Lehigh University
No. 4 Villanova
Mountain Hawks upended by No. 4 Villanova
11/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
“Villanova is a great team with tremendous shooters and we knew that coming in,” said Head Coach Billy Taylor following the game. “We really didn’t stick to our game plan for as long as we would have liked tonight, but despite that, there were still several solid performances. I thought John (Gourlay) played well for us in his time out there, Greg (Page) had his moments, despite having to get off a few shots towards the end of the shot clock, and Bryan White showed tremendous energy in that first half.”
Villanova senior Allan Ray came out on fire, and his second three-point field goal of the first half helped the Wildcats run out to a 16-5 advantage with 13:44 still to play in the opening stanza. In all, Villanova sank 10 three-pointers on 18 attempts in the first 20 minutes of play in building a 47-25 lead at halftime.
Olivero tried to keep the Mountain Hawks in the game, scoring nine in the first half while dishing out two assists with no turnovers. Bryan White added six first half points and four rebounds for Lehigh.
Villanova’s Ray and classmate Randy Foye scored 14 points apiece to lead Nova in the first stanza.
The Wildcats pulled away with a 12-4 run to start the second half, building the bulge to 30 points. Villanova took advantage of 15 Lehigh turnovers in putting the game well out of reach.
Ray led all scorers with 26 points on 9-of-18 shooting. He hit eight of his team’s 17 three-point field goals. The Wildcats as a team hit 17 of 33 three-point field goals, for 52 percent, and shot 49 percent overall on the evening. Lehigh connected on 35 percent of its shots, but only 20 percent from downtown.
Junior Kyle Neptune and senior James Anderson led the Brown and White in rebounding with five apiece, while White added four boards, six points and a block.
Lehigh returns to Stabler Arena on Tuesday, as the Mountain Hawks host Eastern at 7:05. Tickets can be purchased on-line at lehighsports.com or by calling (610) 7LU-GAME during normal business hours.
Photos Copyright, Auroroa Imaging, Co. (2005).
