Holy Cross held off Notre Dame-Fairfield for a 69-63 win in the first round of the Division I boys basketball state tournament on Monday night inside Tim McDonald Gymnasium. With the win, the No. 16 Crusaders knocked out the defending D-I champion Lancers, who were the No. 17 seed.
Holy Cross gets No. 1 East Catholic in a second round game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Plainville High School. The Eagles had a first round bye.
Holy Cross used a balanced offensive effort to get past ND-Fairfield. Akili Evans (16 points), Jahvon Myrthil (12), Jack Greene (11) and Gaely Etienne (10) all scored in double digits, and Kyle Moser (9) just missed joining them. Moser’s more important work was on the backboards, where he teamed with Greene for a good rebounding effort. Kyle Lombardi added seven points off of the bench.
Holy Cross was behind by a point with just over two minutes left, but took a 62-61 lead, then made its foul shots down the stretch. The Crusaders outscored the Lancers 14-10 at the foul line. It helped that ND-Fairfield was 10-of-22 at the line, according to the story from Joe Palladino for The Zone. Ouch.
Holy Cross passed its first test in the grinder that is the Division I boys state tournament. Next up is top-seeded East Catholic, and we’ll see what happens on Wednesday in Plainville.
