'Saders upend Raiders; HC storms back vs. league leader.

Byline: Bill Doyle

WORCESTER -- How does a last-place team prove to everyone that it's better than its record?

Beating the first-place team should do it.

That's what the Holy Cross men's basketball team did Thursday night at the Hart Center, handing Colgate a 70-60 defeat.

HC snapped a two-game losing streak and improved to 9-12, 4-7 in the Patriot League, tied with Navy for last place. Colgate fell to 10-14 and dropped into a tie for first with Bucknell at 7-4 in the league. HC defeated Bucknell, 65-62, in overtime here last month. The Crusaders visit Bucknell on Sunday.

As far as Colgate coach Matt Langel is concerned, HC isn't a typical last-place team. In fact, he doesn't consider anyone a typical last-place team in the tightly contested Patriot League.

"Usually a last-place team,'' Langel said, "doesn't beat the two teams who have had the most success in the league. I think it's really a jumble. It's cliche, and it's coach-speak, but any team in our league is going to be able to beat any other team in our league.''

HC coach Milan Brown admitted he hadn't been checking out the Patriot League standings lately because he didn't want to see the Crusaders at the bottom, but he did look at them after beating Colgate.

"At the end of the day,'' Brown said, "after all the close games that we lost, we're three games out of first, which is crazy, but it's good for our psyche.''

HC fell behind by 14 in the first half, and senior Malcolm Miller, the team's leading scorer this season, went to the bench after picking up his third foul on a charge early in the second half and the Crusaders still trailing, 36-27.

The Crusaders not only didn't panic, they rallied without him. In a 57-50 home loss to American on Monday, Miller had 19 points, but no other Crusader scored more than six. Over the final 101/2 minutes Monday, Miller scored nine points and his teammates combined for just five. After Miller got into foul trouble against Colgate, he didn't score a basket in the second half, but the Crusaders shot 66.7 percent (16 of 24) after intermission.

By the time Miller returned with 7:38 left, the Crusaders had pulled even, 49-49. Malachi Alexander scored 10 of his 14 points in the second half, including a 3-pointer to cap an 11-0 run that put HC on top, 57-49, with 4:48 left. The 6-foot-7 sophomore sank another 3-pointer with 1:25 remaining after Colgate had pulled within 61-57.

"That was a confidence shot...