No. 10 USC proves too much for Lehigh, 88-63

LOS ANGELES – The Lehigh men’s basketball team battled to pull within 10 at the half, but USC began the second on a 10-0 run and the Mountain Hawks couldn’t get any closer than 15 the rest of the way in an 88-63 defeat on Wednesday evening at the Galen Center. Senior Kahron Ross was stellar, scoring 24 points to tie a career high, 20 coming in the first half, while junior Lance Tejada added 19 points. Combined, Ross and Tejada shot 17-of-30 from the field. With the loss, Lehigh falls to 3-2 on the season.

“There were moments when we were really unified and really together,” said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. “We played some small segments of some excellent defense as well. Unfortunately, USC is as talented as they are and when you make a mistake, they can certainly capitalize upon on it. On a night when Kahron and Lance really stepped up their games and rose to the occasions, it was a little bit of a challenge because we didn’t have a lot of other players come through and offensively produce for us.”

With Ross’ 24 points, he moved from 34th to 32nd place in school history for career points (currently 1,041). Ross finished 9-of-13 from the field, 2-of-3 from three-point range and 4-of-5 from the free throw line. Tejada scored 11 of his 19 in the second half, shooting 8-of-17 for the game. Freshman James Karnik was strong, especially late, finishing with seven points and a career-high nine rebounds, seven points and seven boards in the second half.

In a homecoming game to Southern California, junior Kyle Leufroy opened the scoring on the game’s first possession, but the Trojans immediately staged a 10-0 run to take a 10-2 advantage with 16:40 remaining in the first half. USC eventually opened an 18-point lead as a Chimezie Metu dunk gave the Trojans a 33-15 lead with 8:16 left in the first.

Lehigh fought back, staging an 13-2 run on the back of Ross. The run began with consecutive layups from Tejada and wrapped up with nine straight from Ross, as his three pulled Lehigh within 35-26 with 5:38 remaining, then a second-chance layup pulled the Mountain Hawks within 35-28 not long after. USC reopened a 13-point lead, but Ross sunk consecutive floaters in the final 40 seconds of the half, including one as the buzzer expired, to pull Lehigh within 44-34 following 20 minutes of play.

“Kahron was electric in the first half,” said Reed. “He made every play. With a little bit of space they were providing, even though they had great length, he was taking up space and challenging off the bounce. He had some terrific finishes. When he was given an opportunity around the three-point arc, he stepped right into the shot with a great deal of confidence and was extremely effective all night. He gave us a huge, huge burst where you could see our guys really believe because of the leadership of our senior.”

USC quickly went on a 10-0 run in the first 1:49 of the second half as a Jonah Matthews trey gave the Trojans a 54-34 lead. A few minutes later, a Karnik offensive rebound and layup marked Lehigh’s fifth straight point to pull Lehigh within 54-39. USC responded to reopen a 20-point advantage for much of the second half. The Mountain Hawks had several surges, but the Trojans always had an answer. A Karnik layup ended a strong second half for the freshman center, pulling Lehigh within 88-63 at the final horn.

For the game, the Mountain Hawks shot 36 percent from the field (25-of-70) and just 25 percent from three-point range (7-of-28). USC finished at 47 percent (33-of-70) and 46 percent from long distance (12-of-26). The Trojans won the battle of the boards, 49-32.

Lehigh continues its four-game road trip on Saturday when it plays at Pitt at 2 p.m. The Mountain Hawks’ next home game is Wednesday, Dec. 6 as they host Yale at 7 p.m.