Wiggins late free throw lifts Crimson Wave past Holy Cross

Notre Dame, IN – The Calumet College of St. Joseph men's basketball team managed to squeak by Holy Cross and pick up a 58-57 victory on Saturday afternoon at the McKenna Arena. CCSJ has now earned its second conference win as well as its seventh win of the season. 

How it Happened

In the opening minutes, leading CCSJ (7-4, 2-3 CCAC) scorer Colby Wiggins picked up two quick fouls, putting him on the bench for the remainder of the first half. With that being a hit to what the Wave can do offensively, others would have to step up.

Collectively, the Crimson Wave defense made a stance, holding Holy Cross (5-7, 2-3 CCAC) to 1-of-8 shooting to start the game.

During that span, graduate student Scott Gowan scored five straight points to give the Crimson Wave an early 11-6 lead. Moments later, CCSJ committed its seventh team foul of the first half at the 12:18 mark, giving the Saints opportunities to get to the free throw line. Holy Cross couldn't take advantage of CCSJ being in the penalty, as they only made four of its nine first half free throws.

With less than six minutes remaining in the first half, Hrvoje Majcunic made a euro step layup and followed that up with a 3-pointer out the corner to give CCSJ its largest lead of the half at nine. Holy Cross was able to answer back in the final two minutes and cut the lead down to five heading into halftime. 

In the second half, both teams went back and forth in the first 10 minutes before Holy Cross was able to tie the game at 42 after a pair of free throws. From that point, CCSJ went on an 11-0 run that featured 3-pointers from Majcunic, Wiggins and Josh Morris. 

Holy Cross would come back with an 11-0 run of their own to tie the game at 57 with two minutes remaining. After back-to-back turnovers, it would come down to the final possession and CCSJ had the ball. 

Zion Morgan set up the offense and swung the ball to Wiggins at the top of the key. In isolation, Wiggins shook his defender, stepped back for a 3-pointer and was fouled on his way down, resulting in three free throws with 1.7 seconds left on the clock.

Wiggins only made one of the three, but that was all that was needed as the Holy Cross Saints half court heave as time expired was no good and CCSJ squeaked by with the win.

As a team, the Crimson Wave were well under their scoring average only scoring 58 points on 23-of-59 (39 percent) shooting from the field. Despite being outrebounded 44 to 33, CCSJ's defense held strong forcing Holy Cross to shoot 20-of-54 (37 percent) from the field and 5-for-15 (33.3 percent) from behind the arc.

Crimson Wave Leaders 

Hrvoje Majcunic scored a season-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and four made 3-pointers. He also had nine rebounds and two steals. Colby Wiggins had 12 points, five rebounds and the game-winning go-ahead free throw. Zion Morgan had 10 points, seven rebounds and two steals while Josh Morris contributed with six points, six rebounds and two steals off the bench.

Up Next

CCSJ returns to action Sunday, December 22 as they take on Valparaiso University in the Athletics-Recreation Center at 1:00 p.m. CT.