Holy Cross Posts Impressive 64-41 Victory Over Brown :: Tim Clifford leads Crusaders with 21 points and seven rebounds.

Dec. 7, 2005

WORCESTER, Mass. - Sophomore center Tim Clifford (Walpole, Mass.) scored a career-high 21 points to go along with seven rebounds and four blocked shots, leading the Holy Cross men's basketball team to a 64-41 victory over Brown at the Hart Center. Clifford made nine of 12 attempts from the floor, including his only three-point attempt, and was also a perfect two of two at the free throw line. The Crusaders improve to 4-4 overall this season with the win, while the Bears fall to 1-5 with the loss.

Brown opened the game with a 9-5 lead after four minutes of play, but Holy Cross responded with a 10-0 run of its own to take the lead for good. The Crusaders were still up by just five points (26-21) with five minutes left until the intermission, before closing out the half with an 11-1 spurt to take a 15-point lead into the locker room.

The Bears scored the first four points of the second half to trim the Holy Cross lead to 11, but that was as close as Brown would get the rest of the night. The Crusaders used a 15-6 run to increase their lead to 20 points with just under 10 minutes remaining, before eventually expanding the lead to 23 points in the final minute.

Junior guard Keith Simmons (Kingston, N.Y.) finished the game with 14 points and five assists, while senior guard Kevin Hamilton (Queens Village, N.Y.) added 12 points, six rebounds and two steals. Brown was led by junior forward Sam Manhanga with 18 points and five rebounds.

The Crusaders made eight of 19 shots from three-point range on the day (42.1 percent), and also outrebounded the Bears 37-29. In addition, Holy Cross held Brown to just 28.6 percent shooting from the field (14 of 49), including just 12.5 percent from three-point range (two of 16).

Holy Cross will be off for the next week and a half for final exams, before returning to action at the San Juan Shootout in Carolina, Puerto Rico, from Dec. 19-21. The Crusaders open play in the San Juan Shootout against Tennessee-Chattanooga on Monday, Dec. 19, at 12:00 p.m. (EST).