WORCESTER, Mass. – Holy Cross knows that the way to win is by playing defense. As such, the Crusaders know that the wins have been hard to come by this season because they have had some struggles at that end of the floor. But they certainly showed up there on Sunday, as they started the crucial final week of the regular season with a 64-51 win over American.
In the first meeting between the teams, American’s post combination of Vlad Moldoveanu and Stephen Lumpkins combined for 37 points and 23 rebounds in a 71-64 win. Head coach Sean Kearney challenged his team, especially his big men, for a better effort this time around. He got it from everyone who got in the game, and the end result followed.
“(Moldoveanu and Lumpkins) had great numbers against us and I challenged our whole team, but I think our big guys really took that as a personal challenge,” Kearney said.
This time around, Holy Cross went with a zone defense that they executed well. They shut down Moldoveanu, who was 2-9 from the field en route to just seven points and three rebounds, and Lumpkins had 16 and seven. Lumpkins’ numbers aren’t bad, but compared to the first meeting, it’s a lot better for Holy Cross.
“The number one key defensively was having a great awareness for (Moldoveanu),” said junior forward Andrew Keister, who had 15 points and 18 rebounds to lead Holy Cross. “Down there, we had the same key, and I think sometimes throughout the year we let (the opponent’s) best player beat us at times.”
Besides the numbers, Moldoveanu didn’t get a lot of touches because the Crusaders shut off passing lanes where he was. Most of the shots he got weren’t really in the flow of the offense, a sign of how well the Crusaders played at that end of the floor.
With that effort, Holy Cross held an opponent below 40 percent from the field for the eighth time this season. Six of their eight wins have come in such outings, driving home the reality that defense is the key for this team. As they don’t force a lot of turnovers, the opponent’s field goal percentage is the bigger statistic.
“We know that the way we win is playing defense,” said junior point guard Andrew Beinert. “That’s the only way we’re going to come out on top.”
The Crusaders have now begun the final week of regular season play, a stretch with three games in seven days. They improved to 5-7 in the Patriot League with Sunday’s win. They can still get to .500 in the league, but that would mean putting together a season-high three-game winning streak that would finish with a win at Lehigh, which looks like the league’s best team. In light of that, it’s easy to see why they are perhaps cautiously optimistic about going on a run to end the regular season.
“After the Lafayette and Army wins, I thought we were going to go on a run,” said Keister. “I think we all believed that. Then we played a tough Bucknell team at Bucknell and had a tough loss at Navy.”
Not helping matters is that the Crusaders may need to make such a run without their best player, R.J. Evans. The sophomore guard has been sidelined since their loss at Bucknell, when he suffered a hip injury that limited him to 19 minutes at Navy. Kearney said they were hopeful that he could play on Sunday, but Evans sat out the game in street clothes. That’s probably why he is uncertain about when he may be able to come back, saying only that Evans is “out indefinitely”. They are already without Adam May, whose season is over due to a stress fracture in his right foot.
If the Crusaders make a run to reach .500 in the league, they will do so with their defense. And if they get there, it’s fair to say they can be a dangerous team in the league tournament.
“I think if we’re playing well heading into the tournament, there probably isn’t a team that would be excited about having to play us,” Kearney said.
