Saturday, January 11
Baltimore, Md.
4:00 PM
Lehigh University
8-9, 1-3PL
68
at
72
Loyola
7-8, 2-2PL
1
2
F
Lehigh
32
36
68
Loyola Maryland
35
37
72
Lehigh drops another close game, 72-68 at Loyola
1/11/2014 6:31:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BALTIMORE - An 11-0 run by Loyola in the second half proved too much to overcome as the Lehigh men's basketball team dropped a third straight game that went down to the wire, 72-68 on Saturday. Senior Mackey McKnight led the Mountain Hawks with 17 points and seven assists while sophomore Justin Goldsborough scored a career-high 14 points. Lehigh looks to bounce back when it hosts American on Wednesday evening.
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"Loyola is pretty strong physically. In the beginning of the game, they flexed their muscle against us," said Lehigh head Brett Reed. "If they were missing a shot, it seemed as if they got every offensive rebound to put it back in and put us on our heels defensively. As we moved forward, we ended up adjusting. We actually had more offensive rebounds than Loyola did tonight. However, the start of the second half was a problem as they went on a run."
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A tight game turned into double figures with an 11-0 Loyola run early in the second half, but the Mountain Hawks continued to show resiliency and pulled as close as three. In the end, Lehigh dropped its third straight game that came down to the final seconds.
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"There are some really positive things that you can take from a team that is down, emotions were starting to lower a little bit, and then come back and change the course of the game with some aggressive play, being in the right spots, communicating and holding Loyola to three offensive rebounds in the second half," said Reed. "Unfortunately, it seemed like Loyola made every tough shot, even some shots that were well-contested, to allow them to build that cushion. Give our guys some credit for showing some resiliency and character to fight in those difficult situations and make this a closely contested game."
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All 17 of McKnight's points came in the second half as he shot 7-of-13 from the field and 2-of-2 from three-point range. Goldsborough's career-high 14 came one game after tying his career high with 11. He shot 7-of-11 from the field and added three rebounds and two blocks.
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Freshman Tim Kempton finished with 13 points and seven rebounds while classmate Austin Price added 11, all coming in the first half.
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With the loss, Lehigh falls to 8-9 overall and 1-3 in Patriot League play. Loyola improves to 7-8, 2-2 in the league and 4-2 at home.
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The Patriot League's leading scorer Dylon Cormier scored a game-high 25 points on 10-of-18 shooting. Two others added double figures for the Greyhounds.
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Loyola scored just 15 seconds into the game, but Price answered with a three on the other end. The Greyhounds responded with six straight points to take an 8-3 advantage with 17:31 on the clock.
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A Dylon Cormier jumper gave the Greyhounds a 12-6 lead with 14:33 remaining, but that was short-lived as Price answered just 15 seconds later with his second three of the half to pull Lehigh within 12-9.
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A pair of Kempton free throws pulled the Mountain Hawks within three (14-11) but five straight points from Loyola gave the Greyhounds their largest lead of the half (eight) with 11:35 on the clock.
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Goldsborough helped spark a 7-0 Lehigh run, converting a pair of layups then keeping an offensive rebound alive which led to a Price jumper to pull Lehigh within 21-20 with 8:07 remaining. The run continued as Goldsborough's third field goal, and two Kempton free throws helped tie the score at 24 with 6:55 on the clock.
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Loyola promptly answered with a 7-0 run to make it 31-24, but the Mountain Hawks came back with eight of the final 12 first-half points, six from Kempton, to pull within 35-32 after 20 minutes of play.
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Lehigh shot 39 percent from the field in the first half (11-of-28) and 43 percent from three-point range (3-of-7). Loyola shot 44 percent (14-of-32) and 38 percent from long distance (3-of-8). The Mountain Hawks held a 19-17 rebounding edge.
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The teams traded baskets early in the second half until a 6-0 Loyola run capped off by a fastbreak layup from Franz Rassman forced a Lehigh timeout with 16:53 on the clock. '
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The Greyhounds extended their run to 11-0 to take a 14-point, 50-36 lead. McKnight answered with five straight points behind a three and driving layup, but Loyola extended its lead back to 13 (54-41) with 10:49 left in the second half.
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Down 56-43, Lehigh staged an 8-0 run which included six points from Goldsborough, to pull within 56-51 with 8:11 left in the half.
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The Mountain Hawks pulled as close as four, but the Greyhounds answered to take a seven-point, 61-54 lead following a Tyler Hubbard three.
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Trailing 65-58, Lehigh wouldn't go away and scored four straight points (all from McKnight) to pull within 65-61 with 2:13 on the clock. The Greyhounds went up by seven with 46 seconds remaining, but a McKnight three pulled the Mountain Hawks within four. A Kempton jumper with four seconds remaining pulled Lehigh within three (71-68), but R.J. Williams knocked down the second of two free throws to clinch the Loyola victory.
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Lehigh shot 44 percent from the field (27-of-62) and 43 percent from three-point range (6-of-14). Loyola shot 50 percent (26-of-52) and 36 percent from long distance (4-of-11). The Greyhounds shot 33-31 from the field.
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The Mountain Hawks return home on Wednesday to host American at 7 p.m. before playing at Holy Cross on Saturday, Jan. 18.
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Tickets are available online, including a print-at-home option, or by calling the ticket office at 610-7LU-GAME (610-758-4263). Individual game tickets are only five dollars (in advance) and season tickets are also available.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
LOY
FG%
.435
.500
3FG%
.429
.364
FT%
.727
.667
RB
31
33
TO
11
11
STL
3
5
Game Leaders
Pts
17
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
14
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
7
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
3
FTM
0
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