This Wednesday, the Holy Cross men’s basketball team fell to conference rival Trinity Christian (IL). The loss puts the Saints at 0-1 in Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference play and 4-3 overall on the season. The Saints will continue conference play this Saturday, where they look to return to winning ways against Calumet (IN).
The start of the first half consisted of back-and-forth scoring between the two teams, exchanging the lead multiple times. But deeper into the half, scoring from a pair of Trinity Christian seniors in Garrett Greene and Brandon Odorno helped the Trolls establish an 11-point lead heading into the halftime break. Saints junior forward Jayden Sanders kept his team in the game with eight first-half points, but it was the defense that let them down, allowing the Trolls to take a double-digit lead into the half.
Coming out of the locker room, the Saints quickly cut into Trinity Christian’s lead. Sanders continued his scoring, and buckets from freshman guard Donovan Waleskowski and junior guard Beau Barhams helped Holy Cross overcome their 11-point halftime deficit to take the lead halfway through the second 30. From then on, the scoring went back and forth between the two teams, with Sanders and Waleskowski carrying the scoring load for the Saints. With 2:35 left in the game, Trinity Christian guard Ognjen Petkovic knocked down a crucial three-pointer to give the Trolls a four-point lead. With 34 seconds left, after a pair of Sanders free throws brought the Saints within two points, a crucial offensive rebound from Greene, followed by good Trinity Christian free throw shooting, helped the Trolls take the victory.
Despite the loss, the second-half effort is certainly not something the Saints should be hanging their head on. This comeback effort showcased the team’s resilience and put the scoring abilities of Sanders and Waleskowski on full display. These two players have led the way for the Saints this season. Sanders, who finished the game with 24 points, continued his stellar start to 2025, where he is averaging north of 20 points per game. Sanders also shot the ball incredibly efficiently against the Trolls, going 10-for-13 from the field while adding eight rebounds. Waleskowski finished the game with 18 points, 14 of them coming in the second half. This outing added to Waleskowski’s impressive freshman campaign, where he is averaging 19.3 points per game and shooting 42% from beyond the arc.
Holy Cross will now turn its attention towards Calumet (IN) on Saturday, where it will play its second CCAC game of the season. The Crimson Wave have struggled so far this season, currently sitting at 0-5 on the season, and 0-2 in CCAC play. They dropped their first two conference games with a three-point loss to Indiana Northwest and a 31-point loss on the road to St. Xavier (IL).
The bulk of the Crimson Wave’s scoring has come from graduate student J. Caleb Slawinski, who is averaging 17.0 points per game this season. The rest of their team averages fewer than 10 points per game, reflecting the one-man Slawinski show on offense. The Crimson Wave is only averaging 67.4 points per game and is allowing well over 80 points per game, giving up 90 or more in three of their first five matchups.
It is also important to note that Calumet (IN) will be coming into this matchup on extremely short rest. The Crimson Wave will be playing less than 24 hours before their matchup with Holy Cross, playing in a game on Friday against East-West in Whiting, IN., that tips off at 7:30 p.m. Expect them to have some heavy legs come Saturday.
The CCAC matchup will tip off at 3 p.m. Saturday inside McKenna Arena.
