CHICAGO – Jake Ludwig led four Lakers in double-digit scoring with a game-high-tying 19 points, and the Roosevelt men's basketball team clamped down on defense late to overcome a strong Madonna (Mich.) squad by a final of 70-60 in the finale of the 2017 Roosevelt New Year's Classic inside the Goodman Center on Saturday.
Ludwig dished out eight assists, with Adam Alexander scoring 17 points and pulling down 10 rebounds for the balanced Lakers (13-4), who also received 12 points off the bench from Kevin Day and 11 from Chandler Fuzak.
Alexander and Day were big from downtown with three 3-point field goals apiece.
Chris Dierker matched Ludwig with 19 points while Jonathan Swift added 18 for the Crusaders (10-6), who were held to just one point in the game's final four-plus minutes.
Roosevelt made seven of 14 shots from beyond the arc in the first half, with Ludwig handing out six assists in the opening period, to take a three-point lead into the break.
After both teams shot nearly 50 percent from the field during the game's first 20 minutes, the defense took over in the second half. Roosevelt shot just under 30 percent with an 8-for-27 showing post-intermission, and Madonna made one less field goal with an identical amount of attempts for a 26 percent display.
Roosevelt trailed by as many as six points in the second half, but the Lakers eventually tied the game and took the lead when Ludwig made two free throws with 2:23 on the clock.
Nursing that one-point lead with 90 seconds on the clock, Grant Gibson showed ice water in his veins and connected on a clutch trey to make it a two-possession game.
Dierker split a pair at the line to make it 63-60 with 1:17 left, but Ludwig scored a hoop with some harm for a three-point play on the other end to put the Lakers up six.
Ludwig made four more free throws while Madonna went scoreless as Roosevelt rebounded from a tough loss yesterday to Lake Forest (Ill.).
Head coach Joe Griffin had to sit out the game due to receiving two technical fouls in yesterday's loss. Assistant coach Roy Ramos took over the head coach duties on a one-game basis for Saturday's win.
"I couldn't be any prouder of the guys," Ramos said after the game. "The message to the team was to play for Coach Griffin. We always tell the guys to have each others' backs. I thought today they had Coach Griffin's back. Hopefully we can continue to fight every game the way we did today."
Griffin also had comments from his office after seeing the final box score.
"We really shut down [leading scorer Joshua] Reynolds and we finally rebounded a lot better," Griffin said. "Holding them to 37 percent shooting was great. They are really talented. It is great to see Adam with the double-double he put up tonight."
Another CCAC team rebounded from a New Year's Classic loss on Friday with a win on Saturday, as St. Francis (Ill.) defeated Lake Forest 84-55.
Roosevelt welcomes St. Francis back to the Goodman Center this Wednesday for a 5:30 p.m. conference game.
