Lakeland hasn't had much luck against Holy Cross recently, but that could start to change on Thursday. The Lakeland Chiefs will head out to challenge the Holy Cross Crusaders at 6:15 p.m.
Lakeland is headed into the match out to prove that what happened against Old Forge on Monday (when they were outscored in every quarter) was just a minor bump in the road. 2025 welcomed Lakeland with a 62-40 loss courtesy of Old Forge. While losing is never fun, the Chiefs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Pennsylvania basketball rankings (they are ranked 468th, while the Blue Devils are ranked 72nd).
Despite the defeat, Lakeland saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Chase Rosenkrans went 6 for 15 on his way to 12 points and five rebounds. The team also got some help courtesy of Dylan Kopa, who posted six points.
Meanwhile, Holy Cross had already won four in a row (a stretch where they outscored their opponents by an average of 18.3 points) and they went ahead and made it five on Monday. They strolled past the Spartans with points to spare, taking the game 78-62. The Crusaders pushed the score to 61-41 by the end of the third, a deficit the Spartans cut but never quite recovered from.
Holy Cross' win was their 13th straight at home dating back to last season, which pushed their record up to 9-2. Those victories came thanks to their offensive performance across that stretch, as they averaged 67.8 points per game. As for Lakeland, this is the second loss in a row for them and nudges their season record down to 4-7.
Lakeland beat Holy Cross 60-52 in their previous meeting back in February of 2024. The rematch might be a little tougher for Lakeland since the team won't have the home-court advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
