Saints Come Up Short at Saint Xavier

The Holy Cross men's basketball team fell 95-81 on the road to Saint Xavier Wednesday night at the Shannon Center, moving to 9-14 overall and 4-11 in conference play.

The Saints came out strong and built a 6-point lead midway through the first half, but the Cougars answered with an efficient offensive stretch to take a 43-38 advantage into halftime. Saint Xavier continued its hot shooting in the second half, finishing the night at over 51 percent from the field while hitting 14 three-pointers to create separation late.

Donovan Mukes paced Holy Cross with 21 points on an impressive 7-for-11 shooting performance while adding 3 rebounds and 3 steals. Donovan Waleskowski followed with 18 points, knocking down 4 shots from beyond the arc, and Jayden Sanders contributed 16 points, 5 rebounds, and 2 steals. Karl Birgisson controlled the boards with a team-high 8 rebounds and 5 points.

As a team, the Saints shot 49.1 percent from the floor and an efficient 52.9 percent from three-point range, but Saint Xavier's 33 bench points and 38 points in the paint proved to be the difference. Despite the setback, Holy Cross showed fight throughout before the Cougars stretched their lead to as many as 19 in the second half.

The Saints return to action on Saturday, February 7, traveling to face Olivet Nazarene. Tipoff is set for 4PM.