No. 1 Williams led by as many as 11 points twice in the second half and held on to win at Division I Holy Cross on Dec. 4, 78-71. It's the fourth Division III upset of a Division I men's team since the beginning of last season and the first of two on the night, as Fisk knocked off Tennessee State for the second consecutive year.

Holy Cross, which went 26-5 last season, won the Patriot League and took Marquette to the limit in the NCAA Tournament, fell to 2-3, while Williams won its 24th consecutive game. It was the teams' first meeting since a 33-18 Williams win Feb. 25, 1931.

Williams (7-0) hit a dozen 3-pointers on the night, while holding Holy Cross to one. Preseason All-American guard Michael Crotty finished with a team-high 23, while Chuck Abba added 21 and Ben Coffin 20. 

Thursday night proved to be another special night in the history of the Williams program, as the defending Division III national champion Ephs topped three-time defending Patriot league champion and NCAA Division I Tournament participant Holy Cross 78-71 in the Hart Center. 

With the win, the Ephs upped the nation's best win-streak to 24 and shattered the Crusaders' 14-game home win-streak. Holy Cross fell to 2-3 with the loss. 

Senior tri-captains Crotty, Abba, and Coffin combined to score 63 of the 78 points for Williams, led by Crotty's 23. The trio never shone as bright as they did during the later moments of the second half when on each possession, either Coffin, Crotty, or Abba would hit the big shot. 

"This is a win that validates our system to our players," Ephs coach Dave Paulsen said. "If we can perform successfully against Division I teams, we can also do it against Division III teams." 

In the early going, Paulsen's system might have caught the Crusaders off guard. After a putback to take a 2-0 lead, the Crusaders fell prey to an 11-0 Eph run that only relented after installing full-court pressure on the Ephs. Holy Cross utilized the pressure to maximize their size and speed advantage, and at least initially, it paid dividends. 

A 14-2 Holy Cross run gave the home team their final lead of the night at 20-19 with just over six minutes to play in the first half. While this might have been an appropriate time for the Ephs to fade, they instead countered with a solution to the Crusaders' pressure. Utilizing the passing ability of Coffin, the Ephs often found him on the inbounds to then break the press. 

On three ensuing possessions, Crotty hit two 3-pointers and Abba drilled another to put the Ephs up for good. 

"I was really happy with how we adjusted to the press," Coffin said. "We treated this game like any other in that we didn't focus on it too early in the week and we stayed in our routine throughout the game." 

Abba echoed Coffin's thoughts: "Getting off to a good start helped, but the key was believing we could win the game, and I think we really played like we believed." 

After taking an eight-point lead into the break, the Ephs traded baskets with the Crusaders for much of the second half and used the three-ball and inside presence of Coffin — as they have done consistently through the opening weeks of the season — to keep the Crusaders at bay. 

Whenever Holy Cross got within four points Crotty, Abba, and Coffin stepped forward. Emblematic of Coffin's play was an electrifying dunk while being hacked with nine minutes remaining to push the lead back to 11. Crotty and Abba performed their work from the outside as Crotty's 3-pointer with 3:20 left and Abba's with 1:26 remaining effectively closed the door on any comeback by the Crusaders. 

"Those three guys [Crotty, Abba, and Coffin] wouldn't let us lose," said Paulsen. "But I don’t want to take anything away from the job Jaris Cole did on Jave Meade — that was another key to the game." 

Cole limited preseason Patriot League Player of the Year Meade to just 10 points on 3-for-13 shooting. 

Although the Crusaders outrebounded the Ephs 42-29 and grabbed an astonishing 25 offensive rebounds, they struggled to find the basket, shooting just 37% for the game, and 1-for-9 from beyond the arc. 

"My hat goes off to them," said Holy Cross head coach Ralph Willard. "They did a great job and definitely deserved to win." 

While the Crusaders struggled from 3-point range, the Ephs excelled, nailing 12 on the night and shooting at a 52% clip overall. Crotty hit six of them and Abba added five from long-range. Crotty added six assists to go along with a game-high 23 points, Abba added 21, and Coffin scored 19 while grabbing a team-high eight rebounds. 

The Crusaders were led by Nate Lufkin who scored 16 points. John Turley scored 12 and hauled in a game-high nine rebounds.