Bethlehem, PA – The Mountain Hawks blew a ten point halftime lead, but came back to defeat archrival Lafayette 63-55 on Wednesday night in front of a raucous crowd of 2,675 at Stabler Arena.
Jose Olivero led Lehigh with 15 points and
Jason Mgebroff added 13 and seven rebounds. Guard Marcus Harley led
Lafayette with 12 points. With the win, Lehigh improves to 2-0 in the Patriot League and 8-7 overall while
Lafayette is now 5-9 overall and 1-1 in the Patriot League.
Lehigh carried over its energy from a strong finish to the first half and saw its lead balloon to 16 early in the second half. The Leopards responded with a 21-4 run, including a 15-0 spurt, to re-take the lead with just under nine minutes remaining in the game. Lafayette eventually built a four point lead before the Mountain Hawks came back and took the lead for good on a Joe Knight three pointer from the left wing with just under three minutes left.
Knight had another strong outing, adding six assists and five rebounds to his 11 points despite shooting only 2-12 from the field. Nick Monserez was the fourth Mountain Hawk in double figures in double figures, tallying ten points with six boards. Earl Nurse had two points and eight rebounds, including five on the offensive end, in 24 minutes.
For the game, Lehigh out-rebounded the Leopards 43-30 and had 17 assists to Lafayette’s 13. The teams shot almost exactly evenly from the field and from three point range, and Lehigh’s distinct edge from the free-throw line was the difference. The Mountain Hawks were 17-23 from the stripe while Lafayette only had 11 attempts, making 8.
Lehigh started the game with a quick 7-0 run spanning the game's first two minutes, but Lafayette responded with a 7-0 run of its own to tie the game. The lead changed hands multiple times before Lehigh closed the half with a 9-0 run and headed into the break up 33-23. Jason Mgebroff had 11 of his 13 in the opening 20 minutes.
The Mountain Hawks return to the court on Saturday afternoon when they will visit Navy. Tip off set for 2:00 from Annapolis, Md. All of the action can be heard live on ESPN Radio 1230 AM and 1320 AM, as well as on lehighsports.com with streaming audio provided by Yahoo! Sports.
Photo (c) 2005, Chris Christian/Lehigh Athletics
