The Crusaders entered the Patriot League Tournament as a No. 9 seed, but won four consecutive road games to pick up the league crown and an automatic berth to the NCAA tournament, giving the program a 13th March Madness appearance.
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The top seeded Oregon Ducks rolled Holy Cross 91-52 in the first round of the NCAA Tournament on Friday night in Spokane, Washington.
The Ducks had been watching lower-seeded teams knock off favorites for two days before leading wire-to-wire against the Crusaders, who made the No. 16 seed 0-128 all-time in the NCAA Tournament. Holy Cross is the #16 seed in the West Region and will play the #1 ranked Oregon Ducks.
Tulsa guard Pat Birt missed a potential game-tying shot, and Wolverines guard Derrick Walton Jr. hit a pair of free throws to help seal the outcome.
“I think it’s fantastic”, coach Bill Carmody said. This is the way we figure we can win, you try to win the game, that’s the objective, and we tried a lot of different defenses this year, man-to-man, different kinds of zones, matchups, and this seems to be the most effective. “We had the game in our hands, and we just let it fall right through”, USC’s Julian Jacobs said. With this win OR advances to the second-round of the NCAA Tournament looking to face either St. Joseph’s OR Cincinnati on Sunday in Spokane.
“Obviously it’s in the back of your mind, and how great it would be not only for our school but all the small schools that get in and get a chance to play a team like Oregon”, Champion said.
Southern only shot 39% from the field and they were just 3-of-20 from 3-point territory. Backup center Tony Nunn played just two minutes after halftime as Banks brought forwards Chris Thomas and Rashad Andrews off the bench. Thanks to a first round win by 39 points against Holy Cross that talk is starting to cease.
This is why March is March in the NCAA Tournament.
Adrian Rodgers led Southern with 14 points, and Shawn Prudhomme had 10.
“There wasn’t much the overmatched Crusaders could do when 6’10” Boucher was also stepping out and hitting three-pointers on one end, then swatting a layup away on the other, preserving a 36-19 lead.
The Crusaders finish the season at 15-20 and have their five-game winning streak snapped. The Crusaders’ first-year coach last made it with Princeton in in 1998, when the Tigers advanced to the second round.
Four players are averaging at least 8.5 points per game for Holy Cross, they are: Malachi Alexander (11.8), Champion (11.7), Karl Charles (10.8) and Cullen Hamilton (8.5). MI has won their two previous NCAA Tournament matchups, in 1974 and 1976. Now, a big win over a 16 seed isn’t enough to verify how worthy the Ducks really are of that top seed, but if they can replicate that performance, they’re well on their way to a Final Four trip.
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Eight minutes later, the Jags found themselves with a four-point lead, their largest of the game but the Crusaders outscored the Jaguars 7-3 in the final 55 seconds, ending Southern’s tournament run.
