FAIRFIELD, CONN – Cane Broome registered career highs in both points and rebounds as the Sacred Heart University men's basketball team won its third straight game by defeating Holy Cross, 81-68, on Saturday afternoon in the William H. Pitt Center. The freshman was one rebound shy of a double double as he scored a game-high 25 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds. SHU shot 55.1 percent from the field, while limiting the Crusaders to 32.4 percent to move to 4-3 on the year. Anthony Thompson and Justin Burrell led Holy Cross with 16 each, as the Crusaders fell to 4-2. 

Trailing 40-27 at half, Holy Cross opened with a 7-3 run to pull within nine at the 17:37 mark. From there Sacred Heart would score 7 unanswered to stretch its lead to a game-high 16. Broome started the spurt with a traditional three-point play. De'von Barnett then scored the last four, including an alley-oop from Broome, to stretch the advantage to 50-34 with 15:22 left in the game. The lead also ballooned to 16 on two other occasions, at the 11:25 and 10:50 mark, the latter being the result of a Broome three-point basket.

That three pointer would trigger Holy Cross' largest run of the game, as they outscored the Pioneers 9-0 over the next 2:24 to get within seven at 63-56 with 8:26 remaining. The surge included 5-5 form the FT line and was capped by a Burrell layup.

SHU answered with seven straight of its own to bring the lead back to 14. After Phil Gaetano and Steve Glowiak each went 2-2 from the line, Evan Kelley drained a three-pointer to give Sacred Heart a 70-56 advantage with 6:20 left in the game.

The Crusaders would get within single digits once more at the 2:36 mark, but could get no closer, as SHU would go 13-16 from the line in the final 7:56 to ice the game.

Gaetano tallied a season-high ten assists and seven rebounds, while Jordan Allen and Kelley both chipped in with 14 points each. The Pioneers outrebounded Holy Cross 42-35 and held a 42-26 advantage in the paint.

The Crusaders gained their first and only lead of the game following a Thompson layup to make it 9-8 with 12:14 left on the first half clock. Sacred Heart quickly responded with a 7-0 spurt to go ahead 15-9 at the 10:58 mark. Gaetano highlighted the run with a trifecta followed by an assist on Allen's layup to cap it.

Over the next two and half minutes, Holy Cross got within three points on three separate occasions. After Thompson made a trifecta to cut the lead to 24-21, SHU closed the half on a 16-6 flurry, including an 8-0 run to go up 32-21 with4:03 left before half. Broome scored four straight during the surge in between a Tevin Falzon layup and two Allen free throws.

Shortly before the halftime break, the Pioneers twice stretched their lead to a first half high 13. With 1:25 remaining, Barnett dunked home a rebound to make it 36-23. After two Holy Cross free throws cut the lead back to ten, SHU stretched it back out to thirteen when Gaetano's cross court pass found Glowiak in the corner for a three-pointer to put the Pioneers ahead 40-27 with eleven seconds left. That score would hold going into the half.

The three game winning streak is the first for SHU since January 19-26, 2013. The Pioneers have now defeated two straight Patriot League opponents after going 0-6 over the past two years. The win over the Crusaders is the first since 2011, as Holy Cross had won three straight meetings

Sacred Heart will look to make it four in a row, including three straight over Patriot League foes, when it travels to Lafayette for a 7 pm tip on Monday night. The Leopards have started the season 5-2 and most recently defeated fellow NEC member Wagner 97-84 this afternoon.