Lehigh University
Xavier
Monserez leads Lehigh to impressive showing at Xavier
12/21/2004 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Lehigh was once again plagued by poor shooting as the Mountain Hawks connected on only 31 percent of their shots in the first half and went to the locker room trailing Xavier 36-21. Although Lehigh struggled as a team, Monserez was sizzling on the offensive end in his homecoming, connecting on all four of his shots from the field, including three shots from beyond the arc en route to 12 points in the opening stanza.
No player other than Monserez scored more than three points in the first half for Lehigh. Senior captain Earl Nurse did grab a team high six rebounds, and also dished out three assists in the half however. The Musketeers were extremely balanced on their end of the floor, as four players scored as least five points, led by Josh Duncan’s ten tallies on two of three shooting. Xavier connected on 50 percent of its shots in the first half, including 63 percent from beyond the arc and out rebounded Lehigh 18-10.
In the second half, Lehigh found it’s stroke as a team, connecting on 52 percent (15-29) of its shots, including 6 of 12 from behind the arc to make the Musketeers sweat. Lehigh fell behind by as many as 18 on several occasions in the second stanza, but behind the strength of several deep three-pointers by junior Joe Knight, the Mountain Hawks pulled to within four points in the closing minutes and made it quite a ballgame.
Knight finished with 14 points for the Brown and White and also added five assists and three steals, while Nurse pulled down nine boards and swatted away a career-high tying five shots on defense. The Musketeers put four players in double figures led by
Despite the loss, head coach Billy Taylor was upbeat following the contest. “I couldn’t be prouder of our guys for the effort out there tonight.”
Lehigh now has the week off for the holidays and will not return to action until Wednesday, December 29 in
Interior photo (c) 2004, Greg Rust
