GOSHEN, Ind. — Austin Branagan led all scorers with 28 points and came up one rebound short of a double-double Tuesday night as the Goshen College men's basketball team closed out the pre-Christmas part of its schedule in a 74-60 loss to Holy Cross College in Ruth Gunden Gymnasium.

Tahj Curry scored 14 points and Phillip Hughes added 12 for the Maple Leafs, who got a team-high 10 rebounds from Kedrick Bibby. Branagan finished with 9 boards as well, but that pair accounted for more than two-thirds of GC's rebounding total.

Curry led all players with 8 assists and Bibby had 6 steals.

Holy Cross (2-1) got 19 points and a game-high 14 rebounds from Noel Mpie along with 13 points from Jordan Gaines and 11 from Storm Cook. Three other players finished with at least 8 points. Gaines had 4 steals and Caleb Pack posted 4 assists.

Neither team scored for nearly 3 minutes after the opening tip before Branagan dropped in the first 5 points for Goshen (3-11). Holy Cross closed within a point on a Ryan Black 3-pointer at the 12:36 mark, which made it 12-11, before a 6-0 Goshen run extended the lead to 20-14.

That margin lasted to 25-19 before the Saints' defense took hold, keeping the GC offense off the board for more than 5 minutes as the visitors pulled ahead by 6. Mpie scored with 6 seconds remaining to give Holy Cross a 35-30 halftime lead.

The Saints canned 10 of their first 11 shots after halftime, part of a run that saw them lead by as many as 17. Goshen improved its shooting from the first half to the second, going from 43 percent to 50 percent, but nearly every basket was followed by a reply on the other end before the Maple Leafs could score again.

Holy Cross finished with a 53 percent mark from the floor and a 43 percent clip from 3-point range.

Following the cancellation of their tournament this weekend in Michigan, the Maple Leafs are idle until Wednesday, Dec. 30, when they reconvene and travel south to Oakland City. Tip-off between Goshen and the Mighty Oaks is set for 4 p.m. EST.