By PAUL GOTHAM
The No. 2-seed Lehigh Mountainhawks (17-14/13-5) put their school-tying record 11-game win streak on the line when they take on the No. 9-seed Holy Cross Crusaders (13-19/5-13) in Wednesday’s Patriot League Championship. Lehigh will look for its fourth PL title and first since 2012 while Holy Cross has won a league record five championships with its last coming in 2007. Holy Cross advanced to the Patriot League championship for a record 11th time. Holy Cross is 6-0 against Lehigh in the PL toruney, but Wednesday’s meeting marks the first at the Mountainhawks Stabler Arena. A 7:30 tip off is scheduled. The game will be televised on CBS Sports Network and broadcast on Westwood One.
Lehigh swept the season series with an 87-66 win at Worcester on January 16 and 64-59 win at home, February 15.
How they got here:
Lehigh defeated Navy, 65-63 in the Patriot League quarter-finals and followed with a 78-62 win over American University in the semi-final round. Holy Cross defeated Loyola (Md), 72-67 to open the PL tourney before upsetting top-seeded Bucknell, 77-72 in double overtime. The Crusaders then knocked off Army West Point 60-38 in the semis.
Projected Starters: Lehigh
Kahron Ross 11.2 ppg 6.1 apg
Austin Price 13.3 ppg 3.5 rpg
Kyle Leufroy 10.5 ppg 3.9 rpg
Jesse Chuku 9.7 ppg 5.4 rpg
Tim Kempton 17.6 ppg 9.6 rpg
Holy Cross
Karl Charles 11.2 ppg 4.3 rpg
Eric Green 3.6 ppg 2.2 rpg
Malachi Alexander 11.2 ppg 5.3 rpg
Anthony Thompson 7 ppg 2.3 rpg
Cullen Hamilton 9.3 ppg 2.4 rpg
Holy Cross Statistical Comparison Lehigh
65.5 Scoring Average 71.4
70.1 Scoring Defense 69.4
-4.6 Scoring Margin +2.0
41.2 Field Goal Pct. 45.8
46.0 Field Goal Pct. Defense 43.5
32.5 Three-Point Pct. 39.6
36.7 Three-Point Pct. Defense 35.9
69.6 Free Throw Pct. 72.6
30.3 Rebounding Avg. 34.2
-5.4 Rebounding Margin +0.9
11.1 Turnover Avg. 13.1
13.2 Forced Turnover Avg. 12.7
+2.1 Turnover Margin -0.4
Lehigh Game Notes Holy Cross Game Notes
2015-16 Men’s Basketball All-Patriot League Team and Major Awards
Player of the Year: Tim Kempton, Lehigh (Jr., F/C)
Defensive Player of the Year: Will Kelly, Navy (Sr., C)
Rookie of the Year: Delante Jones, American (Fr., G/F)
Coach of the Year: Nathan Davis, Bucknell
First-Team All-Patriot League# Eric Fanning, Boston University (Jr., G)
Chris Hass, Bucknell (Sr., G)*
Tim Kempton, Lehigh (Jr., F/C)*
Tanner Plomb, Army West Point (Sr., F)
Kahron Ross, Lehigh (So., G)
Austin Tillotson, Colgate (Sr., G)
*Unanimous first-team choice
Second-Team All-Patriot League#
Kevin Ferguson, Army West Point (Sr., C)
Nana Foulland, Bucknell (So., C)
Will Kelly, Navy (Sr., C)
Jesse Reed, American (Sr., G)
Andre Walker, Loyola (So., G)
Third-Team All-Patriot League
Stephen Brown, Bucknell (So., G)
Tilman Dunbar, Navy (Sr., G)
Austin Price, Lehigh (Jr., G)
Kyle Wilson, Army West Point (Sr., G/F)
# – Six players on the first team and five players on the second team due to ties in the voting.
All-Defensive Stephen Brown, Bucknell (So., G)
Nathan Dieudonne, Boston University (Sr., F)
Kevin Ferguson, Army West Point (Sr., C)
Ryan Frazier, Bucknell (Sr., G)
Will Kelly, Navy (Sr., C)
All-Rookie Karl Charles, Holy Cross (Fr., F)
Kyle Foreman, Boston University (Fr., G)
Delante Jones, American (Fr., G/F)
Kyle Leufroy, Lehigh (Fr., G)
Malcolm Regisford, Colgate (Fr., F/C)
Leave a Reply