Courtesy of LehighSports.com
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Senior point guard Kahron Ross scored a career-high 30 points, which included the go-ahead free throw with 59 seconds remaining in overtime as the Lehigh men’s basketball team picked up an exciting 80-78 win at American on Saturday afternoon in our nation’s capital. The win marked Lehigh’s fourth straight overall, each coming down to the final seconds, and seventh in a row vs. American. Lehigh finished the afternoon 11-of-22 from three-point range, its fifth straight game at 50+ percent from distance and eighth in a row with at least 10 makes. With the win, the Mountain Hawks improve to 12-13, 7-7 in Patriot League play. Lehigh currently stands in sole possession of fifth place in the standings, just one game behind Boston University and Navy tied for third.
Ross finished the afternoon shooting 13-of-21 from the field, including 3-of-3 from three-point range. He added five assists and four rebounds while turning the ball over just once. With the win, Lehigh improves to 18-2 in February since the 2015-16 season.
“I really think Kahron saved the game early on in the first half,” said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. “I don’t think we were as glued in as we needed to be. You’ve got to give the senior, the captain credit because he was the one who ended up blocking out, chasing down a ball with two hands to rebound and secure the basketball. Then, he dove on the ground for a loose ball. He was the one displaying the energy that we were looking for and that became contagious. He was a catalyst to ignite us.
“We played hard at a lot of times over the course of this game, but we didn’t necessarily always play well. For Kahron to give us that energy, to give us that boost was huge and really important as a foundational piece for a win.”
Three other Mountain Hawks scored in double figures as junior Lance Tejada added 19 points, four rebounds, four assists and three steals. Sophomore Pat Andree had 13 points and seven boards while junior Kyle Leufroy tallied 11 points and eight rebounds. Sam Iorio led American with 30 points on 11-of-16 shooting, including 5-of-7 from three.
An early 5-0 surge via a Ross jumper and Tejada three-pointer gave Lehigh a 7-4 lead.
A few minutes later, Andree’s first three-pointer of the afternoon pulled Lehigh within 13-12, but the Eagles responded with an 8-0 run as a Jesse Little layup gave American a 21-12 advantage.
Trailing 23-14, the Mountain Hawks used a run of their own, scoring 11 straight points behind a Tejada layup, Leufroy three-pointer, Caleb Bennett three-point play and Andree trey to give Lehigh a 25-23 advantage with 4:06 remaining in the first half.
In the end, Lehigh scored 21 of the final 28 first-half points as Tejada added another three-pointer to give Lehigh a 28-27 lead, and scored the final points of the half behind a long jumper to give the Mountain Hawks a 35-30 halftime advantage.
Midway through the second half, a Leufroy three-pointer gave Lehigh its first double-digit lead at 51-41 with 11:29 on the clock. From there, American answered with a big 17-2 run as a Larry Motuzis three gave the Eagles the lead back at 55-53 with 7:09 remaining. The margin reached five on multiple occasions, but an 8-0 Lehigh run capped off by an Andree three-pointer and James Karnik putback gave Lehigh a 66-63 advantage with 2:11 on the clock. The Eagles answered with five of the final seven points in regulation as a Sa’eed Nelson trey evened the score at 68 with 38 seconds left, helping force overtime.
The Mountain Hawks knocked down their first two three-pointers of the extra session to open an early five-point lead. The Eagles twice pulled even, but never took a lead. Ross hit a big jumper with 2:11 remaining to give Lehigh a three-point lead then hit a free throw with 59 seconds on the clock to give the Mountain Hawks a 79-78 advantage. Andree added a free throw with 41 seconds remaining to give Lehigh an 80-78 lead, which proved to be the final.
For the game, Lehigh shot 48 percent from the field (31-of-64), including 50 percent from three-point range (11-of-22). American finished a 39 percent (27-of-69) and 31 percent from long distance (10-of-32). The Eagles held a 42-36 edge on the boards.
“Give American credit,” said Reed. “They had some guys who stepped up. Sam Iorio is a terrific player and he played really well against us. Fortunately for us, we were able to still withstand somebody standing on their head and making great plays, keep our collective resolve and come away with a victory.”
Lehigh will not travel to Colgate on Wednesday to face the Raiders. Opening tipoff is set for 7 p.m. The Mountain Hawks return home next Saturday (Feb. 17) to host Army West Point at 7 p.m.
Leave a Reply