Well, this is an issue of do you want him to sleep in the crate as her usual sleeping place, or are you okay with him sleeping in bed or another place? If you really want to keep her crate as a sleeping place, then I really think you need to go back to putting her in there tonight and (and I know this is SO HARD!!) just letting him cry it out and go to sleep. He will go to sleep, it might just take a while.
I have been there done this with Brooklyn, I know that cry...it gets in your heart!! It is so hard. I remember one night when Brooklyn was about 4 months old, she suddenly had one of these cry bouts in her crate when we put her to bed (which was unusual just like you she had not done this before), but we knew we could not reward her so we stuck with it. For 45 minutes she cried..ohhhh, it hurt me so much! I cried too, to my husband, but he was strong and just knew we had to stick with it. The next night it happened again, but for less time. And the next night, but for less time. and then it just stopped. Now she takes herself to bed! Ha. The other night we were up late and we looked around and went "where is Brooklyn?", well, she has taken herself to her crate to sleep
It really is personal though, some people don't mind their pups sleeping elsewhere which is fine, but for me and my husband we prefer her to have her crate. Up to you though. I know it is really hard to stick with those times when they cry like that out of no where...but remember that sometimes they just would rather be with you than alone (alone is what we have to teach them...us is what they want)...if you are really more clingy to him that day or more cuddly to him than normal, this might be why he is over-crying because he is still so young and learning how to be on his own. So I would try to not over coddle him (not sure if you are doing this at all, so ignore me if not!) until he learns to settle better on his own in the crate. When we looked back at the night Brooklyn did this at 4 months, we had actually spent the whole day and evening being WAY too attention giving and coddling, and by the time she went to sleep she was like "what the heck, I don't want to be alone!". Now, I have a nice mix of cuddle and Brooklyn having her own time. She can sleep on my lap some times, but she also needs to be in her bed on her own and be able to settle on her own without me or with me sitting near.
Remember...he is still SO young!! Brooklyn is 11 months, and still has her off days/nights. They are just learning so much right now and I would expect that he will do this a few more times in the next year
He is just learning if he is supposed to be with you, or alone...but as he grows he will learn that he can have both and be calm and happy.
It is important not to "over nurture" at this stage if you do want him sleeping on his own...because obviously, sleeping with you is a much better deal! So if he wants that or thinks he can get that, he will try. He is only learning. But, if you want him to be in his crate, he will learn that too and be just fine with it once he realized this is his space at night time and he just cannot come with you.
Oh, and do you give him a treat when he goes in his crate at night? This works great for us, Brooklyn will run in there after her last potty knowing that a treat is coming and it is a special fish jerky that she only gets in her crate at night. This soothes her and she settles down. We also cover her crate, that makes them feel a lot safer so definitely do that if you have not already. You could also put a kong in with her with some frozen stuff, peanut butter, anything to settle her to sleep. Or a bully stick or something. He should have something to munch on or chew to settle him in (a safe chew, like a kong or a jerky or something).
Hope that helps!!