Focus checked by HC

WORCESTER -- Ralph Willard made it clear to his players that he wanted them to enter the Patriot League tournament with a very narrow vision.

Forget that the Crusaders were the top seed in the tournament that began last night at the Hart Center. Put aside the prospect of not having to leave campus to take the quantum leap into the NCAA Tournament. And block the memory that no team other than Bucknell in the eight-team league had beaten the Crusaders all season.

All Willard wanted his team to focus on was this game.

Consider Part 1 done as Holy Cross rolled into the semifinals with an 83-53 romp over eighth-seeded Lafayette in a performance that was precise and, for a large stretch of the first half, nearly perfect.

Make no mistake, the Crusaders (23-8), who will host fourth-seeded American University Sunday afternoon, knew they were better than the Leopards (9-21). The Crusaders had scored a pair of double-digit wins during the regular season and they knew that the biggest factor they had to deal with was overconfidence.

For the first 10 minutes, Lafayette played better than its record, grabbing an 11-10 lead. Then Willard called time and talked to his team about focus.

Despite their third consecutive 20-plus-win season, the Crusaders have not been to the NCAA Tournament since 2002, making it the seniors' crusade.

But after their chat with Willard, they put together a remarkable 24-2 spurt spanning 12 minutes 13 seconds.

Leading the way, as usual, were seniors Torey Thomas (13 points), the league's defensive player of the year, and Keith Simmons (12 points), the player of the year, as well as junior center Tim Clifford, who scored 18 of his team-high 22 points in the first 20 minutes.

By the end of the first half, Holy Cross had a 42-18 lead and even Willard was willing to ease up.

"He told us it was time to pick up the intensity," said Simmons. "We had to put some pressure on and do things we do best."

When asked if Willard offered his advice in a nice way, Simmons smiled and shook his head. "I gave you the PG version," he said.

Willard's desire for tunnel vision was rooted in Bucknell (2006, '05) and Lehigh ('04) spoiling Holy Cross's NCAA dreams.

"It was about focus," he said. "After that timeout, we did a much better job of doing that. And we played great defensively."

The advantage Holy Cross has this season is home court. Although Bucknell and Holy Cross had identical records and split their two meetings, Holy Cross won the tiebreaker by having a higher Ratings Percentage Index.

What's that advantage worth? The Crusaders have won 16 straight in the Hart Center.

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