Courtesy of LehighSports.com
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Six Mountain Hawks scored double-figure points as the Lehigh men’s basketball team defeated visiting Eastern University, 95-70 on Sunday afternoon in Stabler Arena. With the win, the Mountain Hawks improve to 3-1 after four games for the first time since 2008-09, heading into a four-game road trip beginning with a Wednesday night showdown at No. 10 USC.
In the end, Lehigh played strong team basketball as 21 of the Mountain Hawks’ 35 field goals were assisted. Freshman Karnik tallied a team (and career) high 15 points and six rebounds, shooting 5-of-8 from the field. Sophomores Pat Andree and Jordan Cohen each had 14 points while junior Kyle Leufroy scored 12, freshman Caleb Bennett tallied a career-high 11 and junior Lance Tejada recorded 10. Bennett was a perfect 4-of-4 from the floor and 2-of-2 from the free throw line.
“There’s a time and a season when you really have to work on some things,” said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. “We’ve been talking a lot about how we want to grow, and how there are the things we need to improve upon. Eastern presented us a challenge where we were able to change some lineups, change some combinations and take a look at a couple things. Offensively, I was pleased because we had six guys in double figures and had so many assists. The ball was being shared and in the type of environment where guys can sometimes get a little bit greedy, so it was really good to see unselfishness from them.”
Along with the six in double figures, senior Kahron Ross finished with four points and eight assists compared to zero turnovers in 22 minutes as he inched ever closer to the Lehigh and Patriot League career assist records. Freshman Marques Wilson and sophomore Ed Porter each posted career-high point totals of seven and six, respectively.
Lehigh broke a 10-10 tie with an 11-1 run, beginning with a Cohen three-pointer and ending with a Cohen jumper which gave the Mountain Hawks a 22-11 advantage with 12:27 left in the first half. Not long after, Lehigh went on a 10-0 run to take a 32-14 lead. The run began with a jumper from Porter, included four points from Leufroy and ended with a Wilson jumper to give Lehigh a 32-14 advantage with exactly nine minutes to go in the first.
From there, Lehigh’s lead remained between 13 and 18 as Wilson hit a jumper as the first-half clock expired to give the Mountain Hawks a 45-29 advantage after 20 minutes of play.
Lehigh quickly extended its lead to 20 early in the second, but the Eagles wouldn’t go away. Eastern pulled back within 13 at 64-51 midway through the half, but Lehigh answered with a 7-0 surge capped off by a Leufroy fastbreak layup to give his side a 71-51 lead with 9:33 remaining. Lehigh’s lead eventually reached 27 following a Tejada trey with 3:31 on the clock, on the way to the 95-70 victory.
For the game, the Mountain Hawks shot 53 percent from the field (34-of-64), including 40 percent from three-point range (10-of-25). Eastern finished at 43 percent (25-of-58) and 39 percent from long distance (13-of-33). The Mountain Hawks held a 40-30 edge in rebounds.
“I really believe this team has adopted and bought into the idea of a team mentality,” said Reed. “They have done a much, much better job of that every week at practice and every day, making sure they’re sharing the basketball and trusting each other. We have playmaking players and guys who can make shots, but it’s really gratifying and rewarding as a coach when you can have all those guys share the ball at such a high level. It’s only going to make us harder to guard throughout the year because you don’t have to be focused on one guy. On any given night, a large number of guys can step up and score the basketball.”
The Mountain Hawks begin a four-game road trip on Wednesday when they play at No. 10 USC at 10 p.m. ET (7 p.m. locally). Lehigh’s next home game is Wednesday, Dec. 6 as it hosts Yale at 7 p.m.
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