Wednesday, November 20
Pittsburgh, Pa.
7:30 PM
Lehigh University
(1-4)
58
at
77
Pittsburgh
(4-0)
1
2
F
Lehigh
23
35
58
PITT
47
30
77
Lehigh wins second half in 77-58 loss at Pitt
11/20/2013 10:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball
PITTSBURGH, Pa. - The Lehigh men's basketball team fell into an early hole which proved too much as Pittsburgh walked away with a 77-58 win on Wednesday in front of 9,544 fans in the Petersen Events Center. Freshman Tim Kempton led the offense with a career-high 20 points while junior Stefan Cvrkalj chipped in nine points in just 10 minutes. The Mountain Hawks won the second half, 35-30, as they allowed just 17 Panthers points over the final 14 minutes.
"It's always a positive for a young team that's down to be able to respond and recover," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "We were able to show character and resiliency to continue to fight even though we were in a deficit."
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Kempton's 20 points came on 7-of-10 shooting. Senior Mackey McKnight added eight points and five assists for his fourth straight game with five or more helpers. Freshman Austin Price scored eight points as well, including 2-of-5 from three-point range. Cvrkalj was a perfect 3-of-3 from long distance.
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Talib Zanna proved too much for the Mountain Hawks, scoring 23 points while adding 14 rebounds. After a tough first half, Lehigh shot 60 percent in the second half (12-of-21) and held Pittsburgh to just 37 percent (11-of-30) over the final 20 minutes.
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"We definitely hope there's learning that takes place," said Reed. "We're probably one of the youngest teams in college basketball at this point. Tonight, we played against a Pitt team who played an excellent game. They had a physical presence to them. We had to adjust to their interior play, but they were also very capable of making perimeter shots. They continued to convert on jump shots. Then we hit a dry spell which allowed the margin to grow."
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Pittsburgh scored the game's first eight points as the Mountain Hawks struggled from the field in the early going.
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However, the Mountain Hawks went on to score nine of the next 13 points. Junior Corey Schaefer scored Lehigh's first points on a driving layup to pull within 8-2 with 15:49 on the clock. Pitt responded with a Josh Newkirk jumper, but Lehigh came back with layups from Kempton and McKnight to pull within 10-6 with 13:29 remaining.
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A Price three-pointer made it 12-9 with 12:55 on the clock. Pitt scored the next six, but two Conroy Baltimore free throws pulled the Mountain Hawks within 18-11 with 11:37 remaining.
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The Panthers took over from there, staging a 16-0 run sparked by the hot shooting of Durand Johnson who finished with five three-pointers in the first half.
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Lehigh ended a 5:57 drought with a Kempton free throw to pull within 34-12 with 5:41 remaining. Kempton added a fastbreak layup off a feed from McKnight before McKnight finished a layup and was fouled less than a minute later. However, Zanna hit a jumper in that span and Johnson knocked down his fourth trey of the half to make it 39-16 with 4:08 remaining
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Kempton pulled Lehigh within 21 then freshman Miles Simelton hit a fadeaway jumper to make it 44-23 with 50 seconds on the clock. However, Johnson's fifth three of the half made it 47-23 after 20 minutes of play.
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Kempton led Lehigh in scoring with nine first-half points on 4-of-7 shooting. McKnight added four and Simelton had three. The Mountain Hawks shot just 33 percent in the first half (9-of-27) while Pitt came in at 56 percent (18-of-32) and 50 percent from long range (7-of-14).
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Zanna knocked down a shot on the first possession of the second half, but Price responded by scoring five of the game's next eight points, behind a three and fastbreak layup from Schaefer that made it 52-28 with 18:00 remaining as the Panthers called timeout.
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Consecutive baskets from Kempton and McKnight pulled Lehigh within 54-32 with 16:05 to go. Pittsburgh upped its lead to 26 (62-36) with 14:05 remaining, but the Mountain Hawks wouldn't go away. A three-point play from Kempton pulled Lehigh back within 21 (62-41) with 11:51 on the clock.
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In the ensuing minutes, the margin continued to hover between 22 and 25, but the Mountain Hawks continued to be relentless, holding Pittsburgh to just 17 points over the final 14 minutes.
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Cvrkalj got hot, knocking down a trio of three-pointers in less than six minutes. Whitfield scored four straight points behind a pair of free throws and layup that made it 73-53 with 3:02 on the clock.
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Lehigh scored five of the game's final seven points as a Whitfield layup with 32 seconds remaining pulled the Mountain Hawks within 77-58 at the final horn.
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Lehigh shot 45 percent from the field (21-of-47) and 36 percent from three-point range (5-of-14). Pittsburgh came in at 47 percent (29-of-62) and 42 percent from long distance (11-of-26). The Panthers held a 44-21 edge in rebounds.
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The Mountain Hawks will continue the Legends Classic when they travel to South Dakota to face Texas Southern next Monday then either host South Dakota State or Howard on Tuesday.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
UP
FG%
.447
.468
3FG%
.357
.423
FT%
.647
.571
RB
21
44
TO
8
9
STL
3
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
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