Wednesday, December 2
Loretto, Pa.
7:00 pm
Lehigh University
0-7
73
at
84
Saint Francis (Pa.)
3-3
1
2
F
LEHIGH
36
37
73
Saint Francis
41
43
84
Mountain Hawks fall at Saint Francis (Pa.), 84-73
12/2/2015 9:54:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LORETTO, Pa. - After a tight first half, the Lehigh men's basketball team fell behind by 10 early in the second and could never recover as Saint Francis (Pa.) topped the Mountain Hawks, 84-73 on Wednesday evening. Lehigh closed the gap to three, but couldn't get any closer. Four Mountain Hawks tallied double-figure points, but it wasn't enough. Following a long four-game road trip, Lehigh will return home on Saturday.
"We had an opportunity in the second half to make sure that we continued to surge forward," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "There was a small stretch when our defense was okay, but we kept coming up empty on possessions. You can't turn the ball over three of your first four possessions to start out a half. Even some of the finishes we didn't have at the beginning of the game, you're talking about being up potentially by six or eight if we make some of those in-close finishes. I'm disappointed in the turnovers (19), but we've got to be able to guard some people. We're giving up 86 points per game. We're putting a lot of pressure on our offense. The defensive end of the floor has got to improve."
Junior Tim Kempton led the offense with 18 points and nine rebounds. Sophomore Kahron Ross tallied 16 points and eight assists while junior Austin Price had 12 points on four three-pointers and senior Jesse Chuku scored 11 points. Senior Justin Goldsborough also added six points, seven rebounds and two blocks off the bench.
The Mountain Hawks opened an early 6-2 lead as a Devon Carter steal led to a Ross fast break layup with 17:19 on the first-half clock. Saint Francis answered with six of the next eight points, behind a pair of Ben Millaud-Meunier threes, which evened the score at eight with 16:08 remaining in the first half.
The teams stood within a single possession for the next several minutes until the Red Flash broke an 18-18 tie by scoring nine of the next 11 points. A pair of Malik Harmon free throws gave Saint Francis a 27-20 advantage with 8:47 on the first-half clock.
The Mountain Hawks immediately responded with a 9-0 run, which included four points from Kempton and an emphatic Goldsborough put back dunk. A Kyle Leufroy free throw gave Lehigh a 29-27 advantage with 6:06 remaining in the first half.
The Red Flash answered by scoring the next eight points as Millaud-Meunier's third trey of the first half gave them a 35-29 lead with 4:07 to go. Lehigh pulled within one at 35-34, but Saint Francis scored six of the last eight first-half points to take a 41-36 lead into the locker room.
Kempton led Lehigh with 12 first-half points while Ross added eight. The Mountain Hawks shot 44 percent from the field (14-of-32) to Saint Francis' 46 percent (13-of-28). The Red Flash were helped by 5-of-9 shooting from three-point range. Lehigh was 1-of-10 from long distance in the first 20 minutes.
It took almost two minutes for either team to score in the second half. After a Chuku put back made the score 43-38, the Red Flash answered with five straight points to take a 48-38 lead with 16:30 remaining.
The teams traded mini 5-0 runs as Millaud-Meunier's fourth three-pointer helped Saint Francis regain a 10-point, 53-43 advantage with 14:43 on the clock.
Lehigh answered with a 9-2 run as six straight points - a Chuku trey and Ross three-point play - pulled the Mountain Hawks within three at 55-52 with 13:03 left in the second half.
Just under two minutes later, a Goldsborough layup pulled Lehigh within 61-56, but from there, the Mountain Hawks went on a 4:33 scoreless drought, allowing the Red Flash to score seven points in that span. An Isaiah Blackmon fast break layup made the score 68-56, forcing a Lehigh timeout with 7:12 on the second-half clock.
Lehigh immediately cut the lead in half with six straight points, all scored by Kempton, to pull within 68-62 with 4:19 remaining, but that's as close as the Mountain Hawks would get. The Red Flash eventually re-opened a 12-point, 76-64 lead, with just over one minute remaining. The Mountain Hawks hit three three-pointers in the final minute to pull within seven (80-73) following a Ross triple with 25 seconds on the clock, but that's as close as they would get.
For the game, the Mountain Hawks and Red Flash shot an identical 27-of-59 from the field (45.8 percent). Saint Francis hit one more three-pointer and knocked down 22-of-26 free throws, compared to Lehigh's 12-of-16. The Mountain Hawks held a 34-33 edge on the boards.
"We need to put it together," said Reed. "I think the lessons have been made laid out in front of us. It's now our turn to make sure we make adjustments. We have adjusted a little bit on the glass, rebounding the ball better. But we're still not defending off the dribble well and we're still not protecting the paint well. We've got to start seeing these things applied, particularly on the defensive end. We're just not getting it done defensively the way we need to."
Lehigh will return home on Saturday to host Rochester College at 2 p.m. The Mountain Hawks will then have a 12-day break of games for final exams before returning to action on Thursday, Dec. 17 at Robert Morris.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
SFUM
FG%
.458
.458
3FG%
.333
.421
FT%
.750
.846
RB
34
33
TO
19
12
STL
4
8
Game Leaders
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
16
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
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