BETHLEHEM, Pa. – After topping Colgate in the Patriot League Quarterfinals, the Lehigh men’s basketball team shifts its attention to American as the Mountain Hawks (24-7) host the third-seeded Eagles (20-10) in the semifinals Saturday. Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. on CBS Sports Network with Bob Socci and Vince Curran on the call. American and Lehigh split a pair of regular season meetings.
Tickets for Saturday’s game are on sale on Lehighsports.com, over the phone (610-758-4263) or in-person at Stabler Arena, Monday-through-Friday between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Tickets cost $12 for adults and $6 for students/children/seniors.
Lehigh is looking to advance to its second Patriot League Championship Game in the last three seasons after winning the title in 2009-10. Ironically, the Mountain Hawks also defeated American in the semifinals that year. Saturday will mark Lehigh’s eighth nationally-televised game this season (six CBS Sports Network, ESPN2 and ESPNU).
The Mountain Hawks used a 15-0 second-half run to take a 22-point lead, on their way to a 70-57 win over Colgate Wednesday. Sophomore point guard Mackey McKnight was a big spark, scoring 14 of his team-high 16 points in the second half to help the Mountain Hawks pull away. The 16 points marked a season high, while he also added four rebounds, three assists and two of Lehigh’s 13 steals. Junior C.J. McCollum added seven to set a new Patriot League Tournament record. The seventh ended with a thunderous dunk with 1:32 remaining to give the Mountain Hawks a 66-53 lead and end any hopes Colgate may have had.
McCollum scored 15 points to pass former Lehigh great Mike Polaha for second in school history. He now has 1,974 heading into Saturday, needing only 26 to become the second player in school history and fourth in Patriot League history to reach 2,000 career points.
Lehigh enters Saturday riding six straight victories, tying its longest win streak of the season. The squad’s lost came at the hands of American, on Feb. 9 in Washington, D.C. The Mountain Hawks opened up a quick 21-10 lead before struggling to muster offense. American is an impressive 13-1 at home, but 7-9 away from home; the Eagles dropped a 71-60 final at Lehigh on Jan. 11.
A Lehigh victory would give the squad 25 wins this season, tying for the most overall wins by a Patriot League team over the last six years. The last time a Patriot League squad had more than 25 wins was in 2005-06 when Holy Cross posted 27. Since, the Crusaders won 25 games in 2006-07 and Bucknell 25 last season.
With their quarterfinal win over Army, the Eagles became the third Patriot League team with 20 wins. American enters Saturday with a 20-10 record after posting a 10-4 mark in league play. The Eagles are 7-2 over their last nine games with their only losses coming at Holy Cross and home vs. Bucknell. Two SEC transfers are leading the way, led by Vanderbilt transfer Charles Hinkle, who is second in the Patriot League with 18.4 points per game. Georgia transfer Troy Brewer, who was injured the first time these teams met, also averages double figures (11.8). Daniel Munoz averages 8.0 while dishing a Patriot League leading 126 assists. Blake Jolivette is next up with 7.5 points per game while Tony Wroblicky leads the team with six rebounds per contest; he had 18 points and 17 rebounds in the Feb. 9 meeting.
The Eagles hold a 22-15 edge in the all-time series, winning three of the last four. That came after the Mountain Hawks won all three games during their 2009-10 Patriot League Championship campaign. The sides met in that year’s league semifinals with Lehigh winning, 79-57. The sides first played in 1960-61, a 71-61 American victory before Lehigh got into the win column with a 63-47 win in 1964-65.
Should the Mountain Hawks win, they’d advance to the Patriot League Championship Game for the second time in three years. #2 Lehigh would either travel to top-seeded Bucknell or host #5 Lafayette. The title game is set for Wednesday at 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
Like Lehigh Men’s Basketball on Facebook for exclusive content, team updates and more: https://www.facebook.com/LehighMensBasketball. Vote C.J. McCollum for the Lou Henson Award: https://www.votelouhenson.com/.
| Date: | March 3, 2012 |
| Opponent: | American Eagles |
| Tip-off: | 2:00 PM |
| Arena/Capacity: | Stabler Arena/5,600 |
| Location: | Bethlehem, Pa. |
| Lehigh’s Record: | 24-7 overall, 11-3 Patriot League |
| American’s Record: | 20-10 overall, 10-4 Patriot League |
| Series: | American leads, 22-15 |
| Radio: | Live on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 AM and Lehighsports.com with Matt Kerr and Greg Falkenbach ‘72. Pregame coverage gets underway at 1:30 PM. |
| Television: | CBS Sports Network |
| Internet Video: | None |
| Behind Enemy Lines: | aueagles.com |
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