Lehigh University
American
Anderson's last second shot lifts Lehigh to win
1/6/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Lehigh played great defense all evening long forcing the Eagles into a 26 percent shooting performance. The Mountain Hawks also forced 14 Eagle turnovers, but were out rebounded 38-30 by the visitors. Senior Jose Olivero led the Brown and White in scoring with 11 points, while sophomore John Gourlay added a career-high 10 points off of the bench. Senior Kyle Neptune and freshman Marquis Hall scored eight points each for Lehigh, with
“This game was as physical and as tough as we knew it would be,”
Both teams came out cold in the first half, as each squad shot less than 40 percent. Lehigh hit 36 percent of its attempts, as Hall scored eight points on 3 of 4 shooting, while the Eagles sank just 25 percent from the field. Eitutavicius scored ten first half tallies as American went to the locker room ahead 26-25.
Lehigh jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead on a three-pointer by Hall and a free throw from Bryan White. The Eagles would tie the game at six with 16:25 to go in the first half. American took its first lead of the evening when Andre Ingram drilled a three of his own at the 12:46 mark of the half, and from there the visitors would maintain their lead for the remainder of the opening 20 minutes.
The Eagles largest lead was five which occurred three times, but Lehigh’s defense was able to force American into tough shots which allowed the Mountain Hawks to stay in the game. Lehigh turned the ball over just four times in the half, while the Eagles committed eight. The Mountain Hawks were out rebounded 23-13, as Billbe grabbed seven for the Eagles. Anderson and Hall both pulled down three caroms for the Brown and White, while
In the second half, Lehigh would take a lead on a pair of free throws by Bryan White, but American quickly came back and took the lead back on a jumper by sophomore Derrick Mercer. The two teams continued to go back and forth for the remainder of the game with Lehigh able to take a five-point advantage with 11:21 to go on a lay up by White. American went on a run of its own, and eventually tied the game at 42 with 6:33 left on a dunk by Billbe.
Two free throws by freshman Zahir Carrington and a jumper by Olivero propelled the Brown and White back into the lead with 5:22 to go, but a pair of free throws from Mercer and a long contested three from Eitutavicius put the visitors back in front 47-46 with 2:20 to go and silenced the Lehigh faithful. After a timeout by Lehigh however, Olivero hit his own contested three, this one with the shot clock winding down, to make the score 49-47 Lehigh with 1:45 on the clock. After the ball switched hands several times, Olivero was whistled for a foul on Eitutavicius and he calmly sank a pair at the charity stripe to tie the game at 49 with 24 ticks left, setting up the dramatic finish.
Lehigh returns to action on Wednesday evening when the Mountain Hawks travel to
