WORCESTER, Mass. – The Holy Cross men's basketball team was defeated 65-58 by Patriot League foe Navy Saturday afternoon in the Hart Center Arena.
Sophomore guard
Tyler Boston scored a team-high 16 points for the Crusaders (6-9, 1-1 PL) grabbing a team-best six rebounds with four assists and a pair of steals. Junior guard/forward
Joe Nugent added 13 points and freshman forward
Aiden Disu chipped in 10 points with four caroms.
Navy (10-5, 2-0 PL) won their sixth straight game and was led by Preseason Patriot League Player of the Year Austin Benigni's 23 points, he added five dimes and was a perfect 11-for-11 (100 percent) at the free throw line.
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- A Disu three and a junior guard/forward Gabe Warren mid-range jumper gave the Crusaders an early 5-0 edge. Navy strung together eight straight points for the 8-5 advantage after the media timeout. Junior forward Declan Ryan stopped a five and a half minute scoreless stretch with a second chance post score making it 8-7. Navy countered with a three for the 11-7 margin with 11:47 left in the half.
- Navy led by six, 17-11, and Warren halted another scoreless stretch hitting two freebies at the line trimming the deficit to 17-13 with 5:36 left. Back-to-back Ryan post scores brought Holy Cross within two, 19-17. Navy closed the half on a 9-4 burst to lead 28-21.
- The Midshipmen started the second half on an 8-2 run to build a 13 point, 36-23 margin. A Nugent baseline jumper and a Boston three put Holy Cross down eight, 36-28 with 14:46 left. Trailing by 10, Nugent hit a deep triple bringing the deficit to seven 40-33 with 12:20 left.
- The Crusaders outscored the Midshipmen 9-2 over 2:24 with Nugent drilling a corner three and Ryan scoring off a baseline out of bounds set putting the hosts behind 46-42 with 8:31 left. Nugent knocked down a corner three-pointer off a Ryan feed as the Crusaders came within two possessions, 55-50 with 3:24 to go. Holy Cross got a stop, but turned the ball over on the next possession which resulted in a Navy lay-in. The Crusaders were down five multiple times late, but could not come closer.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:
- Boston scored all 16 of his points in the second half.
- Navy outscored Holy Cross 42-to-14 in the post, but the rebound battle was even 32-to-32 with the Crusaders having 12 offensive boards compared to eight for Navy.
- Holy Cross has recorded 12 turnovers or less in six straight games.
- Nugent was 3-for-5 (60 percent) from range in the game. He now has 167 career threes and needs seven more to climb to fourth place on the program's all-time list (173 - Andrew Beinert, 2007-11.
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