By Stephen Ur III –
The Holy Cross Crusaders men’s basketball team hosted Central Connecticut State at the Hart Center Arena on the campus of College of The Holy Cross on Saturday night. The 2-6 Crusaders were coming off a 72-38 loss against Harvard on Wednesday night while the Blue Devils were still searching for their first win of the season as they sat at an 0-8 record.
At tonight’s game 508 Forever Young had a Holiday Toy Drive. Fans who came with a new unwrapped toy were able to get a half price ticket. Every year Woodrow Adams Jr., 508 Forever Young has a holiday toy drive in the city of Worcester. All toys collected are distributed at Guild of St. Agnes, UMass Memorial Hospital and New Praise Cathedral Worship Center Chuch. Santa and the Grinch stopped the game take photos with fans.
The first points of the game came from Central Connecticut State as Carteret, NJ native Abdul Momoh scored on a layup following an offensive rebound. Holy Cross didn’t score their first points of the game until three minutes into the contest when Gerrale Gates scored on a jump shot. He scored again later and had all four of the Crusaders points at the first timeout with 15:43 left in the first half.
Andre Snotty successfully shot two three-point shots, and the Blue Devils led 12-6 at one point. The Crusaders then went on a 7-0 run and took a 13-12 lead around the 13-minute mark in the first half. Central Connecticut would go on a 4-0 run to take the 16-14 lead before the second timeout of the half.
Later on in the half, with Holy Cross leading 26-22, there was a scoring drought before the Blue Devils scored again to make it a two-point game. Two more scoring possessions, one for each team, made the halftime score 28-26 in favor of the Crusaders.
Holy Cross scored the first four points of the second half and held a six-point lead, but Central Connecticut made it a one-point game with two baskets and a foul shot of their own, making the score 32-31 at that point. The Crusaders would pull away again, going on a 8-3 run to take another six-point lead with just under 13 minutes left in the game.
Central Connecticut kept it close by shooting well from the three-point line, making two in a row to close the gap to three twice in a span of just a couple of minutes. The score at the first timeout of the second half was 40-37 as the clock read 11:56.
The two teams went back and forth all throughout the second half, and it was a two-point game in the final two minutes. A clutch three by the Crusaders at the 1:33 mark, however, seemed to have iced the game for them, and that’s exactly what it did. Holy Cross went on to win by a final score of 63-57. The win was their third of the season.
Gates led the way for the Crusaders in the win/loss, scoring 22 points. Nolan Dorsey added 11 points of his own and Simon Wilbar scored 10 points to boot. Three Blue Devils scored more than 10 points as Devonte Sweatman recorded 12 points, Kellen Amos led the way with 18 points and Andre Snoddy scored 13 points.
The next home game for the Holy Cross men’s basketball team is Wednesday night as they host Quinnipiac University. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
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