Courtesy of LehighSports.com
HAMILTON, N.Y. – The Lehigh men’s basketball team trailed for just 54 seconds, taking early control and not relinquishing the lead as the Mountain Hawks (13-13, 8-7 Patriot League) defeated second-place Colgate 88-78 for their fifth straight victory on Wednesday evening at Cotterell Court. Freshman Marques Wilson led the offense with a career-high 28 points, shooting 9-of-10 from the floor, including 3-of-3 from three-point range and 7-of-7 from the free throw line. Senior Kahron Ross and junior Kyle Leufroy each added 18 points.
“It was a big-time performance by Marques,” said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. “He was solid for us defensively. He was in the right positions. He ended up having some really tough matchups and regardless where he was in our press or zone, he did a good job covering space. He was set up in some really nice situations by some of his teammates. Think about some of his drives, being able to use that strong frame, and then coming to a two-foot stop under control and making good finishes. Knocking down perimeter shots, he did it all.”
The Mountain Hawks knocked down 53 percent of their three-pointers (9-of-17), good for their sixth straight game shooting 50+ percent from long distance. With its fifth straight win, Lehigh improves to 4-0 this February and 19-2 in February since the 2015-16 season. With their 8-7 league mark, the Mountain Hawks are now in a tie for fourth place in the standings, one game behind Colgate and Navy in second.
Ross finished 8-of-13 from the floor while adding five rebounds, three assists and two steals. Leufroy filled up the stat sheet with 18 points, seven rebounds, five assists and a steal. Sophomore Pat Andree tallied his third-career double-double, posting 13 points and 10 rebounds.
Junior Lance Tejada knocked down a pair of early threes to give Lehigh a 6-2 advantage. Colgate pulled to within one on multiple occasions and eventually even at 12, 15, 18 and 20. With Lehigh leading 23-22, the Mountain Hawks staged a 7-0 run behind a Wilson three-pointer and four free throws, one from freshman James Karnik and three from Andree, to give Lehigh a 30-22 advantage with 6:33 remaining in the first half.
Colgate responded with 11 of the next 15 points as a Jordan Burns trey pulled the Raiders within 34-33. Lehigh ended the half with six of the final nine first-half points, as a Ross layup gave the Mountain Hawks a 40-36 halftime advantage.
Lehigh extended its lead early in the second half, using a 12-3 run capped off by four straight points from Ross to give the Mountain Hawks a 53-41 lead with 14:35 on the clock. It took just over two minutes for Colgate to stage a 10-0 run capped off by a Will Rayman three-pointer to pull the Raiders within 53-51 with 11:57 remaining.
After a Lehigh timeout, the Mountain Hawks immediately answered with a 12-0 run capped off by five straight points from Wilson, including a three-point play to give his side a 64-51 lead with exactly nine minutes on the clock.
“We’ve been in this situation before and let the other team back in,” said Reed. “The good thing is, we didn’t relinquish the lead, we didn’t fall apart, we were able to stand strong and bend, but not break.”
From there, Lehigh’s lead swelled to 15, Colgate pulled as close as seven, but couldn’t get any closer as the Mountain Hawks wrapped up their fifth straight win overall, three of them coming on the road.
For the game, Lehigh shot 56 percent from the field (31-of-55), including 53 percent from long distance (9-of-17). Colgate finished at 41 percent (26-of-63) and 33 percent from three (15-of-46). The Mountain Hawks knocked down 17-of-20 free throws while Colgate was 11-of-12 from the line. Lehigh held a 36-28 edge in rebounds.
The Mountain Hawks will now return home this Saturday to host Army West Point at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online at LehighTickets.com by clicking here.
“We’re hoping for a great crowd and a lot of support because all these games are really important,” said Reed. “We play an exciting brand of basketball and there’s a lot on the line. People who love basketball can come out and support two teams who will really go at it and play really hard. I hope they give us a little extra boost and extra edge. Hopefully, our guys have the maturity, the confidence and the wherewithal to really capitalize upon the home crowd because I know we have faithfuls who support us. We play well at home and we need to make sure we do that as we close out the season.”
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