The Spire

Patrick Grudberg ’24

Sports Section Editor

The last two times the Crusaders have taken the court at the Hart Center, something special, something different has been in the air. As a second semester senior, I’ve seen my fair share of ups and downs (mostly downs) with this Holy Cross men’s basketball program. Coach Brett Nelson was never able to overcome the difficulties of recruiting and coaching amidst a global pandemic, no small task to be fair. But even after a tough non conference slate, I still held hope for this new regime led by first year coach Dave Paulsen. And finally, after seven semesters of disappointment, hope is abundant in the world of Holy Cross men’s basketball.

It all started on Monday, January 29th. The White Out doubleheader vs BU, which saw both the men’s and women’s teams take down their in-state rivals, was advertised like no other sporting event I have ever seen on campus. Kit Hughes and company pulled out all the stops to get students to the games. Free t-shirts. Endless boxes of free pizza. A chance at a new 2024 Nissan Altima? Even free tickets to any young students in the Worcester public school district. Everything and anything to get butts in seats. And boy did it pay off.

I had the pleasure of calling the men’s game vs BU on the radio for WCHC Sports (shameless plug). Out of the dozens of games I’ve called at Holy Cross, it was far and away the most electric broadcast I’ve ever experienced. Even after a slow start that saw the Terriers take a 26-14 lead with eight minutes to go in the first half, the crowd kept feeding the boys in purple and white. By the end of the half, the lead was down to four. And on the backs of freshman phenom Kahlil Singleton (who finished with 18 and was unconscious from deep) and veteran guard Bo Montgomery (15 points and a clutch free throw late), the Turnpike Trophy was theirs.

Coach Paulsen’s group has bottled that energy from White Out Monday and is slowly turning around their season. Including the BU game, they’ve won three of their last four, most recently a gritty, ugly contest with American University this past weekend. It was the first time the Crusaders were back home since the BU spectacle, this time greeted with an arena clad in purple shirts for the Giving Day Purple Out. Similar to the BU game, it took most of the first half for the Crusaders to get cooking on offense. After falling behind 23-11 after the first fifteen minutes, they were able to cut the lead down to six with some help from freshman guard AJ Wills who tied his career high with 12 points on the day. But even with seven minutes to play, the Eagles still held a comfortable 9 point lead. Slowly but surely, Paulsen’s boys chipped away and got some key stops on the defensive end. Bo Montgomery nailed a couple crucial baskets (5 points in the final 3:45 of play), but they still faced a two point deficit with thirty seconds to go.

That’s where Caleb Kenney stepped in. After contesting Matt Rogers’ hook shot, he took the rebound and raced down the court. Rogers, in a confusing sequence, tugged on Caleb’s jersey as he zoomed past him. The equivalent of a yellow card to stop the counterattack in soccer, the refs awarded the Crusaders a flagrant one. Kenney stepped up to the line, everybody at halfcourt as all flagrant foul shots are. The junior entered the game shooting about 52% from the stripe. He sank both of them. With the ball back after the flagrant, Montgomery drove left and found a cutting Kenney who threw up a layup to win the game. Foul call. Again. Kenney just needed one free throw to win the game with 2.7 seconds left. He rattled the first one in, and the second was money. Rogers hoisted a halfcourt heave at the buzzer, but it had no shot of going in. Somehow, the Crusaders were able to get out of Dodge with a 58-56 win. Coach Paulsen summed it up perfectly in the postgame interview: “We didn’t have our A game. I don’t know if we even had our B game. But to win while playing ugly is phenomenal.”

With six games to go, the Crusaders sit in 5th place in the Patriot League, tied with BU and Lehigh at 5-7 in conference play. They trail American and Bucknell who are tied for 3rd at 7-5, with a meeting vs Bucknell still ahead. A win vs Bucknell could catapult them ahead of the Bison, ironically Coach Paulsen’s former team about ten years ago. They will have faced Colgate on the road this Wednesday, the toughest game on any Patriot League team’s slate all year. But tomorrow (as you’re reading this Friday), the Crusaders are back home vs Army for Senior Day. March is only eighteen days away. For the first time in six years, Holy Cross could avoid the dreaded play-in round of the conference tournament. Needless to say, Coach Paulsen and company have transformed the culture and energy surrounding this program, and I can’t wait to see what’s in store in the final four weeks of the season.