Facing a quick turnaround following a big win against Lehigh University, the AU men’s basketball team came up short against Holy Cross Feb. 11 in Worcester, Mass.
The Eagles (16-9, 7-3 PL) trailed during the entire second half of the game, eventually falling 59-52 to the Crusaders (11-13, 5-5 PL).
Devin Brown and Dave Dudzinski led the Crusaders in scoring with 14 and 10 points, respectively.
After Holy Cross scored the game’s first basket, AU went on a 13-3 run to take an eight-point advantage seven minutes into the game.
Charles Hinkle contributed six of the 13 points during the run, but struggled to find a rhythm offensively all afternoon. The senior led the Eagles with 14 points, but went just 4-18 from the field and 2-8 from 3-point range.
The Crusaders responded to AU’s early run and tied the game at 18-18 with 5:59 left in the first half following Malcolm Miller’s 3-pointer.
Tony Wroblicky’s basket 26 seconds later put the Eagles up 20-18, but that would be the last time AU held the lead for the entire game.
Holy Cross followed Wroblicky’s score with a 10-0 run to take a 28-20 lead into halftime. Over the final five minutes of the first half, AU committed one turnover and missed all eight of its shot attempts.
The Eagles shot 32 percent (19-59) from the field and went a dismal 6-24 in the first half. AU also had difficulty making it to the foul line, reaching the charity stripe six times.
Holy Cross opened up its lead to 15 midway through the second half when Jordan Stevens’ 3-pointer put the Crusaders up 46-31 with 9:54 left in the game.
But the Eagles rallied, outscoring Holy Cross 18-7 over the next 7:32 to cut the Crusaders’ lead to 53-49 with 2:22 to play.
That would be the closest the Eagles would get in the second half, though, as AU shot 1-6 with a turnover in the game’s final two minutes.
Hinkle was the only double-digit scorer for the Eagles. Troy Brewer added nine points on 3-8 shooting (3-7 from 3-point range), while Simon McCormack finished with eight.
Following his career-best performance against Lehigh Feb. 9, Wroblicky totaled just four points in 12 minutes of action. The sophomore center picked up his third foul less than a minute into the game’s second half.
Combined with Lehigh’s 89-69 victory over Colgate University, the Eagles are again tied for second place in the Patriot League with the Mountain Hawks.
AU will be back in action Feb. 15, when the Navy Midshipmen travel to Bender Arena. Navy is in last place in the Patriot League.
sports@theeagleonline.com
