Men’s Basketball Falls in League Semifinals

Sunday, March 6

West Point, NY

12 PM

Army West Point

19-13

Holy Cross

13-19

Holy Cross

Army West Point

Men’s Basketball Falls in League Semifinals

March 06, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. – A 10-0 run to start the game for No. 9 Holy Cross gave the visiting Crusaders a lead they never relinquished in a 60-38 victory over the No. 4 Army West Point men's basketball team on Sunday afternoon at Christl Arena.

The Crusaders earned a spot in the Patriot League Championship with their third straight road victory and ended Army's NCAA Tournament hopes. The Black Knights have the potential to play postseason basketball with their 19-13 record, and the 19 victories are the most since the 1977-78 season.

Kyle Wilson and Tanner Plomb each finished in double figures, with Wilson netting a team-high 12 points and Plomb coming away with 11 points and nine boards. Larry Toomey added five points and nine rebounds and Kevin Ferguson totaled four points and a game-high 11 rebounds.

Robert Champion led the way for the Crusaders (13-19) with 15 points to go along with six boards. Malachi Alexander tallied 13 points and seven rebounds and Anthony Thompson ended the afternoon with 12 points, seven rebounds and five assists.

"It's certainly not the outcome any of us wanted," head coach Zach Spiker said. "Credit goes to Holy Cross, they were able to play with a great deal of energy and it was tough to get the right guys the right looks."

Holy Cross raced out to a 10-0 lead on consecutive threes by Alexander and Thompson and took advantage of four Army turnovers in the first three minutes. A Wilson three after an offensive rebound put the Black Knights on the board at 16:45. Turnovers haunted the Black Knights throughout the game as they finished with 18 compared to Holy Cross' nine.

Alexander and Plomb traded threes and by the 11-minute mark, Holy Cross had an 18-6 lead following consecutive threes by Matt Husek and Karl Charles.

Holy Cross opened the game 6-for-11 from beyond the arc after consecutive triples by Champion pushed the lead back to 12 (24-12) four minutes later. A Wilson corner jumper pulled Army back within single digits and sparked a 9-2 run for the Black Knights that cut the deficit to 26-21 with 3:20 left. Wilson's third three of the period punctuated the run.

Holy Cross went into halftime with a 34-26 lead after shooting 45.2 percent (14-for-31) from the floor. The Crusaders limited Army to 26.9 percent shooting on the other end (7-for-26). Army had nine first-half turnovers, compared to two for the Crusaders, with Wilson (12) and Plomb (8) combining for 20 points.

Army opened the second half with a three from Larry Toomey, but Holy Cross came back with six straight points to take a 40-29 lead and never looked back.

The run continued when Charles hit threes in opposite corners, surrounding a layup by Toomey. A free throw by Alexander and two Husek free throws extended the spurt and put the Crusaders up by 18 (49-31) with 13 minutes remaining. Three minutes later, a reverse layup by Thompson capped the 17-2 run and extended the lead to 20.

Army never got any closer than 18 the rest of the way in the 22-point loss.

Game Notes: The Black Knights fell to 4-3 in the Patriot League Tournament as the No. 4 seed … Army is 0-5 all-time against Holy Cross in the Patriot League Tournament … Ferguson recorded the 21st double-digit rebounding game of his career … Kyle Wilson increased his career point total to 1,994, which ranks fourth in academy history.