Salukis end valiant crusade
COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Holy Cross seniors Torey Thomas and Keith Simmons accomplished what they set out to do at the beginning of the season by making it to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in their four-year careers, but somehow you knew that for these two, just getting here wasn't enough. They wanted to keep the season going for as long as they could.
Southern Illinois, Holy Cross's first-round opponent, wanted to send the Crusaders packing as soon as possible.
With their in-your-face defense, the Salukis prevented Holy Cross from getting into any kind of offensive flow, effectively took Simmons, the Patriot League player of the year, out of the game, and rattled Thomas into a poor shooting night.
Simmons's and Thomas's combined field goal shooting line -- 3 for 21 -- pretty much summed up the story of Southern's 61-51 victory at Nationwide Arena. Fouls (junior Tim Clifford fouled out with 3:04 to play) and missed free throws (22 of 31) also hurt the Crusaders.
The Salukis(28-6) improved to 24-3 when holding teams to fewer than 65 points.
Holy Cross finished 25-9.
The Crusaders, who came decked out in new purple sneakers with a white
Thomas finished with a team-high 15 points, 9 from the free throw line. Freshman Eric Meister added 14. Simmons was held to 4 points, snapping his streak of games in double digits at 44.
Holy Cross, making its first NCAA appearance since 2003, gave bigger-name foes Kentucky, Kansas, and Marquette all they could handle before falling in its three previous appearances.
In 2003, when Holy Cross battled Marquette down to the wire in a first-round game in Indianapolis, the Southern Illinois band, getting ready for the Salukis' upcoming game against Missouri, tried to spur on the Crusaders with chants of "Holy Upset! Holy Upset!"
Southern Illinois's drummers and trombone players obviously weren't so supportive last night.
The Salukis will face fifth-seeded Virginia Tech in second-round action tomorrow.
The Crusaders were trying to become the sixth No. 13 seed in the last seven years to win a first-round game. A Crusader victory would have also given the Patriot League three straight first-round wins. Bucknell won first-round games against Kansas and Arkansas the last two years.
Thomas, who was coming off a strong performance in the Patriot League tournament, struggled to get it going early, going 0 for 7 from the field in the first half. The Salukis kept the ball out of the hands of Simmons, Holy Cross's top scorer. Simmons was 0 for 3 from the field, three off-the-mark 3-point attempts, and scored his 3 first-half points from the line.
Sophomore forward Alex Vander Baan did a good job, as usual, early in the first half doing the grunt work, grabbing rebounds, forcing and chasing loose balls, and taking charges. Unfortunately, he picked up his third foul at the 4:36 mark.
Clifford sat after picking up his second with 6:54 left, but returned with 3:34 to play.
The Crusaders, with the relentless Salukis in their faces, missed their first five shots from the floor but got a big lift off the bench from freshman forward Eric Meister, who matched his career high with 9 points in the first half. He connected on all four of his attempts from the field and, midway through the half, scored 7 straight points. A driving Thomas dished off a bullet pass to Meister underneath started the mini streak.
Meister's basket off a pass from Vander Baan gave Holy Cross a 16-13 lead with 8:34 to play.
Southern Illinois got some transition baskets late in the half, including a steal and layup by Bryan Mullins and a Jamaal Tatum-to-Randal Falker alley-oop.
The Salukis, making their sixth straight NCAA appearance, led at halftime, 30-25.
Forward Matt Shaw, who scored 11 first-half points, opened the second half on the bench after hurting his ankle coming down on Pat Doherty on the last play of the first half. Tony Boyle played the second half for Shaw and scored a team-high 15 points.
