slides: Holy Cross’ Come Back Falls Short, Lose 71-54 to Loyola

Thursday, January 28, 2016

Joe Calabro, GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

The Holy Cross Crusaders (8-12, 3-6 PL) fell 71-54 to (5-14, 4-4 PL) Loyola on Wednesday night at the Hart Center. The Crusaders have now lost 5 of their last 6 games.

See the Five Takeaways Slideshow Below

Holy Cross went down 18, 46-28, before making a furious rally to get back into it.

Holy Cross went on a 14-2 run and eventually cut the margin to 5 points, 54-49, with nine minutes left to play in the game.

However, they were not able to complete the come back as the Crusaders would go cold from the field, only scoring 5 points the rest of the way.

Loyola would end up cruising to the win after a brief scare.

The Leaders

Karl Charles led Holy Cross for the 5th time this season with 17 points.

Malachi Alexander followed up with 11 points in the game.

Next up

Holy Cross returns to action on Saturday, January 30 when they host Navy. Tip off is set for 1 p.m.

See the Five Takeaways Slideshow Below

Related Slideshow: 5 Takeaways From Holy Cross’ 71-54 Loss to Loyola

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Game Stats

Despite the lop sided score, the Crusaders were very much in the game, at least on the stat sheet.

Here are the game stats:

Points in the Paint: Loyola 42, Holy Cross 36

Points Off Turnovers: Holy Cross 18, Loyola 9

2nd Chance Points: Holy Cross 8, Loyola 4

Fast Break Points: Holy Cross 8, Loyola 2

Bench Points: Loyola 18, Holy Cross 10

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Malachi Alexander

Malachi Alexander was the only other player besides Charles in double figures for Holy Cross.

Alexander netted 11 points on 5 of 11 shooting from the field while also grabbing 4 rebounds, recording 3 steals and dishing out 2 assists.

Alexander is averaging 11 points per game for Holy Cross.

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Karl Charles

Karl Charles led Holy Cross with 17 points on 7 of 12 shooting from the field, while also grabbing 8 rebounds in the game.

This is the second time in four games and the fifth time this season that Charles has led Holy Cross in scoring.

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Critical Stretch

The Crusaders have dropped to 3-6 in the Patriot League and with this loss, drop the first game of a strech in which they play 4 of 5 at home.

The Crusaders now play 3 of their next 4 on home court and will need to capitalize on it to get back into the thick of things in the Patriot League.

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Battling Back

Holy Cross went down 18, 46-28, early in the second half and right there they could have stopped playing and moved on to the next game like a lot of teams often due at that point.

Instead, the Crusaders went on a 14-2 run and eventually cut the margin to 5 points, 54-49,with nine minutes left to play.

However, they were not able to complete the come back as the Crusaders would go cold from the field, only scoring 5 points the rest of the way.

Coach Carmody has to be happy with the fight though, just too little too late.