Despite a game-high 19 points from senior point guard Derrick Mercer, the AU men's basketball team was unable to complete their comeback against the College of the Holy Cross Crusaders Saturday afternoon, losing on the road 71-62. The loss is the first for the Eagles in Patriot League play and dropped their overall record to 11-7 on the season.
AU fell behind right off the opening tip-off and was never able to respond. The Crusaders took an early 14-5 run in the opening four minutes of the game before senior forward Brian Gilmore hit a three-pointer to end the Holy Cross run and cut the lead down to 14-8.
Mercer scored nine consecutive points for the Eagles to cut the deficit down to five at 28-23 with four minutes remaining in the first half, but this was as close as the Eagles would get during the opening period.
Holy Cross' Colin Cunningham hit two free throws with only five seconds remaining until the buzzer, capping off an 8-1 Crusader run and sending AU into the locker room down 36-24.
The second half spelled more trouble for the Eagles.
Holy Cross opened the final 20 minutes of play on a 9-2 run to extend their lead to 19 points at 45-26, their largest of the game.
AU began the long comeback trail by responding with a huge 22-5 run to shave the gap down to only two points at 50-48 with 7:29 remaining. Gilmore was key to this AU scoring run, scoring 12 points in eight minutes while sophomore guard Nick Hendra started the run with a three-pointer of his own.
This would be as close as the Eagles would get all game however, as Holy Cross quickly rebounded to push the lead back up to seven at 58-51 before holding on for the 71-62 victory.
The Eagles look to get back on the winning side when they travel to Annapolis, Md., to take on the U.S. Naval Academy Midshipmen at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
You can reach this staff writer at jhall@theeagleonline.com.
