Lehigh University
Columbia
Lehigh squanders first half lead
9/15/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
New York, NY – The second half jinx continued for Lehigh for the second game in a row as the Mountain Hawks fell to Columbia 53-47 on Tuesday evening in the Big Apple. It was the fourth consecutive loss for Lehigh who fell to 0-4 on the season while the Lions improved to 3-2 overall. The Mountain Hawks led by as much as eleven in the first half and led 33-24 at the break. They appeared to be on their way to the first win of the season but struggled in the second half scoring just 14 points in the period. This was the second straight game Lehigh led late in the game but was unable to hold on for the win. The Mountain Hawks fell to Harvard 64-63 last game after leading by seven with 1:33 to go in the game. Despite struggling from the floor in the second half, Lehigh maintained its lead until late in the game as Columbia struggled to capitalize on empty Lehigh possessions. The Mountain Hawks trailed by just one with just under 20 seconds remaining in the game but a triple by Craig Austin out of a timeout put the Lions up 51-47 with 12.4 seconds left in the game. Missed three point attempts by Alex Jensen and Matt Logie eventually resulted in a Columbia rebound. Lehigh fouled Austin with 2.2 seconds left, but he sealed the deal for the Lions connecting on both free throws to make it a 53-47 final. Logie led the Mountain Hawks in the scoring column finishing with 14 points. The Lehigh bench scored 22 of its 47 points. Matt Crawford scored eight points off the bench and pulled in six rebounds. Scott Taylor scored six points and pulled in six boards, and Eric Heil chipped in with seven points. Austin led all scorers with 16 points on the evening including five in the last 20 seconds that proved to be the game winners. Treg Duerksen scored 12 points and Chris Wiedemann scored 10 points to round out the Lions in double figures. After an 0-4 start things will not get any easier for Lehigh as the Mountain Hawks have three tough road games remaining in this four game road trip. Lehigh will travel to New England this weekend to take on Dartmouth on Friday night before heading to Vermont to take on the Catamounts on Sunday. Lehigh battles Penn State next Wednesday in Happy Valley in the final game of the road trip before returning home to Stabler Arena.
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