Friday, November 13
Syracuse, N.Y.
7:00 pm
Lehigh University
(0-1)
47
at
57
Syracuse
(1-0)
1
2
F
LEHIGH
12
35
47
Syracuse
32
25
57
Mountain Hawks’ second-half surge falls short at Syracuse, 57-47
11/13/2015 10:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - After Syracuse opened a 20-point halftime lead, the Lehigh men's basketball team didn't back down, beginning the second half with an 18-4 run to pull within six, but the comeback fell short in a 57-47 season-opening loss at the Carrier Dome on Friday evening. Junior Tim Kempton posted his 21st-career double-double, dropping 16 points and 12 rebounds, while classmate Austin Price added 12 points.
"Today was a difficult day for us because it was a new opponent with a different style," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "We started slowly, but fortunately, we were able to show a great deal of pride and perseverance by playing well in the second half. I wish we would have been able to muster a little bit better performance in the first 20 minutes and we may have put ourselves in a position to win this game."
Twelve of Kempton's 16 points came in the second half as he finished 3-of-8 from the field and 10-of-13 from the free throw line. He has now posted a double-double against each of his last four power conference opponents (Villanova, DePaul, Arizona State and now Syracuse). Price added five of Lehigh's 11 steals while senior Jesse Chuku scored eight second-half points.
After Syracuse opened an 8-2 lead, Lehigh responded with a 7-0 run, capped off by a Price three-pointer to give the Mountain Hawks their first lead at 9-8 with 13:14 on the first-half clock. From there, Lehigh's offense struggled against Syracuse's zone, scoring just three points the rest of the half. The Mountain Hawks' defense stood tall however, forcing the Orange to shoot just 35 percent from the field over the first 20 minutes and causing nine first-half turnovers, but Syracuse carried a 32-12 lead into the locker room.
Lehigh immediately responded in the second half, scoring 18 of the first 22 points to pull within 36-30 with more than 12 minutes still remaining. Kempton began the half with a pair of free throws. Trailing 36-18 a few minutes later, the Mountain Hawks staged a 12-0 run, beginning with two Kempton free throws, followed by a Chuku dunk off a pass from Kempton.
After a Chuku layup, sophomore Kahron Ross had a steal and fast break layup, then senior Devon Carter converted a layup off a Ross feed to pull Lehigh within 36-28.The run ended with another Chuku layup off a Kempton pass, making it a two-possession, 36-30 game.
Syracuse reopened a 12-point, 44-32 lead, but Lehigh continued to pull back within single digits. A Price trey pulled the Mountain Hawks within 44-35 with 9:44 remaining then a John Ross Glover layup made it a 47-39 game with 5:37 on the clock.
The Mountain Hawks couldn't pull any closer than eight, however, as Lehigh pressured down the stretch, but Syracuse hit enough free throws to wrap up the victory.
"The second half was really a big difference, from being on our heels and a little bit nervous and apprehensive to being the aggressors," said Reed. "We were the aggressors on defense, but more importantly, we were the aggressors on offense. We were able to make quicker decisions, we were looking at better floor-catch positioning and overall, better movement to establish not only an interior presence, but also getting some opportunities for our players to find open gaps. It was something we really struggled with in the first half, particularly with the high level of turnovers."
Lehigh shot 45 percent from the field in the second half to pull its game total to 29 percent (15-of-51). Syracuse shot 35 percent each half, finishing 18-of-52 for the contest. Thirty-four of the Orange shots were three-pointers (11-of-34). The Mountain Hawks outscored the Orange in the paint, 26-10 and off turnovers, 21-7.
"Defense is always going to be very important for us," said Reed. "Tonight, we had to put a lot of pressure on our defense. In the first half, we demonstrated some decent phases working together, but I thought there were times when we were a little bit caught up in our offensive inefficiency and we let it affect us. They had 11 fast break points, and most of those came in the first half, just by losing a little bit of our edge."
Lehigh will return to action on Monday when the Mountain Hawks travel to Canisius for a 7 p.m. tipoff. Lehigh then returns home next Thursday (Nov. 19) to host Yale at 7 p.m. Tickets are available and can be purchased at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during normal business hours.
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Team Stats
LU
SU
FG%
.288
.346
3FG%
.118
.324
FT%
.682
.833
RB
38
40
TO
15
17
STL
11
10
Game Leaders
Pts
16
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
10
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
4
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's BasketballC/F
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