The good news: Holy Cross is off to a 3-0 start. If they keep winning, the Boston papers will start giving them some ink. That is good news for two reasons – A) Because it will give us something to link to and more important, B) The Globe will then pick up the Worcester Telegram-Gazette’s stories (both are owned by the NY Times), meaning extra money in our pockets when the Crusaders come south for league play.

The bad news: The Boston papers haven’t taken notice of the ‘Saders yet. Since the T-G requires subscriptions for its Web site, that presents a linking challenge. Fortunately, two papers covering Marist were on hand.

Here’s a highly edited excerpt from Bill Doyle’s story in the T-G. Thank God for the fair use doctrine eh?

WORCESTER— Kevin Hyland, like his father, is a center who can block. But they do it in entirely different ways.

Bob Hyland blocked in football as a center for the Green Bay Packers and won a championship ring in Super Bowl II.

Kevin Hyland started at center last night in place of the injured Nate Lufkin and blocked two shots and scored a career-high 13 points as the Holy Cross men’s basketball team breezed to a 79-52 victory its home opener over Marist at the Hart Center.

Hyland also scored his previous career high against Marist, 11 points in a loss to the Red Foxes in January. The 6-foot-7 junior made all five of his shots last night, but more importantly he, John Hurley and Tim Clifford took turns double-teaming Marist center Will McClurkin and forced him into an 0-11 night.

McClurkin, a 6-foot-9 senior, may not be another Rik Smits, the most famous basketball player to play at Marist, but McClurkin was the team’s leading returning scorer from a year ago. Will Whittington entered the night averaging a team-high 17.8 points for Marist, and McClurkin was second at 12.8, but HC held them to a combined 1-of-19 shooting and four points.

Lufkin, HC’s 6-foot-11 senior, slipped on the floor in practice Friday and twisted an ankle. He suited up last night but didn’t play. Hyland found out a half hour before tipoff that he was going to make his fifth career start.

Hurley, Kevin Hamilton and Greg Kinsey each scored 10 points as HC shot 53.8 percent. Hyland grabbed only one rebound, but Hamilton helped make up for the loss of Lufkin underneath by collecting a team-high nine boards. Hurley seized eight. Clifford, a 6-foot-10 freshman, had nine points, seven rebounds and an amazing six blocks. Clifford blocked 12 shots in a game against Dedham High as a sophomore at Walpole High.

"But that’s against centers 6 feet tall," Clifford said. "High school is a different world. That’s misleading."

The Crusaders played their usual stifling defense, limiting Marist to 30.5 percent shooting. The Red Foxes made only six of 31 shots (19.4 percent) in the first half as HC took command, 39-17.

The Crusaders improved to 3-0 for the first time since the NCAA Tournament team of 1992-93 also began 3-0. When Princeton visits the Hart Center on Wednesday, HC will try to get off to a 4-0 start for the first time since the 1988-89 team won its first six games.

The Middletown Record said Holy Cross was dominant in this one:

Marist (2-3) struggled mightily from the outset, falling behind by counts of 9-0, 16-1 and 22-4. The Red Foxes, who drew no closer than 20 points over the final 22 minutes, missed their first eight shots from the field and shot a season-low 31 percent (18-for-59) from the floor.

And the Poughkeepsie Journal was impressed by the Crusaders balance(Box Score).

New Hampshire 77, Army 71 -- Sophomore guard Matt Bell scored almost half (34) of the 0-4 Cadets' points (Box Score). The Middletown Record points out only two Army teams in history have ever started 0-6. Fortunately this year’s squad has D-III Polytechnic coming to West Point on Wednesday. Gotta give The Record props, by the way, they staffed both Marist and Army on the road Sunday.

VMI 78, Navy 73 -- Checked the Baltimore Sun, Washington Post and the Washington Moonie, err … times. Found a total of four sentences, all in the Post’s area wrap.

Levar Joseph scored 18 points in the Keydets' first win over the Midshipmen.

Joseph and Matt Coward each sank two free throws in the final 14 seconds to protect VMI's lead and help it break a 21-game losing streak in the series.

Coward had 16 points and converted 12 of 14 free throws for the Keydets (2-0).

Matt Fannin led Navy (2-2) with career highs of 20 points and 13 rebounds, his first career double-double.

You should find a story from the Annapolis Capital later today, Their site usually updates around noon.

Meanwhile, here's the wrap and box score from Navy Sports.com