Holy Cross avenged last year’s BracketBuster loss to Hofstra, knocking off the Pride 61-47 in Worcester. Pat Doherty led the Crusaders with 18 points and 4 assists. Alex Vander Baan had 15 rebounds, Adam May had 8 and Eric Meister 9 as Holy Cross outrebounded Hofstra 45-34.

The Crusaders only shot 35.3 percent from the floor, but held the Pride to 26.5 percent shooting in a defensive battle. Preseason PL Player of the Year Tim Clifford finished with only 6 points and 3 rebounds. Antoine Agudio scored a game-high 28 to lead Hofstra, but none of his teammates scored more than 5 points.

A year after starting their season with the loss at Albany last year, Bucknell opened up on the right foot this season, downing the Danes 55-52 in Lewisburg. Patrick Behan led the way with 16 points and Justin Castleberry pitched in 11. Stephen Tyree scored 7 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

Albany had the lead as late as 1:41 remaining, when a Brian Lillis jumper put the Danes ahead 49-48. But Griffin responded with a three-pointer, and after an Albany miss, Justin Castleberry hit a shot to make it a four-point game with 18 seconds to go. Bison freshmen Todd O’Brien and Darryl Shazier played more than 20 minutes each in their first NCAA games; O’Brien finished with 6 points, 3 boards and 3 blocks, while Shazier went scoreless but had 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals.

American joined the Bison and Crusaders in starting the season with a win, beating St. Francis 75-68. Garrison Carr hit 5 three-pointers en route to a game-high 21 points, and backcourtmate Derrick Mercer added 21. Eagle newcomers Constantin Motnii and Bryce Simon pitched in 11 and 10 points respectively.

American sprinted out to a 30-10 start and led by as many as 22 in the first half. St. Francis made up a lot of ground in the second period, coming within 4 points with 2:43 remaining. Mercer went 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the final minute to keep the game out of reach.

In Ithaca, Lehigh fell short of sharpshooting Cornell, falling to the Big Red 87-83. Cornell went 10-of-17 from the three-point arc, led by Ryan Wittman’s 5-of-6 on treys. The Mountain Hawks were paced by Marquis Hall’s 17 points, while senior Bryan White had 16 points and 12 rebounds. Lehigh shot only 8-of-35 from the floor in the first half as they scored just 24 first-half points.

Army started the season on a down note, dropping an 84-52 decision at Minnesota. Black Knight star Jarell Brown managed just 5 points on 2-of-11 shooting from the floor. John Moonshower led Army with 9 points, and Kenny Brewer and Josh Miller had 8 each. Army briefly led by as many as 4 points in the opening moments before the Gophers took over the game.

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