Courtesy of LehighSports.com
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Senior Tim Kempton scored a career-high 36 points, 22 coming in the second half, to lead the Lehigh men’s basketball team to a wire-to-wire 79-73 win over American on Sunday afternoon in Stabler Arena. Kempton added 11 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season as the Mountain Hawks improved to 8-7, 2-2 in Patriot League play. Lehigh led by 11 at the half, then held off an American charge which saw the Eagles pull as close as three before the Mountain Hawks created separation in the final minutes.
Sophomore Kyle Leufroy added 16 points to eclipse 500 in his career, finishing 5-of-8 from the field, including 2-of-3 from three-point range. Lehigh attempted a season-low seven three-pointers on the afternoon, connecting on three.
“I’m glad we could finish it off. It was important for us to be able to take another step,” said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. “I think we got single-minded with our approach at times, particularly on offense. One of the things that really worked well for us was when the ball was moving from side-to-side, close outs were longer and people had to adjust.”
Senior Austin Price scored 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting. Both Price and Leufroy recorded a team-high three steals on the afternoon. Junior Kahron Ross also posted nine points, a career-high tying six rebounds and five assists.
“I was really pleased how we were able to grab tempo in the first half,” said Reed. “Some of the turnovers that we forced gave us some transition opportunities and our hands were active, which really made a difference. In the second half, we tried some different thing, but we were never able to gain that same tempo. American hurt us with some dribble penetration and they made some shots.”
Lehigh jumped out to an early 6-1 lead behind three points apiece from Kempton and Leufroy. The Eagles pulled within two at 10-8 and 12-10 then within one at 15-14 following a Jalen Rhea three-pointer.
Lehigh responded with a quick 6-0 run capped off by a Price layup to give the Mountain Hawks a 21-14 lead with 10:32 left in the first half. A few minutes later, Lehigh extended its lead further. Leading 26-21, it went on an 8-0 run which included four points from Kempton and ended with a Ross layup following a Leufroy steal to give his team a 34-21 lead with 4:20 on the first-half clock.
American got back within eight with 1:39 on the clock, but the Mountain Hawks scored five of the final seven first-half points to take a 42-31 lead into halftime.
The Mountain Hawks quickly extended their lead to 14 following a Price three-point play and Kempton layup, which made the score 47-33. However, the Eagles responded with an 11-0 run capped off by a Sa’eed Nelson layup to pull American within 47-44 with 12:57 on the second-half clock.
Lehigh eventually extended its lead back to seven with just over nine minutes remaining then eight after two Kempton free throws made the score 62-54 with 7:23 on the clock. American got back within four with 5:59 and 3:09 remaining, but the Mountain Hawks made big plays in the final minutes. A Price jumper gave Lehigh a 73-66 lead with 1:31 remaining then Ross came up with an acrobatic steal on the defensive end. The Mountain Hawks made enough free throws down the stretch to wrap up the 79-73 victory.
Lehigh shot 57.4 percent from the field (27-of-47) and 42.9 percent from three-point range (3-of-7). American finished at 46.4 percent (26-of-56) and 38.9 percent from long distance (7-of-18). The Mountain Hawks won the battle of the boards, 30-27.
The Mountain Hawks will hit the road on Wednesday (Jan. 11) to face Bucknell. Opening tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
“It should be a great game,” said Reed. “We have had some epic battles at Sojka Pavilion. If our guys go and play the brand of Lehigh basketball that we know they can, they relax on offense, trust each other, and they play hard and lose themselves in the moment on defense, I think that’s a formula for us to be successful.”
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