Holy Cross coach John Laneve kept telling his players the game was getting away from them. The Gaels, perhaps overconfident since Timberlake Christian entered winless in the Virginia Independent Conference, fell behind 57-47 in the third quarter before finally getting their act together.

Holy Cross, led by guard Lucas Lesniak, came up with several key steals and went on a 28-10 run to hold off the Tornadoes, 82-76. The win left the Gaels 11-5 overall and 8-2 in the VIC, while Timberlake fell to 8-7, 0-6.

Timberlake shot 50 percent from the floor and led throughout most of the first half, going up 42-39 at intermission behind Mike Kelley, who had 14 of his game-high 24 points in the first two quarters. The Tornadoes built the lead to 53-44 on an 11-1 run before Holy Cross's Brian Lightner (18 points) hit back-to-back long balls to keep the Gaels within reach, and Preston Snell (23 points) took over from there.

Travis Stickle added 15 points and Marty Chandler 17 for Timberlake, whose fourth-quarter rally got within four points, 80-76, on a Chandler 3-pointer with 18 seconds left, before Holy Cross closed it out at the line.