BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The #10 seeded Holy Cross men's basketball team's 2026 Patriot League Tournament run came to an end in the quarterfinals as #2 Lehigh shocked the Crusaders with a miracle beyond half-court buzzer beater to win 69-66 Thursday evening at Stabler Arena.
 
The win ends the Crusaders season at 11-22 while the Mountain Hawks advance to the Patriot League Semifinals when they host #3 Colgate on Sunday, March 8 at noon.
 
Sophomore guard Tyler Boston led the way for Holy Cross scoring a team-high 24 points with three rebounds, three assists and a steal on 6-of-12 (50.0 percent) shooting going 9-of-10 (90.0 percent) at the line. 18 of his 24 points came in the second half. Junior guard/forward Gabe Warren (12 points, seven rebounds) and freshman forward Aiden Disu (11 points, eight rebounds) had near double-double efforts.
 
Nasir Whitlock dropped a game-high 29 points for Lehigh scoring 22 of his markers in the second stanza.

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Lehigh made four of their first five shot attempts to lead 8-0 in the early moments of the contest. Junior DeAndre Williams made the first Crusader bucket, a falling away baseline jumper to trail 8-2. An and1 from Boston trimmed the margin to 8-5, 3:50 into the contest. Back-to-back threes from Lehigh built the edge to 14-5. A pair of Warren freebies brought the Crusaders within five, 18-13.
• Warren kept his team down three, 18-15 making two from the stripe with 6:59 left in the half. Eight straight from the same Mountain Hawk player built the lead to 29-21 until a junior John St. Germain III hoop and harm stopped the stretch putting his team down 29-24 with 2:18 left. The teams swapped free throws as the score was 31-26 at the break.
• A 15-4 Crusader run with Boston scoring 11 points in that burst pushed Holy Cross ahead 41-37 with 15 minutes left to play. Lehigh rallied to regain the lead and Boston banked in layup plus the foul put Holy Cross back in the lead 50-49 at the 9:15 mark.
• Disu drained a huge three from the top of the point adding on a pair of free throws for the 57-53 lead with 7:15 left. The Mountain Hawks retook the edge 58-57 before seven straight from Holy Cross built a 64-58 margin with 2:43 left. Lehigh closed the game on an 11-2 run to advance in the conference tournament.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE:

• Holy Cross struggled to shoot the ball in the first half (29.6 percent, 8-of-27), but was 52.0 percent (13-for-25) in the second half.
• As a team, Holy Cross was 38-for-40 (95.0 percent) from the line in two conference tournament games.
• The Crusaders have turned the ball over 12 or fewer times in 23 of the last 25 games and 26 times this season.

FOLLOW THE CRUSADERS:
Be sure to follow the Holy Cross men's basketball team — and all things Crusader Athletics — on social media!
X - @HCrossMBB | @goholycross
Instagram - @hcrossmbb | @goholycross
Facebook - Holy Cross Men's Basketball | Holy Cross Athletics
YouTube - GoHolyCross