16 February, 2007
by Elliot Smilowitz
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1st |
2nd |
Final |
| Holy Cross (20-7, 11-1 Patriot) |
36 |
32 |
68 |
| Navy (13-13, 3-8 Patriot) |
18 |
22 |
40 |
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Tim Clifford had a career game, pouring in 33 points to lead Holy Cross to a 68-40 win at Navy. At one point in the first half, Clifford scored 13 consecutive points for the Crusaders.
The game was never really close, as Holy Cross ran out to a 9-0 edge. Before the Midshipmen could blink, they were down 28-6. From there, the Crusaders kept their lead around 20 points for most of the game, before pulling further ahead in the waning moments.
Clifford played a spectacular ballgame, shooting 12-of-19 from the floor, 1-of-1 from the arc and 8-of-8 from the line. He also had 4 blocks. Keith Simmons, the Patriot League’s leading scorer, added 10 points, the only other player in the game to reach double figures. Navy’s top scorers, Greg Sprink and Kaleo Kina, were held to 6 and 4 points respectively. Neither one hit a three-pointer. The Mids as a whole, generally a good shooting team went 6-of-20 from the arc.
The win maintains Holy Cross’ tie with Bucknell atop the league standings. The Crusaders control the tiebreak. The loss puts Navy in a tie with Army for sixth place, half a game behind Colgate for fifth and 1.5 games behind American for fourth. The remainder of Navy’s schedule includes home games against Navy and American and a road trip to Colgate.
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| Keys to the Game |
| Key sequence |
Holy Cross jumped to a 23-4 lead ten minutes into the game, with 17 of those points coming from Clifford. During that span, Navy was 1-for-12 from the floor and had 9 turnovers.
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| Key sign it was over |
After Navy showed inklings of a rally with 10:22 to go in the game, Holy Cross made a quick 5-0 run highlighted by a Kyle Cruze three-pointer to make the score 56-31.
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| Key performance |
Clifford scored 33 points on 12-of-19 shooting from the floor. He also grabbed 4 rebounds and blocked 4 shots.
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| Key statistic |
Navy shot 25.0 percent from the floor on the game.
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| Notes |
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Bryce Brigham was Navy’s leading scorer, coming off the bench with 7 points in 22 minutes. Brigham and fellow backup T.J. Topercer were the only Mids to hit more than 1 three-pointer.
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| – |
Holy Cross dominated the boards, outrebounding Navy 40-29.
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| – |
Navy had 24 turnovers and Holy Cross 21. However, Holy Cross scored 26 points off turnovers, Navy just 7.
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Holy Cross heads to Hofstra Saturday for the ESPNU BracketBuster. Meanwhile, the Mids host Army in the annual Star Game, which will be broadcast on some local CBS affiliates on the East Coast.
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