Blue Devils Hand Men's Basketball WHAC Defeat

(Southfield, MI)-- The Cleary Cougar men's basketball team was in action Wednesday evening, as they took on the Lawrence Tech Blue Devils at the Ridler Fieldhouse in Southfield for a WHAC matchup.

Cleary started the game off strong, with Tyree Jones and Jaylen Cole-Williams teaming up to give the Cougars an early 8-3 lead.  A Chris Williams layup would give Cleary an early 10-5 advantage, and after LTU scored, a Bennie Crenshaw Jr. jumper kept the lead at five points.  Approaching the first media timeout, Jacob Mueller hit a jumper to make it an eight point game, and after a defensive stop, Chris Williams scored a layup to give the Cougars a ten point lead just over five minutes into the game.  LTU would quickly cut the lead to six, but a pair of Bennie Crenshaw Jr. jumpers kept the lead out of reach of the Blue Devils.  Halfway through the half, Cleary started to go cold from the floor, and LTU would make it a one point game with just over nine minutes in the half.  Bennie Crenshaw Jr. hit another mid-range jumper, but the Blue Devils answered witha three to tie the game.  The rest of the half featured back and forth action, with the momentum making a shift in favor of the Blue Devils.  After LTU went up three, AJ Hess hit a three to tie the game at 34-34.  With Cleary trailing by two and second remaining in the half, Jacob Mueller would hit a jumper to tie the game, and the two teams went into halftime with the score 38-38.

LTU started the second half on fire, and after hitting back to back threes, had built a six point deficit for the Cougars.  The Blue Devil lead grew to ten by the five minute mark of the half, and quickly got to fourteen points.  Cleary would cut into the deficit and get it back to single-digits, after Bennie Crenshaw Jr. hit a three, and Jacob Mueller converted an and-one.  LTU answered that Cougar run with a spurt of points, building a twenty point lead in just three minutes.  The Blue Devils would continue to knock down shots, preventing Cleary from making a run back into the game, as the Cougars fell 87-63.

Bennie Crenshaw Jr. had a game high 26 points, 4 rebounds, and 3 assists to lead the way.  Jaylen Cole-Williams added 10 points and 6 rebounds, while Chris Williams had 10 points and 3 rebounds.

The loss brings Cleary's record to 6-15, 5-10 in the WHAC.  The Cougars will look to bounce back on Saturday, February 8, when they take on the Concordia Cardinals in Ann Arbor.  The game is set to begin at 3:00 PM.