St. Louis ? Maybe Holy Cross wasn’t Cinderella, but the Crusaders sure made Kansas look like one of Cinderella’s sisters.

“We’ve made every team we’ve played this year look ugly,” HC basketball coach Ralph Willard said after scaring the dickens out of Kansas in the NCAA Tournament on Thursday night.

Still, Kansas prevented Holy Cross from becoming the first No. 16 seed to knock off a No. 1 in the 17-year history of a 64- and 65-team tourney with a 70-59 victory.

Moreover, Drew Gooden’s dunk just before the buzzer also prevented the Crusaders from becoming only the 12th team out of 70 to come within single digits of a No. 1.

“I feel like someone ripped out our hearts, especially with us leading at halftime,” said guard Ryan Serravalle, the lone scholarship senior on the HC roster. “During a timeout in the second half, we felt we were going to win the game and make history.”

As a No. 15 seed last year, the Crusaders had come within four points of No. 2 seed Kentucky.

“After the Kentucky game last year, we knew we matched up well against Kansas,” Serravalle said. “We knew that, but we had to act humble to the media. And as the game went on we felt more and more so.”

Holy Cross led, 37-35, at the break and built leads of as many as five points three times before the Crusaders’ reservoir began to go dry.

“My biggest concern was trying not to wear down,” Willard said. “We basically have just six guys. They make you work so hard on offense that they tend to wear you down.”

No doubt Kansas, the nation’s highest-scoring team at 92 points a game, won this one with defense because the Crusaders shot only 28.6 percent in the second half (8 of 28) and 33.3 percent for the game (20 of 60).

Tim Szatko and Serravalle, the only HC players averaging in double figure this season, were a combined 6-of-31 from the field. Szatko was 4-of-19 and Serravalle 2-of-12.

In the last six minutes, KU outscored HC, 14-4, as the Crusaders missed nine of their last 10 shots. Their lone field goal during that stretch came on a goal-tending call against Wayne Simien.

Holy Cross had to be feeling good when Kirk Hinrich, KU’s All-Big 12 guard, went down with a sprained ankle just before the break.

“You never want to see anyone go down,” Szatko said, “but we knew Kansas would be more vulnerable without him and that they had to have some guys step up.”

Kansas did, of course, and Willard was hardly surprised.

“My opinion of Kansas hasn’t changed one bit,” Willard said. “Kansas is a great team and I respect the heck out of Roy (Williams). We wore down in the second half because Kansas is very physical and very talented.”

Close counts only in horseshoes, though, and Willard was feeling the pain.

“This loss hurts,” the Crusaders’ coach said. “It probably hurts more than the Kentucky game last year. But I think it’s going to motivate us next year.”

In the meantime, the Holy Cross contingent will be heading back to Worcester, Mass., and licking their wounds.

“I hope Kansas will win it all now,” HC center Patrick Whearty said, “so we can say we hung with the national champions.”