Wednesday, November 25
Charlottesville, Va.
7:00 pm
Lehigh University
0-5
54
at
80
Virginia
5-1
1
2
F
Lehigh
28
26
54
Virginia
35
45
80
Mountain Hawks succumb to No. 12 Virginia second-half run
11/25/2015 10:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Lehigh men's basketball team held a lead for parts of the first half, but No. 12 Virginia ended the half on a 12-4 run and carried the momentum into the second, downing the Mountain Hawks 80-54 on Wednesday evening. Freshman Kyle Leufroy scored a career-high 14 points to help propel Lehigh's offense, while junior Tim Kempton also added 14 points. The Mountain Hawks return to action on Saturday when they travel to No. 15/16 Purdue.
"I was really so proud of our guys," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "You saw an effort, intensity and passion on display, scrambling to the ball. We were first to the basketball and chasing down long rebounds. We had the fight you really like to see."
Leufroy finished the evening shooting 5-of-7 from the floor, including 4-of-5 from three-point range. Eleven of his 14 points came in the second half. Kempton grabbed five rebounds while senior Jesse Chuku tallied five points and seven rebounds.
"It was great to see Kyle knock down those shots," said Reed. "He showed some sparks like that against Canisius. It would be great to get another guy to help spread the floor, plus he has the ability to drive and create. He has to be more disciplined with his drives and make sure he's picking and choosing the right opportunities, and also be careful that he doesn't leave his feet. He demonstrated some talent. One of the challenges with Kyle Leufroy is he'll have to gain court experience. These games are really important for him, as they are with our other players, to gain that experience and continue to grow moving forward."
Virginia was led by Preseason ACC Co-Player of the Year Malcolm Brogdon, who scored 23 points on 10-of-15 shooting.
A Kempton layup opened the scoring on the game's first possession. Virginia responded, setting the tone for a back-and-forth first half. A Kahron Ross jumper gave the Mountain Hawks a 6-4 advantage while a pair of Kempton free throws gave Lehigh an 8-6 advantage.
With Lehigh leading 10-8, Virginia staged an 8-0 run, all scored by Brogdon, to give the Cavaliers a 16-10 advantage with 13:05 left in the first half. After the teams traded three-pointers, the Mountain Hawks went on an 8-0 run of their own as a Austin Price trey, Ross layup and Leufroy three-pointer gave the Mountain Hawks a 21-19 advantage with 10:23 on the clock.
Lehigh continued to scrap and claw through the middle stages of the first half, which included one possession with multiple offensive rebounds by the Mountain Hawks. The scoring slowed down over the ensuing minutes, but a three-pointer from Chuku gave Lehigh a 24-23 advantage, forcing a Virginia timeout with 5:00 remaining in the first half. However, UVA ended the half on a 12-4 run to take a 35-28 lead into the locker room.
A balanced first half saw Kempton and Ross score eight points while Price added six. Lehigh shot 37 percent (10-of-27) while the Cavaliers shot 46 percent (15-of-33).
A Chuku layup off nice feed from Kempton began the second-half scoring, pulling Lehigh within five at 35-30. The Cavaliers answered with an 11-0 run over the next five minutes to take a 46-30 lead with 14:18 on the clock, forcing a Mountain Hawks' timeout.
Two Kempton free throws snapped Lehigh's 5:31 scoreless drought and pulled Lehigh within 46-32 with 14:00 on the clock. Less than one minute later, Leufroy hit his second three-pointer of the game to pull the Mountain Hawks within 48-35. The freshman was the story of the second half for Lehigh, knocking down a trio of three-pointers in the span of 4:53. His third pulled the Mountain Hawks within 63-45 with 8:18 remaining, but that's as close as they would come. UVA pulled away down the stretch for the 80-54 victory.
For the game, Lehigh shot 40 percent (20-of-50) and 35 percent from three-point range (8-of-23). Virginia finished at 52 percent (34-of-65) and 32 percent from long distance (6-of-19). The Cavaliers held a 37-29 edge in rebounds.
"Virginia is really good," said Reed. "Even some of the plays they made, we were trying to be in the right spot and we were working through all our proper positioning, but they made plays. We took a seven-point halftime deficit against a really good team, then over the course of the next nine minutes or so, we had six turnovers. Those turnovers created easy opportunities for them. We just got a little bit off track offensively during that time. Some of those mental miscues during that time allowed them to extend the game from seven points to a good distance."
The Mountain Hawks will remain on the road for another test at a nationally-ranked foe, No. 15/16 Purdue on Saturday. The game tips off at 7 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN3/WatchESPN.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
VA
FG%
.400
.523
3FG%
.348
.316
FT%
.750
.600
RB
29
37
TO
17
7
STL
3
9
Game Leaders
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
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