Courtesy of LehighSports.com
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Riding four straight victories, the Lehigh men’s basketball team returns home on Monday for a CBS Sports Network showdown vs. Holy Cross. Opening tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. with Jason Knapp and Mo Cassera on the call. Last time out, the Mountain Hawks won their third game in five days and fourth in eight with an impressive 80-65 victory at first-place Bucknell.
Monday’s game vs. Holy Cross is part of a RecycleMania promotion in order to raise awareness of sustainability. RecycleMania is a friendly competition and benchmarking tool for college and university recycling programs to promote waste reduction activities to their campus communities. Over an eight-week period each spring, colleges across the United States and Canada report the amount of recycling and trash collected each week and are in turn ranked in various categories based on who recycles the most on a per capita basis, as well as which schools have the best recycling rate as a percentage of total waste and which schools generate the least amount of combined trash and recycling.
Last Wednesday, Lehigh came out on fire against the Bison, opening at one point, a 41-15 advantage with 6:10 remaining in the first half. From there, Bucknell responded to outscore the Mountain Hawks 34-17 over the next 13:17, but Lehigh had an answer. A three-pointer pulled Bucknell as close as nine with 12:53 still on the clock, but the Mountain Hawks wouldn’t let the Bison pull any closer, on their way to their fourth win at Sojka Pavilion in the last six attempts. It also marked Lehigh’s fifth wire-to-wire win of the Patriot League season as the Mountain Hawks have trailed for just 19:15 over their eight league victories. Lehigh has won those eight games by an average of 13.9 points while losing its five games in league play by an average of 4.0 points.
Lehigh’s five starters combined to score all 80 points, led by a career-high 24 points from sophomore Kahron Ross on 10-of-15 shooting. He added six assists to move from ninth to seventh on Lehigh’s single-season list, currently owning 139. Junior Tim Kempton posted his second straight double-double, and 27th of his career, with 23 points and 12 rebounds, classmate Austin Price scored 16 points and freshman Kyle Leufroy tallied 12 points and eight boards. Senior Jesse Chuku finished with an efficient stat line of five points on 2-of-3 shooting, three rebounds, two steals, an assist and block.
The Mountain Hawks exceeded 50 percent shooting for the fifth time in their last eight games and seventh time this season. Lehigh finishedWednesday night shooting 53 percent from the field (30-of-57) after beginning by hitting 14 of its first 20 shots (70 percent). The Mountain Hawks also knocked down 7-of-17 three-pointers (41 percent) as all five starters hit a trey.
Lehigh’s defense was strong, holding down a Bucknell team that was averaging 79.1 points per game coming in to just 65 points on 42 percent shooting. The Mountain Hawks also tallied 11 steals, their first time in double figures since recording 14 steals against Stony Brook. Price tied a career-high five steals for a second straight game. In the end, Lehigh had 13 turnovers while helping force 18 Bucknell turnovers. The defensive effort came after allowing the Bison to shoot 51 percent from the field and 50 percent from three-point range in the first matchup, an 82-76 Bucknell victory.
The most recent win helped Lehigh remain in a tie for second place in the league standings with Boston University and Navy. After the Terriers and Midshipmen won on Saturday, the Mountain Hawks enter Monday in fourth place, one half game behind second place. With a win on Monday, Lehigh would jump right back into a tie for second and within just one game of Bucknell in first.
Holy Cross is in the midst of an up-and-down season, standing 10-14 overall and 5-8 in Patriot League play. The Crusaders are 2-2 over their last four games, beating Navy then falling at American and vs. Bucknell before responding with a home victory over Lafayette last time out. Robert Champion leads three Crusaders in double-figure scoring with 11.5 points per game. He’s followed by Malachi Alexander with his 10.8 scoring average, to go with team-high 5.4 rebounds per game. Karl Charles is in the midst of a strong freshman season, tallying 10.5 points and 4.4 rebounds per contest. Anthony Thompson leads the team with 69 assists.
Lehigh’s win over Holy Cross on Jan. 16 pulled the Mountain Hawks within 39-19 in the all-time series, with the teams splitting the last 10 meetings. Lehigh won three in a row from 2012-13 and the Crusaders responded with the next three, before the teams split the 2014-15 season series. Last season, the Mountain Hawks won the first meeting at home, 69-64 before dropping a 58-52 final at Holy Cross. This season’s road victory was Lehigh’s largest-ever win at Holy Cross in the all-time series. It was also Lehigh’s third win at the Hart Center in the last 23 attempts, all coming in the last seven seasons (3-5 record in that span). Lehigh and Holy Cross first met in 1976, an 84-60 Holy Cross victory, before reconvening for Patriot League play in the early 1990s.
After Monday’s game, Lehigh hits the road for a Wednesday night showdown at Navy. Opening tipoff is set for 7 p.m. The Mountain Hawks then return home on Sunday, Feb. 21 for their Senior Day Game against archrival Lafayette. Tip is set for 12 p.m.
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