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Sunday, January 07, 2007
Offense, not defense, is the difference as HC opens league play with a road win in Easton. (Originally posted Sat. at 7:31 p.m., updated with additional links)
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
For the past few weeks, Holy Cross has been making a living off its zone defense. Whether it was the 2-3, a variation thereof, or a 1-3-1, for the most part it seemed to be effective on two fronts. The zone held opponents' offenses in check and saved the legs of guys like Torey Thomas and Keith Simmons, who were being forced to play close to 40 minutes every game.
But after Lafayette found seems in the Crusaders zone time and time again at the start of Saturday's Patriot League opener, Holy Cross switched to good old man-to-man and slowed the Leopards enough to escape with an 84-74 road win.
The 84 points were the most scored by Holy Cross all season. The Crusaders' 59.2 percent (29 of 49) shooting from the field was their best shooting night in at least the past two-plus seasons. Keith Simmons' 26 points were the most by an HC player all season.
Holy Cross needed every bit of that offense against a Lafayette team that shot 56.8 percent (25 of 44) against them. That is better than Duke, Syracuse and providence managed to shoot against HC. Only Dayton has shot better against the Crusaders this season (59.5 percent).
"We didn't guard them," said HC coach Ralph Willard. "We didn't do a good job communicating and they got some open looks."
That was especially true at the beginning of the game, when Lafayette jumped to an 8-3 lead and kept making buckets, forcing Willard to abandon the zone for straight man with some switching man mixed in.
"They scored on seven of the first eight trips down the floor, so we switched out of that (zone). I'm not very smart, but I could figure that out," Willard said.
The change worked well enough for Holy Cross to come back for a 42-35 lead at the half, but had the Crusaders not shot over 60 percent in the half (16 of 26, 61.5 percent) and hit five three-pointers (on seven tries), that score could easily have been reversed, or worse. Lafayette was a scorching 14 of 22 (63.6 percent) in the first 20 minutes. Even more surprising, the undersized Leopards -- who live and die by the three-pointer -- had only 2 treys, but scored 22 of their first 35 in the paint.
"They have a lot of shooters," said Simmons. "We wanted to make their shooters drive a lot."
Yes, but they didn't want them to drive and finish. But with 6-10 center Tim Clifford glued to the bench for all but 4 minutes of the half after picking up two early fouls, the Leopards were finding their path to the rim all but unimpeded.
With Clifford back on the floor in the second half, it was a different story, at least for a while. Clifford picked up his third personal early and went back to the bench for just under 2 minutes before returning to the floor with 16:34 to play. Between then and the 11:47 mark, when he picked up foul number four and sat down again, Holy Cross had a 14-6 spurt, fueled by 7 Clifford points and a defensive effort that held Lafayette to one field goal for over 8 minutes. During that stretch, the Crusaders pushed their lead to as many as 20 points and appeared to be set to cruise to the finish.
Although Clifford, who had just one rebound, had little to do with it, the Crusaders also rebounded better in the second half. After finishing the first half even with 9 boards apiece, Holy Cross dominated the glass after the break, finishing with a 30-16 edge, including 14 offensive rebounds that were converted into 13 second chance points.
The lead was still 15 (78-63) when Clifford finally fouled out with 11 points -- all in the second half -- at the 2:57 mark. As it turned out, Clifford's final bucket, a layin with 3:33 to play, was the last field goal the Crusaders would score. When Holy Cross struggled at the foul line down the stretch, it opened the door for one last Lafayette run. Hc was 4 for 8 at the line until Pat Doherty, who finished with 10 points in his first game back since breaking his shooting hand in the Dec. 6 loss at Duke, hit a pair with 16.6 seconds left.
In between Clifford's fouling out and Doherty's free throws, Lafayette managed to close to within 6.
"When we got up, we stopped focusing and they got some quick, easy buckets and some open looks," Simmons said.
"We got back in the game but it was too little, too late," said Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon.
Holy Cross, which has been on the road for 11 straight games, finally returns to the Hart Center Wednesday, when they will take on Army. The Black Knights, the surprise team in the conference with their 10-5 record in non-conference games, stumbled in their league opener, losing in overtime at Colgate.
