Holy Cross 54, Lehigh 48

The Holy Cross Crusaders are headed to the Patriot League Tournament semifinals after downing the Lehigh Mountain Hawks for the third time this season Wednesday night, this time 54-48 in the conference quarterfinals at Hart International in Worchester, Mass.

Holy Cross, which improved to 6-0 all-time against Lehigh in the Patriot League Tournament, grabbed a narrow 28-24 lead at halftime and led by as many as 12 points in the second half.

The Crusaders (19-12, 13-6) were led by forward Malcolm Miller with 19 points and eight rebounds and also got 12 points and six boards from center Dave Dudzinski.

No other players reached double figures and Holy Cross got just one point from its bench in the win.

Fresh off his Patriot League Rookie of the Year award, Lehigh guard Mackey McKnight led the Mountain Hawks (14-18, 7-12) with 18 points and eight rebounds, but no other player finished in double figures for Lehigh, which ended its season on a four-game losing streak.

Forward and leading scorer Tim Kempton had an off night and tallied just eight point and eight boards for Lehigh, while forward Justin Goldsborough also added eight points.

The Mountain Hawks were looking to advance to the Patriot League semifinals for the sixth straight year.

Holy Cross, the No. 3 seed, will now face No. 2 seed American University on Saturday in one of two semifinals.

History, however, is not on the Crusaders’ side as no team seeded lower than second has ever won the conference tournament title, with the No. 1 seed capturing 17 championships and the No. 2 seed taking six titles.