Crusaders Withstand Late Rally, Top Bears In CIT

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Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Matt LaPan, GoLocal Worcester Sports Reporter

It wasn't the prettiest win of the season for the Holy Cross Crusaders (20-13), but they held on long enough to hold off the Brown University Bears (15-14) 68-65 in the opening round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament on Monday night. The Crusaders were led by Freshman guard Anthony Thompson's 15 points while Brown received a game-high 18 points along with 11 rebounds from Freshman forward Leland King.

With the win, the Crusaders advance to the second round of the CollegeInsider.com Postseason Tournament and will await their opponent with the remaining first round games yet to be played.

All five starters scored in double-figures in the victory, with the Holy Cross bench managing just nine total points in the win.

The game appeared to be well in hand for Holy Cross in the second half as they took a commanding 14-point lead, 47-33, on a Dave Dudzinski layup. Brown refused to go down without a fight for their home fans though.

The Bears battled back for the rest of the half, cutting the lead down to 64-60 with just 2:01 left in the game off of a Leland King jump shot. The Crusaders would not be denied though, after allowing the Bears to get back into the game, Dave Dudzinski grabbed an offensive rebound an got the put-back bucket to make sure the Crusaders would advance by making the lead 66-60.

The Bears did have a chance for the tie at the end of the game, following a Justin Burrell turnover, but Leland King's three-point attempt was blocked by Malachi Alexander to end the game.

The Crusaders' Malcolm Miller played a major role in the win, finishing with 10 points, seven rebounds and a game-high five assists. Miller's front-court companion Dave Dudzinski turned in 10 points and eight rebounds.