Mid Massachusetts News

CRUSADERS FALL TO LEHIGH

Freshman guard Will Batchelder totaled 17 points, three rebounds and two assists, but the Holy Cross men's basketball team was defeated by Lehigh 74-68 at the Hart Center at the Luth Athletic Complex. Crusaders fall to 7-15 overall and 4-5 in the Patriot League, while the Mountain Hawks improve to 12-8 on the year and 7-2 in the conference.

Holy Cross made 47.4 percent of its field goal attempts on the night, but only connected on 26.1 percent of its three-pointers and 42.1 percent of its foul shots. Lehigh was able to hit 49.2 percent of its shots from the floor and 38.5 percent of its attempts from three-point range.

The Mountain Hawks started the game hot, jumping out to an early 17-5 lead after the first 7:24 of action. Lehigh was later up 21-9, when the Crusaders used a 12-4 run to make it a four-point game (25-21). But the Mountain Hawks responded by scoring the next 10 points and went on to take a 47-35 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Holy Cross picked up its defensive pressure to start the second half, forcing Lehigh to miss its first nine shots while using a 10-2 spurt to make the score 49-45. The Crusaders eventually closed to within two (53-51 with 10 minutes left), before the Mountain Hawks scored the next seven points to go up by nine (60-51). Holy Cross refused to go away, and came back to trim the margin to three (69-66) following a three-pointer by junior guard Bo Montgomery with 1:22 left to play. But that was as close as the Crusaders would get, as Lehigh held on for the win.

Senior forward Gerrale Gates posted his 10th double-double of the season, finishing with 12 points and 13 rebounds. Junior guard Joe Octave added 12 points, while Montgomery had 10 points and five rebounds. Evan Taylor led the Mountain Hawks with 17 points.

Holy Cross returns to action on Saturday, Jan. 28, when it travels to Army West Point for a 1:00 p.m. game. 

Original source can be found here