Courtesy of LehighSports.com
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s basketball team came back from a 34-33 halftime deficit, using a 17-2 second-half run to cruise to a 75-60 victory against defending NEC Champion Mount St. Mary’s on Saturday afternoon in Stabler Arena. In the win, senior Kahron Ross scored a team-high 18 points to go with five assists to break Lehigh’s career record. Junior Lance Tejada added 16 points and a career-high seven rebounds. With the win, the Mountain Hawks improve to 5-5 on the season heading into a 12-day break of games for final exams.
Lehigh buckled down in the second half, allowing just 26 points on just 30 percent shooting over the final 20 minutes. The Mountain Hawks held Mount St. Mary’s 13.6 points under its season average while the Mountaineers’ 60 points were their second-lowest total of the season.
“So far this season, we’ve really struggled defensively in the second half. Our players have been away from our bench, we haven’t been able to talk through the action as much and at times, we’ve had some slippage. Today, it was a totally different story,” said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. “I’m proud of our team because we started to do some of the things we’ve been talking about doing and we saw it really come to fruition. I thought our post players did an excellent job of communicating through pick-and-roll coverage, sitting down in their stances, moving their feet and ultimately containing the basketball. Our guards did a nice job, in particular Kahron Ross who really took on a big responsibility in Junior Robinson, trying to make sure he was constantly challenged and not given a lot of easy looks. Kahron succeeded.”
Tejada’s 16 points included 4-of-8 shooting from three-point range to increase his season percentage to 49 percent. Freshman James Karnik had nine points and nine rebounds in just 18 minutes due to foul trouble while junior Kyle Leufroy added nine points and five boards.
Ross finished 7-of-10 from the field, while adding six rebounds and two steals. With his second assist of the game, on a Caleb Bennett three-pointer, Ross passed Mackey McKnight for the most assists in school history. The record-breaker was Ross’ 579th assist, and he finished the game with 583 in his storied career.
“The kid really came to play,” said Reed. “To be recognized as the all-time leader at any school is an unbelievable accomplishment. To be recognized as the all-time leader in assists at this school, Lehigh University, that has had a litany of very, very good point guards, is an incredible accomplishment. Tonight, not only did he do it with distribution, but he did it with scoring and he took on a tough defensive assignment. He’s really grown as a leader in our program. I’m pleased with the way in which he’s maturing and growing. Now, he’s got his place in history.”
Lehigh jumped out to a big 16-6 lead following a Ross layup with 14:24 left in the first half, already his fifth and sixth points of the afternoon. Mount St. Mary’s answered with a three-pointer on the other end, sparking a 13-0 run as a Greg Alexander layup gave the Mountaineers a 19-16 advantage with 9:37 on the clock.
Mount St. Mary’s extended its run to 21-4 after a Junior Robinson three-pointer gave his team a 27-20 advantage. However, a 6-0 Lehigh surge behind a Bennett trey and Karnik three-point play quickly got the Mountain Hawks back within one, which proved to be the halftime margin.
The sides went back-and-forth early in the second half as Lehigh retook the lead before an Alexander jumper gave the Mountaineers a 40-39 advantage. A Bennett three-pointer, which gave Ross the career assists record, gave Lehigh a 42-40 lead. The Mountain Hawks wouldn’t trail the rest of the way.
A Jordan Cohen layup and Tejada three-pointer began a 17-2 Lehigh run, capped off by another three-pointer from Tejada, a Leufroy trey and Cohen basket to give the Mountain Hawks a 67-51 lead with 4:05 left in the second half. The lead swelled to 19 at 72-53, Mount St. Mary’s scored four of the final five points, but it wasn’t nearly enough. The final minute was highlighted by junior Caleb Sedore, who made his collegiate debut in front of a standing ovation following a pair of season-ending injuries early in his freshman and sophomore campaigns.
For the game, the Mountain Hawks shot 48 percent from the field (28-of-59), including 39 percent from three-point range (7-of-18). The Mountaineers finished at 33 percent (19-of-57) and 25 percent from long distance (9-of-36). The Mountain Hawks dominated the boards, 44-26.
Following final exams, the Mountain Hawks will return to action on Thursday, Dec. 21 when they travel to Saint Francis (Pa.) to face the Red Flash. Opening tipoff is set for 7 p.m.
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