Holy Cross Crusaders Defeat Brown 80-65; Eric Green (Hualapai Nation) Leads Game with 16 Points

THE BASICS:

Score: Holy Cross 80, Brown 65
Records: Holy Cross 2-0, Brown 1-2
Location: Hart Center, Worcester, Mass.
Date: November 19, 2014
The Lead: Junior guard Eric Green (Hualapai Nation.) scored a game-high 16 points and tied his career high with five steals, as the Holy Cross men’s basketball team posted an 80-65 victory over Brown at the Hart Center.

INSIDE THE NUMBERS:

Holy Cross totaled 15 steals as a team, its most in a single game since it has 15 steals at Navy on Feb. 15, 2007.
In addition to Green, sophomore guard Anthony Thompson (Glenn Dale, Md.) had a career-high five steals and senior guard Justin Burrell (Dumfries, Va.) recorded a career-best four steals.
Thompson also posted 15 points, four rebounds and two assists, while Burrell finished with 14 points, seven assists and five rebounds.
Sophomore forward Malachi Alexander (Bowie, Md.) rounded out four Crusaders in double-figures by scoring 14 points.
Holy Cross hit 50.0 percent of its field goal attempts on the night (30 of 60), while forcing Brown to commit 23 turnovers.
After causing 24 turnovers against Harvard in their season opener, the Crusaders have now forced at least 20 turnovers in back-to-back games for the first time since 2006 (against Duke and Providence).

HOW IT HAPPENED:

The score was tied at 9-9 with 13 minutes remaining in the first half, when Holy Cross scored nine straight points to claim the lead.
The Crusaders were still up by seven (23-16) a few minutes later, before using an 8-0 spurt to lead by 15 (31-16) with 5:41 left before the break.
Holy Cross would eventually take a 40-25 advantage into the locker room at halftime.
The Crusaders increased their lead to 20 points (49-29) early in the second half, before Brown went on a 16-3 run to get back into the game.
But after the Bears had made the score 52-45 with 13 minutes to go, Holy Cross scored the next five points to regain control.
The Crusaders went on to build their lead back up to 18 points, before eventually going on to win by 15.