By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Special to The Telegram & Gazette

FAIRFAX, Va. -- You have to search pretty far back in the Holy Cross record books to find a beating as severe as the 71-38 thumping George Mason laid on the Crusaders last night.

Not since Ralph Willard's first season as coach at his alma mater, when Indiana trounced HC by 35 in the Hoosier Classic on this same date six years ago, have the Crusaders lost by a wider margin than the 33 points they lost by in this one.

That loss to Indiana might have come by a wider margin, but according to Willard, it was not a worse defeat.

"This was about as bad a rear end kicking as I have experienced in coaching for 35 years," said Willard.

Looking at the final score, it is hard to believe this started out as a pretty evenly matched game. Through the first 14 minutes, the score was even and the Crusaders (5-7) were holding their own. When Torey Thomas hit his second three-pointer of the game with 6:38 left in the half, HC actually led 21-18.

Then the bottom dropped out. By the time Holy Cross made another shot from the floor, a Tim Clifford jumper 3:49 into the second half, George Mason (7-3) had closed out the first half with a 11-2 run and opened the second with a 14-0 spurt to build a 46-25 lead.

Even though there was still 16:11 showing on the clock, the only real suspense left at that point was whether or not Mason's Lamar Butler would break the school's all-time record for three-pointers made. Butler answered that by draining a trey 16 seconds later. It was his 252nd of his career and the third of the second half, after going 0-5 from the arc before the intermission.

Butler's getting hot was one key for Mason. He didn't make a bucket until hitting a layup with 5:55 to go in the first half. That shot gave George Mason a 23-21 lead and put the Patriots ahead to stay. Butler added 6 more before the break, then scored the first 9 points of the second half, hitting a pair of treys, then converting a three-point play the old fashioned way when he was fouled while making a layup.

"Once one shot goes in for me, I always think I am on fire. They just started to fall for me," said Butler.

In the meantime, shots had stopped falling for Holy Cross captain Kevin Hamilton, Hamilton came out hot, scoring HC's first 7 points of the game. Hamilton was 3-for-3 when he hit a little jumper with 16:25 to play in the first half. He proceeded to go 0 for the rest of the game, his only other points coming on four first half free throws.

Much of the credit for stopping Hamilton goes to Butler, who along with 6-5 junior Gabe Norwood, kept a hand in his face all night long. Butler was quick to share the credit fwith his big men, who stepped out to hedge on every screen Holy Cross tried to set for its senior captain and leading scorer.

"Our big men did a good job of helping us guards. The big men helped push him out a little further," said Butler.

To Willard, it was just another symptom of an offense that could not get in sync all night.

"They were really physical with him off the ball. Kevin wasn't getting the ball in scoring areas," Willard said.

"We let them force us out of our sets. If you don't run your stuff, you are going to have a long night. They denied passes. They stepped up in the passing lanes. They took us out of things."

The end result: Holy Cross shot just 28.3 percent (15-53) from the field while turning the ball over 16 times. That turnover number might have been higher had George Mason coach Jim Larranaga not substituted liberally after building a 37-point lead.

The Crusaders three inside men, Kevin Hyland, Tim Clifford and Alex Vander Baan, were a combined 3-for-13 from the field.

Hamilton finished with the 11 points he had at the intermission. Torey Thomas also was in double figures with 16. But no other Crusader scored more than 4.

The 38 points were the fewest scored by a Holy Cross team in 59 years. The last time the Crusaders had been held under 40 points was in a 36-32 win over Boston University on Dec. 17, 1946. Of course that Holy Cross team went on to win the national championship, finishing the season 27-3

Tony Skinn, who hit a game-high 5 three-pointers, finished with 21 for Mason.

The loss was the third in a row for the Crusaders, who will be at Northeastern Friday night.

Box score

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