Keith Hearns scored 10 points and had four steals in 30 minutes at Rochester on Wednesday night.

ROCHESTER HILLS, Mich. -- The Madonna University men’s basketball team closed out the non-conference slate with a 68-62 loss to Rochester College on Wednesday night inside Rochester Adams HS. Madonna is now 12-9, while Rochester improved to 11-9.

The Warriors came out gunning early on, canning 10 triples in the opening half with six of those coming out of the right hand of Odai Baylor. RC raced out to an early 10 point lead on a three by Baylor, forcing MU boss Chuck Henry to call a time out with 14:14 left in the opening half.

The Warriors did not let up coming out of the time out as Colt Walker knocked down another triple to extend the lead to 13 and Baylor followed that up with a lay-up to make it a 15 point cushion. The Crusaders cut the lead down to eight with 8:52 left on a Bryant Slaughter (Westland, Mich.) lay-up but could get no closer as Rochester extended the lead back out to 15 heading into halftime.

Madonna came out to open the second half and cut the lead down to eight on a D.J. Bridges (Canton, Mich.) bucket with 16:35 to go. Rochester then built the lead back out to as many as 15 with 9:22 left on another triple from Baylor.

Then, much like Saturday against Siena Heights, the Crusaders mounted the come back trail, cutting the lead back down to single digits when Jon Battle (Cleveland, Ohio) sank two free throws with 5:26 to go in the game.  The lead then crept back up to 12, but a Charlie Henry (Canton, Mich.) jumper combined with a Keith Hearns (Livonia, Mich) three-ball made it a seven point game.

Battle then made it a 66-62 affair with 2:30 to go when he made the bucket, was fouled and made the old fashioned three-point play to cut the deficit to just four.

The two sides then traded turnovers and Rochester gave Madonna a chance by missing the front end of three one-and-one chances at the free throw line but MU’s shooting had gone cold as the Crusaders missed their final seven shots over the last 1:56 and Rochester but it our of reach for good with two charity tosses with 12 ticks left on the clock for a 68-62 final.

Bridges led three Crusaders in double figures with 20 points and grabbed eight rebounds. Battle posted 15 and seven while Hearns scored 10. Baylor led all scorers with 26 points – shooting 7-for-11 from beyond the arc – for Rochester.

The Crusaders resume league play with a key WHAC showdown at Concordia on Wednesday night in Ann Arbor. Tip-off at the CUAA Fieldhouse is set for 7:30pm.

Contact: Patrick Moore (734) 432-5834