BOSTON, Mass. – Junior guard Joe Octave totaled a career-high 27 points, five rebounds, three assists and three steals, to lead the Holy Cross men's basketball team to an 82-70 victory over Boston University at Case Gymnasium. The Crusaders improve to 8-16 overall and 5-6 in the Patriot League with the win, while the Terriers fall to 10-14 on the year and 3-8 in the conference.

Freshman guard Will Batchelder finished the night with 21 points, four rebounds and three assists, while senior forward Gerrale Gates put up 17 points, seven rebounds, three assists, two blocks and two steals. Boston University was led by Nevin Zink with 25 points.

The game was close early on, with Holy Cross holding a 16-14 lead after the first eight minutes of action. The Crusaders then scored eight straight points, including a pair of Octave three-pointers, to go in front by 10 (24-14). Holy Cross was still up by 10 (35-25) with 4:29 left in the half, before using a 10-0 run to make it a 20-point game (45-25). The Crusaders eventually took a 47-29 advantage into the locker room at halftime.

Holy Cross maintained a double-digit lead early in the second half, and was up 56-40 with 11:51 remaining. The Terriers then scored seven straight points to make it a nine-point game (56-47), and would later close to within six (70-64) with four minutes left to play. But Octave then hit a three-pointer to start a 6-0 Crusader spurt, and Holy Cross held on for the win despite making just six of 11 free throws in the final three minutes.

The Crusaders connected on 54.7 percent of their field goal attempts and 59.1 percent of their three-pointers on the night. Boston University was only able to make 43.3 percent of its shots from the floor and 17.6 percent of its attempts from three-point range.

Holy Cross returns to action on Saturday, Feb. 4, when it plays host to Navy at 2:00 p.m.

BEYOND THE BOX SCORE:
• Octave drained seven of 10 three-point attempts on the night, tying the school single-game record for three-pointers made.
• Batchelder hit all five of his shots from three-point range, tying for the third-most treys ever made by a Crusader without a miss.
• Octave and Batchelder gave Holy Cross a pair of 20-point scorers for the second time this season. 
• The Crusaders have won 12 straight games when hitting at least 50 percent of their field goal attempts.

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