By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Special to The Telegram & Gazette

WASHINGTON -- It is one of the most boring chores a basketball player has to tend to. Standing on a line 15-feet away from the basket, shooting free throw after free throw is not the fun part of a players workout. It is not the part of practice that anybody looks forward to. But it can be one of the most important skills a player develops. All it takes is one glance at the box score from Holy Cross' 69-62 Patriot League win Saturday at American to understand why.

In a game where the Crusaders suffered through one of their worst shooting halves of the season, free throws were the difference between winning to keep hopes alive for a home court edge in the first two rounds of the upcoming league tournament and packing their bags for another long bus ride to Pennsylvania.

The win was the fourth in a row against American for Holy Cross (16-11, 9-3 Patriot League), which has no margin of error as the regular season winds down. To get one of the top two seeds in the league tournament, and the homecourt edge that comes with one of those seeds, the Crusaders need to win out and get some help. Ironically HC put itself in that position in no small part by missing 9 of 20 free throws in a 5-point loss to Bucknell last week.

That loss assured Bucknell of one of those two host slots and put HC two-games behind Lehigh in the loss column in the race for the other. That is not where you want to be headed down the stretch. But with Lehigh having to go on the road Wednesday to league-leading Bucknell before coming to Worcester for the regular season finale, those are not as dire straits as they might seem.

That scenario is still intact, thanks to all those hours practicing free throws. In a 7-point win, it is easy to point to the line in the box score that made the difference. The Crusaders went to the foul line six more times than American (35-29) and they made eight more shots (28-20) when they got there.

"We'll take a free throw contest with anybody in the league," said Holy Cross captain Kevin Hamilton, who finished with 22 points and a game-high 8 rebounds, despite being so banged up that he didn't even practice Friday.

Playing with a foot so heavily taped that it resembled a cast and a pad protecting a bone contusion in his back, Hamilton refused to settle for no contact jumpers from the perimeter. Hamilton was 3 for 4 from the three point arc. But where he really did his damage was in the lane. He didn't finish often, he was only 1 for 7 inside the arc. But he got to the foul line 12 times and knocked down 11 of those 12 free throws.

The line was similar for Hamilton's fellow all-league pick, Keith Simmons. Simmons shot it a little better from the field, making 6 of 9, including all three treys he put up. he was also 8 for 9 at the foul line, finishing with one more point than Hamilton (23) and one less rebound (7).

The pair's success at the foul line was not exactly a surprise. Both players are ranked in the top 10 in the league in free throw shooting.

"If there is anybody that is going to step up to the line and knock down free throws, it's us. Free throws are our strong point," Simmons said.

That was especially true in the second half. Holy Cross came out strong, hitting 11 of 22 from the field, including 5 of 8 from the three-point arc, en route to a 12-point, 34-22, lead at the half. In the second half, though, the shots stopped falling. Holy Cross only made six field goals after the intermission, shooting an icy 27.3 percent (6 of 22).

Four of those second half field goals came in the first 10 minutes of the half, while the Crusaders were extending their lead to 18. But after a three by Simmons that made it 51-33 with 10:37 to go, Holy Cross managed only two more buckets the rest of the game-- a Torey Thomas layup at the 8:18 mark and an Alex Vander Baan layup with 4:26 to play. The Crusaders would not hit another field goal, but with Simmons and Hamilton hitting 6 of 7 from the charity stripe, American was never able to get closer than four points.

Credit the Holy Cross defense. While the offense was struggling, the defense stepped up. Andre Ingram has a pair of treys in the last 1:24, but those we the only American field goals in the final 4:44. Ingram's second three-pointer cut the Holy Cross lead to 61-57 with 1:24 on the clock. But the Crusaders hit 8 of 10 from the line in the final minute, holding on for the win.

"We are a good free throw shooting team, we really are," said Willard.

Ingram led American with 16 points, but he needed 15 shots (5 of 15) and six trips to the foul line to get his points. Ingram was not the only AU shooter to struggle. Arvydas Eitutavicius (4 for 7, 12 points) was the only Eagle to make more shots than he missed. As a team, American was 19 of 48 (39.6 percent) from the field. It was the eighth time in 12 league games that the Crusaders held an opponent under 40 percent from the field.

Holy Cross will be scoreboard watching when they visit Colgate Wednesday in their final regular season road game, Assuming Lehigh gets past visiting Lafayette this afternoon, a Crusaders win Wednesday, coupled with a Bucknell win over Lehigh, would set the stage for a second-place showdown next Sunday when Lehigh visits the Hart Center in the league's last regular season game.

Should that scenario play out, a win would leave Holy Cross and Lehigh with identical 11-3 records. The Crusaders would get the homecourt edge in the tournament by virtue of their higher RPI ranking.

Box score

AP recap