ALBANY, N.Y. – Lehigh fell to a hot-shooting Albany team on Tuesday evening 78-66 at SEFCU Arena as the Mountain Hawks two-game winning streak came to an end. The Great Danes shot 51 percent from the field, including a 63 percent clip from three-point range as they improve to 3-1 overall, while the Mountain Hawks fall to 2-2. Lehigh was led on offense by sophomore Zahir Carrington who scored 14 points and pulled down three rebounds, while senior captain Bryan White added 12 points on a five-of-nine shooting performance. Brian Lillis scored a game-high 16 for the Great Danes on 7-of-9 shooting while Brent Wilson sank five three-pointers en route to 15 points.
“Albany is a great defensive team and they showed it tonight,” head coach Brett Reed said afterwards. “The second half showed that we are capable of making plays, but we have things to work on and we certainly have our work cut out for us on Friday at Maryland.”
Albany came out of the gates on fire, hitting its first five shots from three-point range. The Great Danes finished the first half shooting 57 percent from the field and 73 percent from beyond the arc to take a 46-22 lead heading into halftime. Josh Martin came off the bench to score a team-high ten points on three-of-four shooting, while Wilson sank three three-pointers en route to nine points. Albany also kept Lehigh off the boards out rebounding the Mountain Hawks 21-8 led by Al Turley’s four boards.
Lehigh was led on offense by White’s eight points, which came on a four-of-six showing from the field. The senior captain also added two rebounds, two blocks and three steals. Sophomore Matt Shamis scored five points in just five minutes, while Carrington added three tallies. Lehigh sank only 39 percent of its field goal attempts and was 0-for-3 from downtown, but did take good care of the ball, turning it over only seven times.
A three-point play by Carrington minutes into the second half brought Lehigh to within 19 at 46-27, but the Mountain Hawks could not seem to get much closer than that. A jumper from freshman Rob Keefer made it a 15-point contest with 15:08 to go, but Lillis answered with a jumper of his own and following a three from Wilson at the 13:07 mark, the Great Danes were back in front by 18. Lillis sank yet another jumper, this one with 10:09 to go and Albany’s lead was up to 20 points.
Junior Phil Anderson hit a shot from downtown with only 3:28 to go making the score 74-60 and freshman Michael Ojo scored his first collegiate points on a three of his own with 2:00 remaining. Freshman Prentice Small sank the final shot of the contest, a three with just 50 ticks left to make the final margin a dozen.
Lehigh wound up shooting 46 percent from the field, including a 52 percent clip in the second half. The Mountain Hawks had a strong showing at the free throw line, sinking 11-of-13, while they only turned the ball over nine times. Junior John Gourlay led the Brown and White with four rebounds, while Carrington and Dave Buchberger each pulled down three. Every player on the Mountain Hawks roster who dressed saw time, including freshmen Brian Hunter and David Safstrom, who along with Ojo saw their first action in a Lehigh uniform.
Albany was forced into 13 turnovers, but a 40-25 advantage on the glass helped to offset that. Turley led the Great Danes with seven caroms, while Josh Martin pulled down six.
Lehigh returns to action on Friday afternoon when the Mountain Hawks conclude their three-game road swing with a trip to College Park, Maryland to take on the Maryland Terrapins. Tip-off from the Comcast Center is set for 4:00 and all of the action will be broadcast live on ESPN Radio 1230 and 1320 as well as Lehighsports.com beginning at 3:30 with Matt Kerr and Jeff Tourial on the call. The game will also be televised on Comcast SportsNet Mid-Atlantic.
