Racers Lose Thriller to Madonna 95-90

LIMA, OH - The WHAC's top two offense were on display Wednesday night in The Garage as Madonna avenged an early season loss to UNOH in an offensive showdown, 95-90.

Momentum swung violently back-and-forth the entire game as neither team was willing to give up the fight. The Crusaders took it early jumping out to a 12-4 lead before the Racers pulled back within two at 15-13 just two minutes later. Madonna pushed the lead back up to nine over the next couple minutes and held that cushion until another 9-2 run brought the game back to just two points at the 6:09 mark. The teams battle through the rest of the half but it the Crusaders managing to score five of the final seven points to carry a 40-34 lead into the break.

The same trends continued into the second half with Madonna pulling out to a ten-point lead but again answered by the Racers, this time with a massive 14-2 run that gave them their first lead of the game, 54-52 with 13:43 to play. Over the next seven minutes, the game produced four lead changes and three ties landing at 69-69 with 7:37 left in the game. UNOH hit another big offensive stretch in the blink of an eye outscoring the Crusaders 14-4 over the next 2:33 to take their largest lead of the game, 83-73. Madonna finally hit their stride at the right time and produced their largest run of the game, 15-2, to take back the lead with just over a minute to play. That final moment swing was enough to finish the job as the Crusaders iced the game going 5-5 at the free throw line in the final minute.

Ryan Archey matched the game high with 25 points hitting 9-20 from the field adding five rebounds, one assist, one steal and one block. Antonio King scored 17 doing most of his work from the charity stripe while grabbing five rebounds and dishing out two assists. Alex Benson and Caleb Chapman both hit double-figures off the bench with 16 and 13, respectively. Benson finished with three rebounds, three assists and a steal while Chapman stuffed all the stat columns logging six boards, two steals, two blocks and an assist. 

Madonna outshot UNOH 48% to 43% and 39% to 30% from long range but the Racers had the advantage in the paint winning the rebound battle 39-36 and points in the paint 44-36.

UNOH will try to get back on track with a trip to UM-Dearborn on Saturday, February 8.