Friday Patriot League round-up
29 December, 2006In the one Patriot League win of the day, Holy Cross knocked off La Salle 68-48 in Philadelphia. Kyle Cruze, who started in place of the injured Pat Doherty, had a game-high 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, and Torey Thomas and Keith Simmons pitched in 14 points each. Cruze stepped up big to replace the injury losses of Doherty and Lawrence Dixon, playing 33 minutes. Colin Cunningham and Zach Paterick also increased their workload, scoring a combined 8 points in 23 minutes.
Elsewhere in Philly, Lafayette dropped a 96-73 game at Temple. The 96 points were Temple’s highest since 1988. Back-up guard Marcus Harley scored 23 points to lead the Leopards, while point guard Andrew Brown scored 7 points, shooting just 2-for-11 from the field. Jamaal Hilliard and Jesper Andersson missed the game due to injury; Paul Cummins replaced Hilliard in the starting line-up, but after this game it’s reasonable to think Harley may see starter’s minutes soon.
In a battle of D.C.-area teams, the Virginia Cavs crushed American 91-70. The Eagles went close to 11 scoreless minutes in the first half and trailed by 23 at the half before putting together a second-half output to keep the game close. Andre Ingram led American with 14 points, but shot 3-for-16 from the floor to score them. Amazingly, each team missed only one free throw all game (Virginia was 27-for-28 from the line, American 17-for-18).
Michigan beat the Army Black Knights 62-50 in a game that wasn’t as close as the score indicates. Michigan led by 13 at the end of the first half. Jarell Brown scored 22 points to lead Army; Matt Bell did not play. Army’s bench went a combined 0-for-9 for a combined 4 points.
Colgate concluded the West Coast portion of their schedule with a 53-39 loss at Santa Clara. Top scorer Jon Simon scored only 3 points in 23 minutes on the court. In fact, only Kendall Chones (11 points, 34 minutes) played more than 23 minutes, with 11 players playing at least 9 minutes.
