Courtesy of LehighSports.com
LORETTO, Pa. – The Lehigh men’s basketball team came back from a 25-11 deficit to take a 44-42 lead, but preseason NEC favorite Saint Francis (Pa.) staged an 11-0 run and wouldn’t look back, defeating the Mountain Hawks 84-70 on Thursday evening. One year after tying a school record with 10 three-pointers against the Red Flash, sophomore Pat Andree enjoyed another strong game, tallying a team-high 18 points along with eight rebounds. Freshman James Karnik added 12 points and 11boards for his second-career double-double. Lehigh falls to 5-6 on the season heading into the Patriot League opener at Lafayette next Friday night.
The Red Flash were led by Andre Wolford, who tied the Saint Francis school record for made treys with nine (on 16 attempts). Keith Braxton had 20 points and 16 rebounds while Jamaal King scored 16.
“We didn’t start the way in which we wanted,” said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. “We ended up making a bit of a run to make it competitive and closed it to a tie score to give us a fresh opportunity, then the big three for Saint Francis really took over. Wolford ended up shooting us out of it tonight, but Braxton was terrific as well. Between his point production, his rebounding and even the fact he was playmaking for other people, the combination of those two guys was really hard to overcome.”
Junior Kyle Leufroy added 16 points for the Mountain Hawks while senior Kahron Ross and sophomore Ed Porter each had six.
A close game in the early going saw Lehigh take leads of 2-0 and 4-3, but the Red Flash came back with a vengeance. Junior Lance Tejada knocked down a three-pointer to pull Lehigh within 12-11 with 14:20 left in the first half, but Saint Francis responded with a 13-0 run as a Markus Vallien jumper gave the Red Flash a 25-11 advantage with 9:30 left in the stanza.
The Mountain Hawks immediately answered with a 10-0 run of their own, beginning with layups from Leufroy and Ross and ending with a Ross fastbreak layup off a feed from Leufroy as Lehigh was back within four at 25-21 with 5:28 on the clock.
Late in the half, Saint Francis used a 7-0 surge to reopen a double digit lead at 38-28, but the Mountain Hawks scored the final four points of the half on layups from Karnik and Porter, pulling Lehigh within 38-32 at intermission. Karnik’s layup came following one of his eight first-half rebounds (including four on the offensive glass).
The Mountain Hawks scored 12 of the first 16 second-half points as a Caleb Bennett jumper evened the score at 40, then a few minutes later, Karnik converted a layup to give Lehigh a 44-42 advantage with 14:12 remaining.
However, the Red Flash responded with an 11-0 run and 16 of the next 18 points to take a 12-point, 58-46 leadwith 10:36 on the second-half clock.
Lehigh pulled within eight on multiple occasions, but couldn’t get any closer. The Red Flash continued to extend their lead down the stretch, on their way to the 84-70 final.
For the game, Lehigh shot 41 percent from the field (29-of-71) while the Red Flash shot 45 percent (29-of-64). The Mountain Hawks finished at just 19 percent from three-point range (5-of-26) while Saint Francis shot 40 percent (12-of-30). Lehigh won the battle of the boards, 40-38.
The game was Lehigh’s first in 12 days due to final exams, while the Mountain Hawks will return to action in eight days at archrival Lafayette. Opening tipoff next Friday (Dec. 29) is set for 7 p.m. at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton.
“The challenges will be in front of us,” said Reed. “League play brings its own unique characteristics and own unique identity. The intensity level is usually quite a bit higher and everything is up for grabs because everyone understands just how important each and every one of these games are. To start it with a rival, that makes it doubly interesting. I’m hopeful we can grow and I’m hopeful we can improve from this; we’re definitely going to need to. Give credit to Saint Francis; they played pretty well tonight, but nonetheless, we need to impose more of our will and see if we can shut them down.”
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