Courtesy of LehighSports.com
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Trailing 49-41 with 8:06 remaining, the Lehigh men’s basketball team went on an 18-0 run to take a 10-point advantage, on its way to a 64-59 win over Holy Cross on Monday evening in Stabler Arena. The win marked Lehigh’s fifth in a row as the Mountain Hawks move into a tie for second place in the league standings at 9-5, just one game behind first-place Bucknell with four regular season games remaining. Junior Austin Price led the Mountain Hawks with 20 points while classmate Tim Kempton tallied his third straight double-double.
“It’s not every day that you can play far less than your best and still come away with a win,” said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. “Holy Cross played a good game. We were grinding for a long time and were just waiting for that ball to go into the basket. We never really quite hit that big surge with the offensive explosiveness, but we stayed the course, we didn’t panic and we were able to come away with a win. There’s something to be said for that.”
Price’s effort marked the sixth time he’s reached 20 points this season. Kempton bounced back from a slow start to finish with 15 points, all in the second half, along with 12 rebounds. It marked his eight double-double this season and 28th of his career. Sophomore Kahron Ross added 17 points and three assists to just one turnover as the Mountain Hawks turned the ball over just nine times for the game and just twice in the second half.
Ross opened the scoring less than a minute into the game, but Holy Cross responded with seven of the next nine points to take a 7-4 advantage with 16:14 on the first-half clock. The Mountain Hawks answered with a 6-0 run, five of the points scored by Price, as his layup gave Lehigh a 10-7 lead.
Holy Cross came right back with a 7-0 run as a Robert Champion trey gave the Crusaders a 14-10 lead with 10:03 on the clock.
The teams went back and forth over the rest of the half as a Tyler Jenkins trey gave Lehigh a 16-14 advantage, but just under four minutes later, another Champion trey gave Holy Cross a 19-17 lead.
Price hit two three-pointers in the final 3:10 of the half, but an Anthony Thompson trey gave the Crusaders a 26-25 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Price (4-of-6) and senior Jesse Chuku (2-of-3) combined to knock down six of Lehigh’s nine first-half field goals, but the Mountain Hawks shot just 35 percent in the first (9-of-26).
Holy Cross scored the first five second-half points to open a six-point, 31-25 advantage. The Mountain Hawks responded with six of the next eight points as a pair of Kempton free throws pulled Lehigh within 33-31 with 15:05 on the clock.
The run was short-lived as Holy Cross came right back with a 6-2 run of its own as a Champion three gave the Crusaders a 39-33 lead with just over 13 minutes remaining.
A Ross three-point play pulled Lehigh within three, but Holy Cross quickly answered with five straight points to reopen an eight-point, 44-36 advantage.
Trailing by eight (49-41) with 8:06 on the clock, Lehigh’s defense buckled down and its offense began to catch fire. An 18-0 run began with a Ross jumper and continued with two Price free throws more than two minutes later. Two straight Kempton layups evened the score at 49 with3:57 on the clock then a long two-pointer from Price gave the Mountain Hawks a 51-49 advantage with 3:05 remaining.
Lehigh’s next eight points were all from the free throw line, six from Kempton and two from Ross before Karl Charles ended the run, knocking down a free throw to cut Lehigh’s lead to 59-50 with 41 seconds on the clock.
The Crusaders knocked down two three-pointers in the final 30 seconds to pull as close as three, but Ross sunk two free throws with 10 seconds on the clock for the 64-59 victory.
“Those were important free throws for us,” said Reed. “We needed to be able to step up and knock them down. I thought Kahron was assertive in an important stretch.”
Lehigh shot 37 percent from the field (18-of-49) and 27 percent from three-point range (4-of-15). The Mountain Hawks also hit 24-of-31 free throws (77 percent). Holy Cross finished at 35 percent (22-of-63) and 41 percent from long distance (12-of-29). The Mountain Hawks won the battle of the boards, 40-37.
Lehigh now hits the road for a Wednesday evening showdown at Navy. Opening tipoff is set for 7 p.m. The Mountain Hawks return home on Sunday (Feb. 21) to host Lafayette at 12 p.m. on Senior Day.
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