Lourdes Wins School's First Men's Basketball Tournament Title

LIVONIA, Mich. - (Tournament Page) - Lourdes used a strong night of shooting from the floor to down Madonna 79-61 at the Alliance Catholic Credit Union Arena to win its first Wolverine-Hoosier Athletic Conference (WHAC) Men's Basketball Tournament championship. The Gray Wolves become just the third No 4 seed to accomplish the feat, joining Spring Arbor (1995) and UM-Dearborn (2018), after they eliminated top-seeed Indiana Tech in the semifinals.

Lourdes jumped to a 12-point halftime lead of 42-30 thanks to a 47% shooting performance, including 10-of-20 from behind the three-point line. Madonna had closed the gap to just six points on a three by Ryan Nunn, but Charles Swain hit back-to-back three-pointers with under 3:00 on the clock to increase the lead.

With Lourdes leading 48-35 early in the second half, Madonna mounted a comeback scoring five straight to draw to within eight at the 16-minute mark. The Gray Wolves responded with back-to-back dunks and a lay-in by McRay White to push the lead back to 18 with just under 11 minutes remaining. The Gray Wolves connected on 17 of 24 free throws to keep Madonna at bay the rest of the half.

Swain led all scorers, tying his career high with 21 points for the Gray Wolves. Nick Welch chipped in 17 and grabbed 13 rebounds for a double-double. Little Anderson (14) and Joey Holifield (10 ) also scored in double figures as Lourdes. imporved to 24-7.

Nunn led Madonna with 14 points while Noah Campbell, Mark Mettie, and Brendan Young all finished with 12. Madonna's season ends with a 21-12 record.

With the tournament title, Lourdes claims the league's second automatic berth to the NAIA Men's Basketball National Championship Opening Round and will find out their opponent on Thursday, March 3.

All-Time (Seed) Tournament Champions

1993-94 (1) Siena Heights
1994-95 (4) Spring Arbor
1995-96 Siena Heights
1996-97 (1) Siena Heights
1997-98 Siena Heights
1998-99 (1) Cornerstone
1999-2000 (2) Siena Heights
2000-01 (2) Cornerstone
2001-02 (2) Cornerstone
2002-03 (1) Siena Heights
2003-04 (2) Cornerstone
2004-05 (2) Indiana Tech
2005-06 (2) Cornerstone
2006-07 (2) Aquinas
2007-08 (2) Indiana Tech
2008-09 (1) Aquinas
2009-10 (1) Cornerstone
2010-11 (1) Cornerstone
2011-12 (1) Davenport
2012-13 (2) Madonna
2013-14 (1) Cornerstone
2014-15 (3) Cornerstone
2015-16 (1) Davenport
2016-17 (1) Cornerstone
2017-18 (4) UM-Dearborn
2018-19 (3) Indiana Tech
2019-20 (2) Madonna
2020-21 (2) Indiana Tech
2021-22 (4) Lourdes