Nick Hendra seemed to see every play in his head before it happened on his way to dropping a season-high nine assists in a close victory over rival Holy Cross.
It was Re-Phil Bender night and although the gym was half empty, the entire arena was rocking from the jump ball. Hendra used his vision to see plays ahead of time, as he dished out assists to at least four different teammates. Hendra has been dubbed a “shoot first” player, but his arsenal of passing was on display against a strong showing from the Crusaders in AU’s 64-60 win.
“I take what the defense gives me. If they play off me, I will shoot it,” Hendra said.
However, Holy Cross did not get the memo that Hendra has registered at least four assists in the Eagles’ past six games.
AU secured second place in the Patriot League with the victory. While Hendra played puppet master, Vlad Moldoveanu scorched the nets with 15 points in the second half.
Moldoveanu struggled for most of the first half, going 1-5 from the field in 13 minutes. He found his niche at the free throw line, where he finished the half completing 6-7 from the stripe. He finished the game with 23 points and snagged seven rebounds while going 13-15 from the free throw line.
“For us, it’s our biggest rival. We wanted to win this game,” he said. “Every game is a tournament game.”
Holy Cross stumbled out of the gate, shooting a dismal 0-5 in the first 5:03 of the game. The Eagles struggled to find the bottom of the net as well, going 2-7 from the field.
Coming out of a timeout with 14:57 remaining in the first half, the Crusaders moved star guard Devin Brown to the off guard position and he hit a fadeaway jumper to give Holy Cross their first points of the night.
Brown, averaging 15.3 points per game, would not do much damage during the game. He finished the contest just shy of his season average with 13 points on 5-13 shooting from the field.
After a scrappy first half, which AU finished leading 26-22, both teams cleaned up their offense and executed. Holy Cross opened the half 5-7 from the field but AU one-upped them by going 5-6 and holding the lead at 36-33 with 15:55 remaining. Moldoveanu took over scoring wise with a left-handed layup and pull up out of the post. He also added an assist to Lumpkins for an uncontested layup.
But Holy Cross was not going to sit and watch Moldoveanu for long. Andrew Keister drew three defenders but managed to score out of a post move to give the Crusaders their first lead of the game 39-38.
Moldoveanu, sensing the moment, drove the lane to draw a foul and a technical on Holy Cross’ bench. “I pride myself in that,” he said.
He made one of the two free throws to tie the game.
The Eagles connected on five of six free throws during the last 2:55 of the game. Hendra ended the game with eight points, nine assists and five rebounds.
The Eagles will face Navy in their next game Wednesday, Feb. 23 at Bender Arena.
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