Courtesy of LehighSports.com
PRINCETON, N.J. – The Lehigh men’s basketball team opened a 22-point halftime advantage, Princeton cut the lead to as little as two, but sophomore Jordan Cohen hit a big shot in the final minute to give Lehigh a four-point advantage on its way to an 85-76 win on Wednesday evening at Jadwin Gym. The guard combination of Cohen, senior Kahron Ross and juniors Kyle Leufroy and Lance Tejada combined for 60 points on 20-of-39 shooting while freshman center James Karnik posted a career-high 12 rebounds and sophomore Ed Porter scored a career-high eight points. With the win, Lehigh improves to 4-3 on the young season.
“It was unfortunate that Princeton was able to get back into the game. We’ve had some sticky games, whether it’s overtime wins or even here at Princeton where if a team doesn’t have a pretty strong foundation and good understanding and appreciation for each other, it can turn south in a hurry,” said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. “I thought there was a critical play where Lance Tejada didn’t get a foul call and he was a little bit down and a little bit frustrated, but one of his teammates went over and picked him up. He said let’s go, we’ve got this and Lance turns around and drills a three. Unless a team has that type of support and backing of each other, I don’t know if you get through some of those challenging circumstances and situations. Right now, for Lehigh Basketball, it’s not one guy; it’s a variety of different guys who are able to step up, which is promising.”
Tejada led the offense with 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting, including 4-of-7 from three-point range. Leufroy had 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting while Ross scored 14 points and Cohen tallied 11. Ross also dished five assists to increase his career total to 569, passing Marquis Hall for second place in school history and third place in Patriot League history in that category.
Porter added five rebounds to go with his eight points while freshman Caleb Bennett scored eight as well on a perfect 4-of-4 from the floor.
Lehigh jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead behind a Karnik layup and Tejada three-pointer. The Tigers later pulled within 10-6 and then 12-8, but four was as close as Princeton would get the rest of the half. A 5-0 Mountain Hawks’ surge behind a Leufroy jumper and Tejada three-pointer gave Lehigh its first double-digit lead at 23-13 with 11:10 left in the stanza. Princeton scored the next four points, but the Mountain Hawks responded with a 9-2 run. Consecutive Leufroy baskets gave Lehigh a 32-19 lead with 7:39 on the clock, forcing the Tigers to call their second timeout of the half.
The Mountain Hawks went into halftime on a 9-0 run behind a Bennett jumper, Porter layup, Cohen driving bank shot and Ross three-pointer as the first half expired. In the end, Lehigh held Princeton scoreless for the final 3:36 of the first.
“In the first half, I thought we were making shots, we ended up getting to the mid-range and we knocked down mid-range shots,” said Reed. “The ball was finding the hands of hot players. LT gave us a huge burst, then Jordan came in and made a couple shots and Kyle ended up doing the same. Defensively, we were really glued in. We followed a pretty strong script. Our bench was into it, and our positioning and discipline was pretty good.”
Princeton gradually cut into Lehigh’s lead in the second half, pulling within 16 with 17:27 remaining. A few minutes later, a Bennett jumper gave Lehigh a 60-42 lead, but the Tigers immediately staged a 10-0 run as a Jose Morales layup pulled the Tigers within 60-52 with 10:36 on the clock.
Lehigh extended its lead to 12, maintaining a double-digit lead heading into the final five minutes, but Princeton had one late charge. A 5-0 surge pulled the Tigers within 75-73 with 1:32 still remaining, but Tejada immediately answered with a driving layup. After two Princeton free throws, Cohen converted a tough shot driving to the basket to give Lehigh a 79-75 lead with 34 seconds remaining. From there, Lehigh’s defense allowed just a single free throw while knocking down all six of its attempts from the charity stripe to wrap up the 85-79 win. Following last season’s 76-67 win over Princeton in its home opener, Lehigh has won two straight against the Tigers for the first time in school history.
For the game, the Mountain Hawks shot a season-high 52 percent from the field (32-of-62), including 44 percent from three-point range (7-of-16). Princeton shot 41 percent (27-of-66) and just 29 percent from long distance (7-of-24). Lehigh won the battle of the boards, 40-36.
The Mountain Hawks will head to Virginia on Saturday to face the No. 15/18 Cavaliers. Opening tipoff is set for 12 p.m. on ACC Network Extra (WatchESPN).
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