Sunday, November 17
Houston, Texas
2:00 PM
Lehigh University
66
at
80
Houston
Spirited effort falls short at Houston, 80-66
11/17/2013 4:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball
HOUSTON, Texas - The Lehigh men's basketball team fought back from a double-digit first-half deficit to take a second half lead, but undefeated Houston used an 11-0 run to erase a one-point deficit and down the Mountain Hawks 80-66 on Sunday afternoon. Junior Conroy Baltimore was a spark off the bench, finishing with six points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Senior Mackey McKnight had 14 points and seven assists in front of many friends and family as part of a homecoming trip to where he played high school basketball.
Â
The game was the first of four straight contests as part of the Progressive Legends Classic. The Mountain Hawks head to Pittsburgh on Wednesday followed by a trip to South Dakota next Monday for games against Texas Southern and South Dakota State or Howard.
Â
"I think our defensive resolve improved in the second half. In the first half, we gave Houston a lot of easy point production," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "A lot of their shot attempts were in the paint and our defense didn't hold as strong as it needed to. In the second half, we did a better job of containing and contesting shots and holding them to one shot opportunity."
Â
Baltimore helped provide a spark, grabbing 13 of Lehigh's 29 rebounds on the afternoon.
Â
"Conroy's presence on the glass was very important," said Reed. "We struggled in our last game and early in this game to rebound the basketball. He came in and provided that role and was a pretty decent defensive presence which was really important for us. I'm proud of him for sticking with it and performing as well as he did."
Â
Freshman Austin Price added 12 points while classmate Tim Kempton had 11 points as well.
Â
Â
Kempton got the scoring started on the game's first possession, but Houston responded with an 11-0 run capped off by a three-point play from Thomas with 16:36 left in the first half.
Â
Kempton ended the run, and over a three-minute scoring drought, with an offensive rebound and layup to pull Lehigh within 11-4 with 16:11 remaining.
Â
Another Kempton layup followed by a McKnight driving layup extended the run to 6-0 and pulled Lehigh within 11-8 with 13:22 on the first-half clock. Baltimore entered during this stretch and grabbed defense rebounds on three straight defensive possessions for a spark which carried throughout the game.
Â
The Cougars answered with a 6-0 run to take a 17-8 lead with 12:13 on the clock, forcing Lehigh to call timeout.
Â
A three by Price and deuce from Schaefer pulled the Mountain Hawks right back within four (17-13) with 10:15 remaining, but Houston scored eight of the next 12 points to take a 25-17 lead at the under-eight media timeout. Schaefer and freshman Shane Whitfield scored Lehigh's points during that stretch.
Â
Houston's lead eventually reached 13 (34-21) following a House three-pointer with 4:39 remaining in the first half, but the Mountain Hawks went on a 7-3 run to close out the half and pull within 37-28. Baltimore continued to contribute, scoring two points and adding six rebounds and an assist.
Â
Lehigh finished the first half 13-of-33 (39 percent) while Houston was 17-of-32 (53 percent). The Cougars held a 22-15 rebounding edge.
Â
The Mountain Hawks came out of the locker room on fire as Baltimore continued his hot play with the first four points. Houston extended its lead back to nine (43-34), but the Mountain Hawks answered with 12 of the next 17 points. Price, McKnight, Schaefer and Kempton all scored during the run as a Kempton three-point play pulled Lehigh within 48-46 with 14:20 remaining.
Â
The run extended to 14-5 as a McKnight layup evened the score for the first time with 13:20 on the clock. An A.J. Richardson free throw broke a Houston scoreless drought of 3:28, as the Cougars answered with consecutive layups to retake a five-point advantage.
Â
Lehigh responded with an 8-0 run behind a McKnight layup and consecutive threes from Whitfield and sophomore Jesse Chuku. The Chuku trey gave the Mountain Hawks their first lead of the game, 56-53 with 8:24 left in the second half.
Â
The Mountain Hawks went up by as much as four (58-54) following a McKnight jumper, but the back and forth play continued. Less than three minutes later, Houston took a four-point lead after a Thomas layup with 4:49 remaining.
Â
However, another Chuku three from the top of the key and a Price steal and uncontested dunk gave the Mountain Hawks a 64-63 advantage with 4:07 on the clock.
Â
Houston took over from there, staging an 11-0 run beginning with consecutive threes then a three-point play, to go up 74-64 with 47 to go.
Â
"At the end of the game, I thought Houston stepped up and earned their opportunities," said Reed. "They made a contested shot with one second left on the shot clock. They made another three-point shot when our defense was at least in solid position. They got an and-one, and made nine-for-nine free throws, to make an otherwise close game look a little bit more in the box score."
Â
Lehigh shot 43 percent from the field (27-of-63) and 31 percent from three-point range (5-of-16) while the Cougars shot 50 percent (31-of-62) and 31 percent from long distance (5-of-16). Houston won the battle of the boards, 43-29.
Â
The Mountain Hawks will continue the Legends Classic when they travel to Pittsburgh on Wednesday to face the Panthers. Opening tipoff is set for 7:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
Â
Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook and follow on Twitter for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Season Preview: Men's Basketball
Thursday, October 31
Lehigh Sports Central: Men's Basketball
Wednesday, October 30
Lehigh Sports Central: Men's Basketball
Wednesday, February 07
Men's Basketball vs SUNY Oneonta
Thursday, November 16
