Cedric Sims (above) scored 24 points off of the bench in Madonna's 77-67 win at Siena Heights.

ADRIAN, Mich. – Cedric Sims (Canton, Mich.) scored 24 points off the bench to lead four Crusaders in double figures as Madonna took home a 77-67 win at Siena Heights on Wednesday night. With the win MU is now 16-12 overall and 8-4 in WHAC play while SHU falls to 9-18 on the season, 3-8 in conference play.

The Saints led in the game just twice, with both of those coming early in the first half. After a 6-6 tie with 15:06 on the clock, the Crusaders went on a 10-2 run over the next six minutes to take an 18-8 lead. SHU cut the Madonna lead down to four at 22-18 with 5:41 left when Brian Champine converted a pair of free throws but the Crusaders then went on a nine to one run in a little less over two minutes to push its lead back to 13 with 3:30 left on a Sims triple off of a SHU miscue.

The Saints got the Crusader lead back to single digits but a three from D.J. Bridges (Canton, Mich.) got the lead back to 12 before a Saint free throw cut it to 11 heading into the intermission.

Coming out of halftime, the Saints cur the Crusader lead down to seven on another Champine jumper. MU got the lead back to double digits on a pair of Mike Rashad (Inkster, Mich.) scores to make it 44-32 with 16:20 left in the game.

Madonna pushed the lead out to 16 points on two occasions, the second coming with 10:35 left on a Bridges jumper from Jon Battle (Cleveland, Ohio) to make it 57-41. The Saints called a time out and then proceeded to cut the Madonna lead to just four at 63-59 with 6:35 left, going on an 18-six run over the preceding four minutes.

MU pushed the lead back to eight on a Battle layup but SHU again made it a four point game with 3:44 left before the Crusaders 8-4 run over the final 3:01 to seal away the 10 point win.

Battle scored 17 points to go along with Sims' 24 while Bridges recorded 14 markers and grabbed 14 rebounds. Rashad rounded out the double digit Crusaderswith 10 points to go along with seven rebounds. Champine led all players with 25 points.

The Crusaders close out the regular season at home starting this Saturday when they host Siena Heights in a 3pm matinee. William O'Sullivan will have all the action live on the Crusader Radio Network starting at 2:50pm.