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The Holy Cross men’s basketball team will return to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2007, when it takes on Southern at the First Four in Dayton, Ohio, on Wednesday, March 16. The contest between the Crusaders and the Jaguars will be shown live to a national audience on truTV. The game will also air on WEEI 1440 AM in Worcester, and will be available nationally on Westwood One radio.
This will be Holy Cross’ 13th all-time appearance in the NCAA Tournament, where it owns an overall record of 7-12. The Crusaders are appearing the tournament for the fifth time since 2001, but have lost eight straight NCAA Tournament games since defeating Wake Forest 79-71 in the East Regional semifinal in 1953. In 1947, Holy Cross won the NCAA title, defeating Oklahoma 58-47 in the championship game.
The Crusaders earned the Patriot League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning four road games as the No. 9 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. In the championship game, Holy Cross won 59-56 at No. 2 seed Lehigh to complete its historic run. The Crusaders previously defeated No. 4 seed Army 60-38 in the semifinals, No. 1 seed Bucknell 77-72 in double overtime in the quarterfinals, and No. 8 seed Loyola (Md.) 72-67 in the first round. Holy Cross currently owns an overall record of 14-19, and posted a 5-13 mark in regular season league games.
Junior forward Malachi Alexander leads the team by averaging 12.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game. Junior guard Robert Champion has added 11.5 points, 4.8 boards and 1.0 steals per contests, while freshman forward Karl Charles is chipping in with 10.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.
The winner of the Holy Cross-Southern game will move to face No. 1 seed Oregon on Friday, March 18, at the Spokane Arena in Spokane, Wash., with a 7:27 p.m. (EDT) tip-off.
To stay updated on the Holy Cross men’s basketball team, follow the Crusaders on Twitter @HCrossMBB and on Facebook at HolyCrossBasketball.
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