MIDWEST: Kansas 70 – Holy Cross 59

ST. LOUIS – The scene on the bench for top-seeded, perennial powerhouse Kansas: Second-leading scorer Kirk Hinrich was on crutches, his left ankle shredded late in the first half. Third-leading scorer Nick Collison had four fouls.

Flash to the bench of No. 16 seed Holy Cross during the second-half timeout.

“We talked in our huddle about how we were going to win the game and make history,” Holy Cross senior point guard Ryan Serravalle said.

They weren’t alone. Many in the Edward Jones Dome felt that way as Holy Cross led with less than nine minutes left.

But All-American center Drew Gooden didn’t let the upset happen and Kansas pulled away in the final minutes, winning 70-59. Gooden totaled 19 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, all while being taunted with “Dwight! Dwight!” He consistently made the Crusaders pay for double-teaming him by hitting the open man with passes.

Outside of Gooden working his magic, Kansas had a difficult time getting anything going against the aggressive matchup zone employed Holy Cross. Jeff Boschee (13 points, three of four 3-point shots) was Gooden’s only teammate in double figures.

The Crusaders (18-15) made Kansas (30-3) earn the win. That, however, was of no consolation to the losers.

If Holy Cross could have held it together in the final minutes, instead of giving in to exhaustion, the school might have pulled off the biggest upset in tourney history.

“We feel like somebody ripped our hearts out,” Serravale said. “We’re definitely not satisfied with moral victories.”

A year ago at this time, Holy Cross scared the daylights out of Kentucky and lost by four points in the first round.

Last night, Kansas outscored Holy Cross 10-2 in the final three minutes to win the game after trailing 37-35 at the half.

Hinrich’s ankle, “doesn’t look the best,” according to Kansas coach Roy Williams. “It’s a severe sprain. He’s twisted his ankle several times during his career, but he’s always been able to get up, limp and play. This one was worse, to say the least.”

Williams didn’t claim his team was perfect last night.

“We felt bad after the game,” Williams said. “But we’re still in the tournament. You like to be hollering and screaming and high-fiving, but we weren’t doing that tonight. We’ve played pretty games a lot this year. This was ugly, but we’re still playing and we feel very fortunate.”

Kansas advanced to tomorrow’s second-round versus the winner of last night’s Stanford/Western Kentucky game.

MIDWEST REGION

THE SCORES

at Sacramento

Wake Forest 83, Pepperdine 74

Oregon 81, Montana 62

at St. Louis

Kansas vs. Holy Cross (n)

W. Kentucky vs. Stanford (n)

STARS OF THE DAY

Craig Dawson, Wake Forest, 19 points, 5 3-pointers

STAT’S A FACT

Wake Forest shot 58 percent from field to 41.4 for Pepperdine, which was 10-of-28 from 3-point range.

HE SAID IT

“[Winning today’s] the best feeling I’ve had since I’ve been here. Nothing can compare to it, even a NIT championship.”- Dawson, a senior who was on Demon Deacons’ 2000 NIT champs but was playing yesterday in his first NCAA game.

TODAY’S GAMES

at Chicago

Creighton vs. Florida (12:30 p.m.)

San Diego St. vs. Illinois (30 min. after)

at Dallas

McNeese St. vs. Mississippi St. (7:55 p.m.)

Boston College vs. Texas (30 min. after)