CHICAGO – The Roosevelt men's basketball team had the final possession with a one-point deficit against Holy Cross at the Goodman Center on Saturday, but the Lakers missed two close-range shots to suffer a tough 66-65 CCAC loss to the visiting Saints.
Korey Ryan led four RU players in double figures with 18 points on 4-of-6 shooting from downtown, while Joe Harks added 15, Jeremiah Jackson scored 12 to go with a game-high 13 rebounds for his fourth double-double of the season, and Tyree York tallied 12 for the Lakers (12-7, 6-3 CCAC).
Zoe Bauer led all scorers with 20 points off the bench for the Saints (8-11, 3-6 CCAC).
A tight game was led by Holy Cross for most of the way. Bauer gave the guests an early lift with 17 first-half points in a reserve role.
Holy Cross led by as many as nine early in the second, but the Lakers would respond with a 14-4 run that gave Roosevelt its first lead since the contest's early moments.
Ryan would do most of his damage during the second half's opening scenes, as the sophomore guard canned three three-point buckets in a span of three minutes to give the Lakers a pair of short-lived leads.
The Saints reclaimed the advantage and held a slim margin for most of the final stanza, eventually taking a five-point lead with three minutes remaining in regulation.
The Lakers chipped away at the foul line and got the deficit down to one with 48 seconds remaining. The Green and White held firm on the defensive end, forcing a miss by Drew Moore and getting the ball back with 19 seconds left.
The ball was fed to Jackson in the post, and the senior forward made a spin move in the paint to get a good luck at the rim for a shot that narrowly missed. As the final seconds ticked away, Kevin Priebe elevated high to corral the rebound and put up a quick shot that was also off, and Holy Cross' Adam Vizard took the rebound as the clock expired.
While the Lakers had their chance to win, it was a slew of possessions before that final opportunity that did the Green and White in on this day.
"We lost the game in the first half with our lackadaisical effort," said Roosevelt head coach Joe Griffin. "They had more energy. We had a chance to win on the last shot but that's not what lost the game. They outscrapped us and we were too casual.
"Their motion gave us problems all night," Griffin continued. "We had a hard time keeping up with their movement. They had two guys in Moore and Bauer that really stretched us out, and that enabled their other guys to drive on us because of their quickness advantage. We can see now how they beat Trinity Christian by 31 on Wednesday.
"It doesn't get any easier for us next week with two tough road games, so we'll see how we respond."
That tough two-game road stretch begins this Wednesday, Jan. 21 at Indiana South Bend.
