Holy Cross Rolls Loyola 62-45, Advance To Round 2

Wednesday, March 04, 2015

GoLocalWorcester Sports Team

Holy Cross advances

The Holy Cross Crusaders defeated the Loyola Greyhounds 62-45 in the first round of the Patriot League tournament on Wednesday night at the Hart Center. With the win, Holy Cross advances to the second round where they will face top seeded Bucknell on Thursday, March 5. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.

See the five takeaways slideshow below

The Crusaders controlled the game from start to finish going p 15-4 early in the game and led 32-20 at the half.

Holy Cross opened the second half by scoring the first seven points of the second half to take a 19 point lead. Loyola never challenged Holy Cross in the second, allowing the Crusaders to cruise to the win and advance to the second round.

Malcolm Miller, Robert Husek, Robert Champion and Cullen Hamilton netted ten points each to lead the Crusaders to the win.

Loyola was led by Eric Laster who poured in a game high 14 points for the Greyhounds in the loss.

Holy Cross returns to action on Thursday, March 5 when they visit top seeded Bucknell in round two of the Patriot League Tournament.

For a further look at the Holy Cross win, see the five takeaways slideshow below.

Related Slideshow: Five Takeaways From Holy Cross’s 62-45 Win Over Loyola

The Holy Cross Crusaders defeated the Loyola Greyhounds 62-45 in the first round of the Patriot League tournament on Wednesday night at the Hart Center.

Here are five takeaways from the game.

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Justin Burrell

Justin Burrell quietly had a good game for Holy Cross, controlling the game and holding onto the ball.

Burell netted eight points on 3-of-4 shooting from the field, dished out five assists, grabbed two rebounds and also only turned the ball over two times.

Holy Cross now goes on the road from here on out and they will need Burrell to duplicate or better his performance in the next game against Bucknell.

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balanced scoring

Malcolm Miller was one of four players to reach double-figures for Holy Cross in the game.

Miller, Husek, Hamilton and Champion each netted ten points for the Crusaders in the win.

Malcolm Miller was 3-of-6 from the field and 3-of-4 from the free throw line while Husek was 5-of-6, Hamilton went 4-of-7 and Champion went 4-of-10 to balance out the Holy Cross attack.

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Robert Champion

Robert Champion continue to produce off the bench for Holy Cross against Loyola.

Champion netted ten points on 4-of-10 shooting from the field. Champion also grabbed five rebounds in 16 minutes of play.

Robert Champion has now been in double-figures in three of the last four games for Holy Cross

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Rebounding

Malachi Alexander led the Crusaders with eight rebounds and Holy Cross dominated Loyola on the glass in the game.

The Crusaders grabbed 41 rebounds, 34 defensive, while Loyola only grabbed 29 rebounds in the game.

Loyola did have 11 offensive rebounds, however, the Crusaders only allowed five second chance points from those rebounds.

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Execution

In the game preview article, head coach MIlan Brown told GoLocalWorcester that in order to win, Holy Cross had to get back in transition on defense and keep Loyola off of the offensive glass.

Looks like the game plan was pretty well executed. Loyola had 11 offensive rebounds but ony got five points off of that and the Greyhounds were dominated on the glass overall.

Loyola only had eight fast break points and shot 31% from the field and 13% from beyond the three-point arc.

Game plan pretty well executed by Holy Cross.