Lehigh University
American
Knight's last second three leads Lehigh to dramatic win
1/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jason Mgebroff, Earl Nurse and Nick Monserez all scored eight points each for Lehigh, while Nurse grabbed a game-high nine boards. Lehigh shot 39 percent from the field for the game, but struggled at the free throw line, connecting on just 8 of 20 from the charity stripe. The Mountain Hawks held the Eagles to 16 field goals and 34 percent shooting on the day and also scored 24 points on 21 Eagle turnovers. American received 19 points from 2003-04 Patriot League Freshman of the Year Andre Ingram and 11 tallies from Raimondas Petrauskas.
In one of the most physical halves of the season, Lehigh and American went at it for the first twenty minutes; however a late run by the Mountain Hawks propelled them to a 21-20 lead heading into the locker room. Monserez hit his second three-pointer of the half in the closing minutes and then received a long pass from freshman Erik Smith which he laid in, with just 47 seconds left in the half to send the Brown and White to its one point lead at the break. Monserez led Lehigh with eight points, while sophomore Mgebroff added six on three of six shooting. Nurse controlled the boards in the opening stanza, securing seven caroms, while also handing out two assists.
The Mountain Hawks shot just 33 percent in the half, but held the Eagles to an even lower 29 percent. American was led in scoring by Matej Cresnik’s six points on two of two shooting from behind the arc. The Eagles out rebounded Lehigh 22-16 in the half, including seven rebounds on the offensive glass, but did the turn the ball over nine times, compared to the Mountain Hawk’s six.
The second half was just as physical as the first, but the offense for both teams began to pick up. Olivero connected on two big three pointers for the Brown and White, including one right in front of the Lehigh bench that silenced the hostile American crowd. No team was able to go in front by more than six points in the half, which American did at the 16:47 mark. In the last two minutes of the ball game, the score was tied two times, and Lehigh took three leads of its own, the biggest coming on Knight’s three-point shot. Lehigh was out rebounded 43-26 on the afternoon, but turned the ball over only 13 times to the Eagles 21.
Head Coach Billy Taylor was very happy with the victory for Lehigh and liked the effort the Mountain Hawks gave. “American is a great team, and it seems like every time we play them it’s a classic. We just kept our composure down the stretch, played together as a team, and we were able to pull this one out.”
Lehigh returns to action on Wednesday evening when the Mountain Hawks play host to archrival
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. Matt Kerr and Greg Falkenbach will provide the commentary.