Box score | Notebook | Postgame audio (both team's press conferences) | Morning Call | Express-Times
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
For the past few weeks, Holy Cross has been making a living off its zone defense. Whether it was the 2-3, a variation thereof, or a 1-3-1, for the most part it seemed to be effective on two fronts. The zone held opponents' offenses in check and saved the legs of guys like Torey Thomas and Keith Simmons, who were being forced to play close to 40 minutes every game.
But after Lafayette found seems in the Crusaders zone time and time again at the start of Saturday's Patriot League opener, Holy Cross switched to good old man-to-man and slowed the Leopards enough to escape with an 84-74 road win.
The 84 points were the most scored by Holy Cross all season. The Crusaders' 59.2 percent (29 of 49) shooting from the field was their best shooting night in at least the past two-plus seasons. Keith Simmons' 26 points were the most by an HC player all season.
Holy Cross needed every bit of that offense against a Lafayette team that shot 56.8 percent (25 of 44) against them. That is better than Duke, Syracuse and providence managed to shoot against HC. Only Dayton has shot better against the Crusaders this season (59.5 percent).
"We didn't guard them," said HC coach Ralph Willard. "We didn't do a good job communicating and they got some open looks."
That was especially true at the beginning of the game, when Lafayette jumped to an 8-3 lead and kept making buckets, forcing Willard to abandon the zone for straight man with some switching man mixed in.
"They scored on seven of the first eight trips down the floor, so we switched out of that (zone). I'm not very smart, but I could figure that out," Willard said.
The change worked well enough for Holy Cross to come back for a 42-35 lead at the half, but had the Crusaders not shot over 60 percent in the half (16 of 26, 61.5 percent) and hit five three-pointers (on seven tries), that score could easily have been reversed, or worse. Lafayette was a scorching 14 of 22 (63.6 percent) in the first 20 minutes. Even more surprising, the undersized Leopards -- who live and die by the three-pointer -- had only 2 treys, but scored 22 of their first 35 in the paint.
"They have a lot of shooters," said Simmons. "We wanted to make their shooters drive a lot."
Yes, but they didn't want them to drive and finish. But with 6-10 center Tim Clifford glued to the bench for all but 4 minutes of the half after picking up two early fouls, the Leopards were finding their path to the rim all but unimpeded.
With Clifford back on the floor in the second half, it was a different story, at least for a while. Clifford picked up his third personal early and went back to the bench for just under 2 minutes before returning to the floor with 16:34 to play. Between then and the 11:47 mark, when he picked up foul number four and sat down again, Holy Cross had a 14-6 spurt, fueled by 7 Clifford points and a defensive effort that held Lafayette to one field goal for over 8 minutes. During that stretch, the Crusaders pushed their lead to as many as 20 points and appeared to be set to cruise to the finish.
Although Clifford, who had just one rebound, had little to do with it, the Crusaders also rebounded better in the second half. After finishing the first half even with 9 boards apiece, Holy Cross dominated the glass after the break, finishing with a 30-16 edge, including 14 offensive rebounds that were converted into 13 second chance points.
The lead was still 15 (78-63) when Clifford finally fouled out with 11 points -- all in the second half -- at the 2:57 mark. As it turned out, Clifford's final bucket, a layin with 3:33 to play, was the last field goal the Crusaders would score. When Holy Cross struggled at the foul line down the stretch, it opened the door for one last Lafayette run. Hc was 4 for 8 at the line until Pat Doherty, who finished with 10 points in his first game back since breaking his shooting hand in the Dec. 6 loss at Duke, hit a pair with 16.6 seconds left.
In between Clifford's fouling out and Doherty's free throws, Lafayette managed to close to within 6.
"When we got up, we stopped focusing and they got some quick, easy buckets and some open looks," Simmons said.
"We got back in the game but it was too little, too late," said Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon.
Holy Cross, which has been on the road for 11 straight games, finally returns to the Hart Center Wednesday, when they will take on Army. The Black Knights, the surprise team in the conference with their 10-5 record in non-conference games, stumbled in their league opener, losing in overtime at Colgate.
Box score | Notebook | Postgame audio (both team's press conferences) | Morning Call | Express-Times
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