Devin Brown scored 21 of his 32 points in the second half as Holy Cross pulled away for an 86-64 win over Boston College in the 111th meeting between the schools on Friday night.
R.J. Evans scored 14 points and Dave Dudzinski added 10 points for the Crusaders (1-2), who opened last season 0-8 and lost 13 of their first 14 games.
Jordan Daniels had 15 points and John Cahill had 13 to lead Boston College (1-1). The Eagles played without their leading scorer in the season-opening win over New Hampshire - forward Patrick Heckmann, who was sidelined with a sprained ankle.
The intrastate rivals - located about 35 miles apart - first met in 1906.
Holy Cross shot 53.4 percent from the field, connecting on 11 of 21 from behind the 3-point line. Boston College went only 8 of 27 on 3s.
The Crusaders led by eight at halftime and had their advantage sliced to 45-40 on Dennis Clifford's basket with just over 17 minutes to play. But they outscored BC 8-2 over the next 2 1/2 minutes to pull ahead 53-42 on Evans' driving basket with 14 1/2 minutes left.
The Eagles closed their deficit below double digits for the last time in the game on K.C. Caudill's two free throws, making it 53-44. The Crusaders then broke it open with a 17-7 run over the next six minutes. Evans had seven points in the run and Brown scored five, capping it with a 3-pointer from the right wing that made it 70-51 with 8:23 to play.
That was it for the young Eagles, who have nine freshman on the team and lost 10 lettermen from last season's squad.
Holy Cross opened a double digit lead twice in the first half before taking a 38-30 edge into intermission. The Crusaders shot 57.7 percent in the opening 20 minutes, nailing 7 of 10 from beyond the 3-point line.
Leading 16-13, the Crusaders went on a 12-3 run over a 3:48 stretch. Justin Burrell started the spree with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Miller and Brown nailed 3s on consecutive possessions later in the spurt.
BC closed the gap to 30-24, but Holy Cross scored eight of the next 11 points. Once again, it was a 3-pointer that started the run - Brown hit one from the top of the arc.
The Eagles shot just 40.7 percent from the floor in the first half, missing 11 of 16 on 3-point attempts.
