaders' top scorer, Gerrale Gates, made up over half of those points with two free throws and two layups.

Junior Kyle Jenkins ended the drought with a layup at 15:06, assisted by Justin Vander Baan, to tie the contest 39-39.

The Crusaders overtook the Leopards 43-39 at 11:42, the first lead of the game, but O'Boyle responded with another shot from beyond the arc at 8:14, 48-46.

Freshman Ryan Pettit added five points in a 13-0 Leopard run with less than five minutes left to play, as Lafayette 58-46. Pettit also drew two charges in that span to force Holy Cross turnovers.

A free throw battle broke out at the two-minute mark, with Lafayette netting four and Holy Cross tallying two. That would be all the Leopards needed to secure the victory, 62-48.

Gates led the Crusaders with 12 points, shooting 5-for-12 from the field as well as grabbing rebounds. Holy Cross shot at 32.7 percent from the floor and was held under 26.5 percent from beyond the arc overall.

The Leopards travel to American next Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tip-off.


For the latest on the Lafayette College men's basketball program, follow the Leopards on Twitter @LafayetteMBB and Instagram @lafayettembb.