Lehigh University
Cornell
Lehigh falls to Cornell in final tune-up before League play
1/4/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Things started well for the Mountain Hawks, who opened the game on an 11-0 run and led by as much as 13 points in the first half. The Lehigh shooting cooled considerably in the latter part of the half. The Mountain Hawks failed to score in the final seven minutes of the half and let the Big Red back into the game. Still, behind seven points from Joe Knight, Lehigh took a 19-15 advantage into the locker room.
Lehigh started slowly in the second half Cornell was able to take the lead early in the period. After going 0-9 from beyond the three-point arc in the first half, Cornell got hot from long range in the second half. The Big Red shot 6-6 from beyond the arc after the break and led by as much as 14 in the second half.
“It was a very frustrating performance on our behalf,” said a disappointed head coach Billy Taylor after the game. “We didn’t make adjustments. We kept talking about them, but never made them.”
The 45 points scored by Lehigh were the fewest since the Mountain Hawks put up 48 in a 54-48 loss to Colgate in February of last year, a span of 17 games.
Knight led the Mountain Hawks with 14 points on a night where Lehigh shot just 32 percent from the field. Nick Monserez chipped in 9 points and 7 rebounds. Cornell rebounded from a rocky first half to shoot 59 percent in the second half and finished the game at 40 percent. Lenny Collins led the Big Red with 14 points and 9 boards.
Lehigh returns to the court on Saturday afternoon for the Patriot League opener against American, in a rematch of last season’s Patriot League Championship Game. Tip off set for just after 2:00 from Bender Arena in
