Wednesday, December 3
Stabler Arena
7:00 pm
Lehigh University
3-4
61
vs
59
Saint Francis (Pa.)
3-4
1
2
F
Saint Francis (Pa.)
28
31
59
Lehigh
38
23
61
Lehigh holds on for third straight win, 61-59 over Saint Francis (Pa.)
12/3/2014 9:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh men's basketball team opened an 18-point first half lead and Saint Francis (Pa.) responded to take a second-half lead, but the Mountain Hawks bounced back for a 61-59 victory in a game that went down until the final buzzer on Wednesday evening in Stabler Arena. Junior Justin Goldsborough led the way with 15 points on 6-of-8 shooting while sophomores Austin Price and Tim Kempton reached double figures with 13 and 10 points, respectively. The win marks the Mountain Hawks' third in a row heading into a Saturday afternoon showdown at LIU Brooklyn.
"Give Saint Francis a lot of credit for continuing to fight," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "I thought Earl Brown played a tremendous game. He was a handful tonight. They got a consistent scoring performance from him with (Dominique) Major making a couple of those threes. Fortunately, we were able to find a way. I thought Corey Schaefer's rebounds in the second half were key. Austin made an incredible shot along the baseline to give us some life. We did just enough on a night when our offense sputtered in the second half."
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Goldsborough's 18 points were within three of his career high while he also added seven rebounds.
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"We got excellent production from Justin," said Reed. "I loved his energy. He was scoring around the basket; you could see his explosiveness around the basket. Some of their post players could match his athleticism, but he ended up still jumping over them and playing with some size."
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Price struggled from the field, but was 8-of-10 from the free throw line while adding three assists and four steals. Freshman Brandon Alston added nine points while senior Corey Schaefer scored eight. Freshman Kahron Ross dished four assists while adding three steals.
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Earl Brown led the Red Flash with 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting as two other Saint Francis players reached double-figure points.
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Kempton scored Lehigh's first four points, but a Greg Brown jumper gave the Red Flash an early 6-4 lead. The Mountain Hawks responded by scoring 15 of the next 20 points as a Ross offensive rebound led to a Schaefer three-pointer. Trailing 8-7, Price and Jesse Chuku knocked down treys on consecutive possessions to make it 13-8 with 14:51 on the first-half clock. Four straight free throws, from Price and Goldsborough, made it 19-11 with 10:42 on the clock.
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Lehigh's lead reached double figures for the first time as Alston grabbed a tough defensive rebound and followed with a pull-up jumper to give the Mountain Hawks a 26-15 advantage with 9:06 left in the first half.
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Lehigh's run reached 12-0 due in large part to six straight points from Goldsborough. After his second straight layup, the Red Flash called timeout then Goldsborough came out of the timeout with another basket to make it 33-15 with 6:26 remaining in the half.
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Saint Francis began to chip away as an 8-0 run helped the Red Flash pull within 35-26 following a Georgios Angelou corner three with 1:04 on the clock. A Ross jumper and Alston free throw in the final minute gave the Mountain Hawks a 38-28 lead after 20 minutes of play.
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Lehigh shot 44 percent in the first half (11-of-25) and 40 percent from three-point range (4-of-10). Saint Francis shot 46 percent (11-of-24) and 31 percent from long distance (4-of-13). The Mountain Hawks held an 18-13 edge in rebounds. Goldsborough led the way with 10 points and four rebounds in the first half.
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Saint Francis scored five of the first eight second-half points to pull within eight (41-33) following a Earl Brown free throw. Lehigh answered with the next four points to take a 45-33 lead, but the Red Flash used a 10-0 run to pull right back into the game. Consecutive threes from Dominique Major and Brown pulled the Red Flash within 45-39 while Saint Francis answered with four straight points out of the media timeout as a Brown jumper made it 45-43, forcing a Lehigh timeout with 13:39 on the clock.
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The Mountain Hawks scored the next three points to take a five-point advantage, but Saint Francis responded with six straight as a Ben Millaud-Meunier trey, the team's fourth made three in its first six second-half attempts, gave the Red Flash a 49-48 lead with 9:43 remaining, forcing another Lehigh timeout.
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The teams went back-and-forth with three ties over the ensuing minutes. A Goldsborough fastbreak layup off a feed from Schaefer gave Lehigh a 58-55 lead with 3:49 on the clock then a Price fallaway jumper made it 60-57 with 43 seconds remaining.
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Kempton hit a free throw with 21 seconds on the clock to make it 61-59, then Saint Francis had two chances to tie the score, or take a lead, but a Millaud-Meunier three-pointer as time expired was off the mark, clinching Lehigh's two-point victory.
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Lehigh shot 40 percent for the game (18-of-45) and 29 percent from three-point range (4-of-14). The Red Flash shot 47 percent (24-of-51) and 35 percent from long distance (8-of-23). The Mountain Hawks won the battle of the boards, 32-28.
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Lehigh will now head to LIU Brooklyn on Saturday to face the Blackbirds. Opening tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
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Team Stats
SFU
LEHIGH
FG%
.471
.400
3FG%
.348
.286
FT%
.273
.724
RB
28
32
TO
15
12
STL
3
7
Game Leaders
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
13
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
8
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
9
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballC/F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
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