Looking for a huge upset, Lafayette came out firing from the outside, taking an 11-10 lead on an Andrew Brown three-pointer at the 15:21 mark. Unfortuantely for the Leopards, simply getting shots became a challenge the rest of the half. Fran O’Hanlon watched his team commit 13 turnovers in the first 20 minutes, with the lion’s share of them coming on bad passes against the tough Holy Cross defense. While the visitors were giving the ball back, Holy Cross went on a 24-2 run to claim a 34-13 lead with 3:48 left in the half. Tim Clifford was the star, recording four three-point plays — two conventional and two from beyond the three-point arc — en route to 18 first-half points.

Holy Cross dominated inside against a smaller Lafayette team inside, outscoring the Leopards 22-2 in the paint. The Crusaders also held their guests without an offensive rebound in the first half, while grabbing half of the misses at its own end. Lafayette seemed When the halftime buzzer sounded, the top seed held a commanding 42-18 lead.

Lafayette showed some signs of life early in the second half, coming out of the locker room with a 7-2 run. Eventually, however, a string of missed three-pointers led to fastbreak opportunities for Holy Cross, and the Crusaders scored the next 14 points to expand their lead to 58-25 with just over 12 minutes left in the game. Brown’s three-point shooting was the only thing the Leopards had going for them offensively, and even back-to-back-to-back triples by the Lafayette sophomore weren’t enough to keep his team within 30. Down the stretch, the home crowd was treated to an athletic fastbreak dunk by Patriot League Player of the Year Keith Simmons and a great no-look pass by Pat Doherty that led to a layup.