Lakers Earn Historic Win On Road At Holy Cross

SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Sangolay Njie's layup with 31 seconds left lifted No. 13 Roosevelt to a historic 63-62 win over Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon in South Bend, Ind.

With the victory, the Lakers set a program record with their 10^th consecutive Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference victory and remained perfect in league play at 10-0. It also improved upon Roosevelt's best start in program history as the Lakers ran their record to 16-2 overall.

The Lakers excelled from the perimeter by shooting 13 of 27 from behind the arc for their best 3-point shooting percentage in nearly two months. Maurice Commander led Roosevelt with 18 points, all of which came off his 3-point shots as he finished 6 of 10 from long range.

Commander made 4 of 5 from deep in the first half to pace the Roosevelt offense and Julio Montes II added nine points in the first 20 minutes. It was more of a team effort in the second half with Forte Prater and David Swedura both shooting 2 of 3 from 3-point range to tie Commander for the team lead with six points in the second half.  

Holy Cross started out hot in the game and jumped out to a 10-point lead just five minutes into the contest. It took 10 minutes for Roosevelt to tie the game at 27 as part of a 7-0 run that gave the Lakers their first lead of the game. The back-and-forth affair was tied nine times and the lead changed hands 10 times as the game never exceeded two possessions the rest of the way.

The Lakers built a six-point lead with 6:17 left and the Saints knocked down a pair of free throws to take a lead with a minute left. After a Roosevelt timeout, the Lakers executed a near-perfect offensive set that allowed Njie to drive down the lane for an uncontested layup. Roosevelt's zone defense forced a tough shot at the other end and Swedura claimed the rebound to secure the victory.

Prater was the only other Lakers player to get into double figures with 11 points, but Njie scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds. Cody Mitchell was a force on the interior for Roosevelt with 15 rebounds, including six on the offensive end, to help the Lakers claim a 39-34 edge on the glass. The Lakers also scored 14 second-chance points on 14 offensive rebounds to help keep the Saints at bay.

Roosevelt returns home Wednesday evening for a 7:30 p.m. contest against Governors State at the Goodman Center.