Watch The Game

Holy Cross Game Notes 

FAIRFIELD, Conn. -- The Fairfield University men's basketball team opens the home portion of its 2007-08 schedule when it hosts the College of the Holy Cross on Tuesday, November 13 at the Arena at Harbor Yard. 

The Stags come off an 85-60 loss at Wake Forest in last Friday's opener. Mike Evanovich tallied a game-high 20 points in the setback, the only Stag to reach double figures in scoring. It marked the second time that the Stags opened a season against Wake Forest, also taking on the Demon Deacons to start the 1991-92 campaign (91-62 loss). Fairfield Tonight's game features the first of four 20-game winners on this year's Fairfield basketball schedule, which also includes Georgetown (30-7, NCAA Final Four), Niagara (23-12), and Siena (20-12). Holy Cross is also the first of three teams on the Stags slate that went onto the NCAA tournament a year ago, joining Georgetown and Niagara.

The College of the Holy Cross won its season opener for the fifth straight year with a 61-47 victory over Hofstra on November 10. Guard Pat Doherty tallied a team-high 18 points in the victory. The Crusaders will look for their fourth straight 20-win season this year, coming off a 25-9 mark a year ago. Head Coach Ralph Willard has led his team to six 20-win seasons in eight years at the helm, including a personal-best 26 wins in 2002-03. The team must find a way to replace its top two scorers from a year ago, namely Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas. Simmons averaged 16.9 points per game, while his 5.8 rebounding average was tops among his teammates. Thomas collected 13.7 points per contest, and dished off a team-best 160 assists in 34 games (4.7 per game). Tim Clifford is the team's top returning scorer, averaging 11.7 points per game as a junior.