Holy Cross Men's Basketball Heads To Lehigh For Patriot League Championship Game

The Holy Cross men’s basketball team will look to earn its 13th berth in the NCAA Tournament when it travels to Lehigh for the Patriot League championship game on Wednesday, March 9, at 7:30 p.m. The contest between the Crusaders and the Mountain Hawks will be shown live to a national audience on the CBS Sports Network. The game will also air on WEEI 1440 AM in Worcester, and will be available nationally on Westwood One radio.

The No. 9 seed in the Patriot League Tournament, Holy Cross is on an impressive run as the lowest seed to ever reach the conference championship game. The Crusaders are coming off a convincing 60-38 victory at No. 4 seed Army in the semifinals. Holy Cross previously defeated 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 13-19, and posted a 5-13 mark in regular season league games.

Junior guard Robert Champion leads the team by averaging 11.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. Junior forward Malachi Alexander has added 11.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per contest, while freshman forward Karl Charles is chipping in with 11.1 points, 4.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game.

Lehigh is the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament, and made its way to this game by defeating No. 7 seed Navy in the quarterfinals (65-63) and No. 6 seed American in the semifinals (78-62). The Mountain Hawks stand 17-14 overall this year, and had a 13-5 mark in league regular season play.

Junior center Tim Kempton currently leads the Mountain Hawks with averages of 17.6 points and 9.6 rebounds per game, while hitting 54.7 percent of his field goal attempts (174 of 318). Junior guard Austin Price has added 13.3 points and 3.5 boards per contest, while junior guard Kahron Ross is averaging 11.2 points and 6.1 assists per game.

The winner of the Holy Cross-Lehigh game will earn the Patriot League’s automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.