Josh Sankes had 26 points, 13 rebounds and five blocks to lead Holy Cross to a 76-68 win over Northeastern at Solomon Court.
The Crusaders improved to 5-2, while the Huskies dropped to 1-4. NU had no answer for the seven-foot Sankes, who had 19 points and nine boards in the second half. Junior guard Ryan Serravalle added 16 points for Holy Cross. Marcus Blossom led the Huskies with 16 points, all in the second half, while fellow senior Tyrone Hammick had 14 points on 7-10 field goal shooting.
NU trailed 61-45 with 8:01 left, but used a 19-5 run over the next 4:53 to get within two as freshman Cleophus Morris hit a three-pointer that made it 66-64 with 3:08 left. Blossom had eight points during the run. The Huskies never had a possession to tie or take the lead, however, as Serravalle made a pair of free throws and Sankes sank a layup for a 70-64 lead with just 2:05 showing. The Huskies got no closer than four the rest of the way. Holy Cross ended the game on a 10-4 run. NU shot just 36.7 percent (11-30) in the second half.
Holy Cross led just 36-34 at halftime, but after Jean Bain tied it at 36, the Crusaders went on an 11-2 run to open a 47-38 lead with 16:12 left. NU cut the lead to five, 47-42, by scoring the next two baskets, but Holy Cross came right back with a 14-3 spurt to go ahead by a comfortable 16 (their largest lead of the night) as Juan Pegues' layup made it a 61-45 advantage with 8:01 left.
The first half was back and forth with five lead changes and one tie. Holy Cross had the largest lead of the half when Brian Wilson's layup made it 36-31 with 30 seconds to go before intermission. Morris converted a three-point play to get NU within two at the half.
It was the second straight year that Sankes led Holy Cross over NU. He netted a career-high 30 points in Holy Cross's 82-71 win over the Huskies in Worcester last season.
The Crusaders did a nice job on Bain, who entered the game averaging 12.8 points, but finished with only three points, all from the line, as he missed all six of his field goal tries. Pegues finished with eight points and seven rebounds for the Crusaders, while teammate Tim Szatko had seven points and nine boards.
VISITORS: Holy Cross 5-2
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
13 Serravalle, Ryan * 2-7 2-2 10-12 0 5 5 2 16 3 2 0 0 28
32 Curry, Jared * 1-2 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 0 9
40 Sankes, Josh * 11-17 0-0 4-7 7 6 13 4 26 0 2 5 0 35
44 Pegues, Juan * 3-9 1-2 1-3 4 3 7 1 8 4 2 1 2 35
45 Whearty, Patrick * 1-2 0-0 1-4 2 1 3 4 3 0 1 0 1 19
03 Wilson, Brian 3-6 1-2 0-0 0 4 4 1 7 3 1 0 1 20
15 Meade, Jave 0-4 0-0 7-11 1 0 1 3 7 3 2 1 4 29
35 Szatko, Tim 2-10 1-3 2-4 4 5 9 5 7 1 3 0 0 25
TEAM ........................................ 2 0 2 1
TOTALS 23-57 5-10 25-41 20 24 44 21 76 14 14 7 8 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 12-31 38.7% 2ndH: 11-26 42.3% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 40.4% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 4-6 66.7% 2ndH: 1-4 25.0% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 50.0% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 8-10 80.0% 2ndH: 17-31 54.8% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 61.0% 8
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HOME TEAM: Northeastern 1-4
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
No. N A M E FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
05 Bain, Jean * 0-6 0-2 3-5 0 2 2 5 3 1 1 0 0 24
23 Francois, Jean * 2-9 0-0 4-4 2 6 8 3 8 3 1 1 2 32
30 Blossom, Marcus * 5-11 2-4 4-6 2 4 6 2 16 4 1 0 2 33
32 Barnes, Dwayne * 4-6 0-1 1-2 0 2 2 3 9 2 1 0 1 26
34 Hammick, Tyrone * 7-10 0-0 0-1 3 1 4 4 14 4 5 0 1 27
01 Amedee, Rubens 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0+
03 Morris, Cleophus 2-5 1-2 1-1 1 1 2 4 6 1 2 0 1 16
04 West, Tim 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 5
22 Cranford, Charles 4-6 0-0 0-1 0 2 2 3 8 1 1 0 0 19
40 Aygar, George 1-3 0-0 2-2 0 4 4 3 4 4 2 3 1 18
TEAM ........................................ 4 0 4
TOTALS 25-57 3-9 15-22 12 22 34 29 68 20 14 4 8 200
TOT-FG 1stH: 14-27 51.9% 2ndH: 11-30 36.7% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 43.9% Deadbl
3pt-FG 1stH: 0-2 00.0% 2ndH: 3-7 42.9% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 33.3% Rebs
FThrow 1stH: 6-9 66.7% 2ndH: 9-13 69.2% OT: 0-0 00.0% Game: 68.2% 3
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OFFICIALS: Bill Laubenstein, Jack Sweeney, John Hughes
TECHNICAL FOULS:
Holy Cross - none
Northeastern - none
ATTENDANCE: 660
SCORE BY PERIODS: 1st 2nd OT1 OT2 OT3 OT4 TOTAL
Holy Cross 36 40 76
Northeastern 34 34 68
PTS IN THE PAINT: Holy Cross - 34 Northeastern - 18
PTS OFF TURNOVERS: Holy Cross - 15 Northeastern - 20
2ND CHANCE POINTS: Holy Cross - 21 Northeastern - 08
FAST BREAK POINTS: Holy Cross - 09 Northeastern - 04
Tim Szatko (HC) fouls out at 2:40
Jean Bain (NU) fouls out at 0:15
