Courtesy of LehighSports.com
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s basketball team began the second half on a 16-0 run to turn a one-point halftime deficit into an impressive 68-51 win on Saturday in Stabler Arena. The Mountain Hawks (10-7, 4-2 Patriot League) have now won three straight games leading into a matchup at Navy next Wednesday. Senior Tim Kempton led the charge with 23 points and 17 rebounds to help Lehigh outrebound the Crusaders 40-20 on the afternoon.
“We started to establish ourselves in the second half, not only defensively, but offensively as well,” said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. “We had more of an attack mentality. I think we started the game that way; our guys were assertive, aggressive and confident. Then we slipped back a little bit. To begin the second half, we wanted to attack. Our guys responded. They responded in man-to-man, they responded in zone and they responded in full court. They responded with excellent ball movement that created some quality shots as well.”
Kempton’s 17 boards were just one shy of tying a career high and one from tying the Stabler Arena record. In the process, Kempton passed Dozie Mbonu for second place in school history for career rebounds (currently 943). He also moved from eighth to seventh in school history (and 12th to 11th in Patriot League history) in career scoring with 1,759 points. He finished 8-of-12 from the floor and a perfect 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Classmate Austin Price also had 13 points, four rebounds, two assists, a block and steal, shooting 3-of-5 shooting from three-point range.
In his second-career start, freshman Pat Andree had nine points and four rebounds, connecting on 2-of-3 three-pointers. Sophomore Kyle Leufroy tallied eight points while junior Kahron Ross recorded five points, seven assists and two steals.
Lehigh jumped out to an 8-0 lead behind a Kempton layup and consecutive threes from Price and Leufroy. Holy Cross came back with the next eight points as a Karl Charles layup evened the score at eight with 16:25 on the clock.
The Mountain Hawks quickly answered with 10 of the next 12 points to take an 18-10 advantage with 12:07 left in the first half. However, the Crusaders answered again, scoring 10 of the next 13 points capped off by a Charles three-pointer to pull Holy Cross within 21-20 with 5:28 remaining.
Lehigh regained a four-point advantage, but a Charles free throw with 11 seconds on the clock gave Holy Cross a 27-26 halftime lead.
The Mountain Hawks began the second half with a vengeance, scoring the first 16 points, capped off by consecutive three-pointers from Price and Andree to give Lehigh a 42-27 lead with 12:42 remaining. Holy Cross responded with a trey less than a minute later, but in the end, the Mountain Hawks held the Crusaders scoreless for the first 8:11 of the second half.
Holy Cross pulled as close as nine (52-43) following consecutive treys with 7:16 on the clock, but the Mountain Hawks answered with a 10-2 run as Price’s third three-pointer of the afternoon gave Lehigh a 62-45 lead, more than enough as the Mountain Hawks wrapped up the 68-51 win.
For the game, Lehigh shot 47.2 percent from the field (25-of-53), including 41.2 percent from three-point range (7-of-17). Holy Cross shot 40.0 percent (20-of-50) and 28.6 percent (6-of-21) from long distance. The Mountain Hawks held a dominant 40-20 edge in rebounds.
“Whenever we can hold our opponent to one shot, that’s critical,” said Lehigh. “We had forwards rebounding the ball very well. I thought our guys did a good job in some of those little aspects of the game. You also see, we had 10 assists in the second half compared to three turnovers. That ratio is pretty positive for us. That’s a good indication of some unselfish play.”
Lehigh will now hit the road next Wednesday to face Navy at 7 p.m. before returning home next Saturday to host Lafayette, also at 7 p.m. The game is presented by Urology Specialists of the Lehigh Valley and free foam fingers will be given away to the first 2,500 fans. In addition, several members of the 2011-12 Mountain Hawks, who beat Duke in the NCAA Tournament, will be returning for the game and will be recognized at halftime.
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