Holy Cross and Navy carry the banner on a 2-2 night for league teams.

Holy Cross 84, Brown 71 box score -- It was the Keith Simmons show in Providence. The 6-4 sophomore came off the bench to score 30 points in a game that was a little out of character for the usually defensive minded Crusaders.

Ralph Willard told the Providence Journal:

"I'm not sure who this team was tonight. It was like watching an NBA game for a while. Both teams were working hard on defense. But there wasn't great communication. As a consequence, there were a lot of open looks."

The Crusaders scored 50 points in the first half. They only averaged 59 a game coming in, and that number was skewed by a 79-point performance against Marist, the only game in which HC had scored more than 60 all season.

Simmons, who came into the game averaging just over 8 points per game, hit 11-of-14 from the field, including a perfect 6-for-6 from outside the arc.

As Paul Kenyon points out in the Projo story:

Simmons was not alone. Kevin Hyland, who like Simmons came off the bench, hit all seven of his shots, all in the first half, on the way to 14 points, a career high. For the night, the Crusaders shot 58.9 percent (33 for 56) from the field and 61.5 percent (8 for 13) on 3-pointers.

Keep in mind, this is a team that entered the game shooting 40 percent from the field.

It might be worth noting that if you pull Simmons' and Hyland's numbers out of the mix, the rest of the Crusaders were 15-for-35 from the field, a very Holy Cross-like 43 percent showing.

You just know Willard couldn't be happy with the Crusaders defense, especially in the first half when Brown shot 57-percent from the field. The Bears' 42 first-half points were the most HC has allowed in a half all season. Only Minnesota (72) has scored more against the 'Saders in a game.

As Simmons told the Projo, when Kenyon asked about the 11-straight shots HC made during one stretch:

"Coach is very defensive-minded. I think he'll be happier with the nine straight defensive stops."

An interesting note tacked to the end of Jen Toland's story in the Worcester Telegram:

HC’s bench players accounted for 37 of the Crusaders’ first-half points as Simmons, Doherty, Hyland and Tim Clifford combined to make 16 of 17 shots.

Xavier 69, Lehigh 63 (box score) -- According to the Cincinnati Enquirer's story:

Xavier led by as many as 18 points in the second half, but with 1:44 to play, the margin had been cut to four points.

Suddenly, a fourth straight loss seemed like a shocking possibility . . .

Lehigh got no closer, as Xavier converted its free throws in the final minute.

Enquirer writer Dustin Dow made Cinci homeboy Nick Monserez sound like the second coming of Brett Eppehimer:

Moeller graduate Nick Monserez scored a game-high 20 points for Lehigh, which might have fared much worse in the first half without him. With the Moeller High School team in attendance, Monserez didn't miss a shot in the first half, scoring 12 points, nine from 3-point range. He finished 4-of-5 shooting from long range.

On the other hand, highly touted transfer Jose Olivero finished with 5 points on 2-of-9 shooting. In his last three games against Division I opponents, the second coming of Austin Rowland is 5-for-31 from the field, 19 points. No, that is not an average. That's his combined stats in the losses to Columbia, Harvard and Xavier.

In the game story on Lehigh's Web site, Billy Taylor said the Hawks "are going to try and use this game as a step in the right direction."

Something tells me the direction Taylor wants to go requires more from Olivero and less dependence on Monserez, who has reached double figures just two other times this season and is as capable of taking a collar as he is of lighting it up (as evidenced by the three Lehigh games this season in which he has not made a single field goal).

Navy 90, Mt. St. Mary's 81 (box score)-- Rick Belz of the Baltimore Sun said defense was the key for the Mids.

There's also a story in the Frederick News-Post. You'll need a password to read it. Feel free to use ours: hooptime (along with our hoop_time@hotmail.com e-mail address).

Loyola Marymount 64, Colgate 54 (box score) -- Here's the story from Colgate's Web site.