HC 16, Lehigh 13 (11:28 first)

Lehigh shook up its starting lineup, going with Joe Knight, Jose Olivero, Kyle Neptune, Mitch Gilfillan and James Anderson.

Tim Clifford stepped out to the top of the arc and knocked down a trey to open the game when Lehigh left him alone there. That is one of 4 treys in the early going for HC -- Kevin Hamilton and Torey Thomas have the others.

Jose Olivero has 8 of Lehigh's 13 so far.

The crowd way down from what was on hand for the Bucknell game here on Wednesday. The students are not even filling the section behind the Lehigh basket. In fact, there may have been more sitting there during the women's game, thanks to some Pink Lady's group that was in attendance.

By the way, Holy Cross won the ladies' game, 69-63.

HC 24, Lehigh 15 (7:54 first)

Crusaders on a 14-4 run since trailing 11-10 at the 14:47 mark.

Holy Cross with a 16-5 edge on the boards early.

HC shooting 10-23 (43.5 percent), 4-8 from the arc. Lehigh is 6-14 (42.9 percent) 2-7 from three-point range.

HC 33, Lehigh 21 (3:32 first)

A potential problem for Holy Cross -- Torey Thomas just picked up his third personal.

Other than that, things going HC's way for the most part. Just before thomas' foul, Tim Clifford stepped out and drained his second trey of teh game. The Big Purple Dog now has 12 points on 5-6 shooting. He also has 4 of HC's 20 rebounds.

Lehigh's Joe Knight has yet to score. He is 0-3 from the field and 0-1 at the line.

HC's rebounding edge stands at 20-8, lots of those on the offensive glass, leading to a 7-0 edge in second chance points so far.

Holy Cross 37, Lehigh 28(HALFTIME)

Two big differences between how Bucknell played at Lehigh Wednesday and Holy Cross' first half showing.

1) Lehigh is not packed in a zone and Tim Clifford is making them pay for that. Clifford already has 14 points, including two three-pointers. Lehigh will have to double him if they expect to slow HC down.

2) With Lehigh playing man, the Crusaders are getting the ball in the lane on a regular basis. That is opening things up all over. When they are not finishing in the paint, the Crusaders are finding open guys on the perimeter and, unlike Bucknell Wednesday, HC is knocking them down. The Crusaders are 16-34 from the field (47.1 percent), 5-11 (45.5 percent) from the arc.

Jose Olivero is keeping Lehigh in this one. He has 13 of the Mountain Hawks' 28 points. Kyle Neptune, with a pair of threes, has 6 for Lehigh. Nobody else has more than 3 and Joe Knight is scoreless thus far.

Hamilton has 8 for HC, including two three-pointers. Thomas has 7.

Holy Cross 41, Lehigh 34 (15:29 second)

Lehigh still not doubling Clifford, but the big guy unable to make them pay so far, missing three easy looks inside. Clifford also stepped out for another three, but came up short this time.

It is a slow start to the second half, only 4 field goals combined in the first 4:31 of the half.

HC is 1-7 to start the half; Lehigh 3-5 with two turnovers.

HC 49, Lehigh 41 (11:26 second)

Knight finally gets his first bucket with 13:04 to play. Then, 27 seconds later he adds a free throw after drawing a foul on Thomas, his fourth.

Ralph Willard rolling the dice, leaves Thomas on the floor.

Hamilton with a pair of second half treys now has 14 for HC. Olivero with 19 for Lehigh.

HC 53, Lehigh 44 (9:00 second)

Take one look at Keith Simmons' uniform and it looks like part of his hydration problems might be due to profuse sweating. The back of Simmons' jersey and shorts are so soaked with sweat they are nearly a different color than the rest of the Crusaders -- closer to black than purple.

Thomas still on the floor, now has 12 points and 5 rebounds.

Knight now 1-9, 3 points.

HC 53, Lehigh 46 (7:45 second)

HC cooling off a little. The 'Saders are 6-17 from the field in the second half, 3-7 from the arc.

Quick check of the scoreboard shows Bucknell up about 30 over Navy.

HC 55, Lehigh 55 (5:01 second)

Mgebroff (Mega-soft) tips in a Knight miss to tie the game at 55-55.

Around the 7 minute mark, Simmons has left the HC bench and gone to the locker room.

HC 58, Lehigh 55 (3:57 second)

Clifford with an old-fashioned three-point play puts HC back on top.

Simmons returns and is back on the floor at the 4:21 mark.

HC 63, Lehigh 60 (1:06 to go)

HC is in the double bonus, lehigh will be with the next HC foul.

Crusaders preserving the lead at the line -- they ate 4-5 free throws since Clifford put them back on top at the 4:21 mark.

HC 63, Lehigh 60 (29.2 left)

Thomas loses control going to the hole and turns it over. Lehigh ball with a chance to tie.

Lehigh 64, HC 63 (FINAL)

Lehigh got three possessions in the final 30 seconds and Jose Olivero made them count. With 16.1 to go, Olivero got to the line for a pair of free throws to cut HC's lead to 63-62 after Lehigh chased down the rebound on a badly missed Joe Knight three attempt.

Then on the inbounds, Bryan White jumped in front of Torey Thomas to deflect a long pass near midcourt. The ball went to Kyle Neptune and Lehigh called a quick timeout to set up a play for Olivero.

Olivero went one-on-one with Hamilton, lost him at the foul line with a nifty shake and bake and banked home a one-handed runner from 3 feet with 4.5 seconds left.

Holy Cross had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but Colin Cunningham's three from the left corner was off target.

Olivero finishes with 29 points. Neptune with 10 is the only other Lehigh player in double figures.

Hamilton led HC with 20. Clifford with 19 and Thomas added 12.

Full story to follow.