Thursday, December 17
Moon Township, Pa.
7:00 pm
Lehigh University
1-8
67
at
69
Robert Morris
2-9
1
2
F
Lehigh
34
33
67
Robert Morris
36
33
69
Spirited effort falls short at Robert Morris, 69-67
12/17/2015 9:55:00 PM | Men's Basketball
MOON TOWNSHIP, Pa. - The Lehigh men's basketball used a spirited effort to pull even in the final minutes against defending NEC Champion Robert Morris, but the Colonials' Kavon Stewart hit a layup with just over one minute remaining to down the Mountain Hawks 69-67 on Thursday evening. Junior Austin Price led the Mountain Hawks with 19 points, 12 in the second half, including a floater that evened the score at 67 with 1:26 remaining. Lehigh will return home on Saturday to host Mount St. Mary's at 7 p.m.
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"Robert Morris scored consistently, particularly in the second half," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "I thought our defense came in a period at the beginning of the game, then it whittled away. We had transition matchup issues, we had a couple broken plays when we lost our attention to detail on the defensive end of the floor and that proved very costly. It wasn't until towards the end of the game when we did some things differently, we were able to get some stops."
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Senior Jesse Chuku scored 14 points, 10 in the first half, while sophomore Kahron Ross added 14 as well on 6-of-9 shooting and 2-of-3 from three-point range.
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"We scored enough," said Reed. "It wasn't beautiful, but we scored when we didn't turn it over. But between turnovers and defense, we put ourselves in a bad spot."
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The Mountain Hawks held a dominant 34-23 edge in rebounding, including a 20-8 edge in the second half. Senior Justin Goldsborough tallied seven of those boards, including six on the offensive glass, to go with seven points. Freshman Kyle Leufroy added eight points, six rebounds, two assists and two steals.
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"Rebounding was really pleasing to see; we have taken steps as far as rebounding the basketball," said Reed. "We were able to control the glass much more. Justin brought us energy and some activity."
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Robert Morris was led by Rodney Pryor, who scored 20 points on 8-of-14 shooting.
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The Colonials jumped out to an early 4-1 lead, but four straight Mountain Hawk points gave them their first lead of the evening. Ross grabbed his 100th career rebound and went all the way to the hoop, converting a layup to make it 5-4 with 17:22 on the first-half clock. Not long after, Chuku began to heat up as his three-point play gave Lehigh an 8-6 advantage.
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Tied at 12, Robert Morris used a quick 5-0 run behind an Isaiah Still three-pointer and Billy Gilles fast break dunk to make it 17-12, forcing a Lehigh timeout with 11:31 left in the first half.
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The Colonials eventually opened a 10-point, 26-16 lead with exactly eight minutes on the first-half clock, but the Mountain Hawks immediately answered with a mini 5-0 run, as a Ross jumper and Chuku three-pointer made it 26-21 with 7:09 on the clock.
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Robert Morris extended its lead to 31-23, but Lehigh responded with six straight points, beginning and ending with Leufroy baskets. In between was a Ross fast break layup. After the run, the Mountain Hawks were back within two, 31-29, with 2:06 remaining
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The Colonials' lead reached five in the final seconds, but Price hit a three-pointer as the first half expired to pull his squad within 36-34.
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Robert Morris scored five of the first six second-half points to take a 41-35 advantage, but Ross answered with two consecutive three-pointers to pull Lehigh even at 41 with 16:01 on the clock.
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The Colonials scored the next five and 12 of the next 16 points to take a 53-45 advantage with 12:15 remaining, but Price answered with a trey off a nifty feed from sophomore Tyler Jenkins to pull Lehigh within five at 53-48.
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Robert Morris had an answer, staging a 7-2 run to reopen a 10-point, 60-50 advantage with 9:16 left in the second half.
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The Mountain Hawks wouldn't quit, however, scoring 17 of the next 24 points to pull even. The run began with a Leufroy layup and Price three-pointer. Two Goldsborough free throws pulled Lehigh within 63-61, Robert Morris answered with the next four points to take a six-point advantage, but the Mountain Hawks scored six straight to pull even. Layups from Goldsborough and Leufroy pulled Lehigh within 67-65 with 2:57 on the clock, then Price finished a floater to make it 67-67 with 1:26 remaining.
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However, on the ensuing possession, Stewart converted a layup to give Robert Morris a 69-67 advantage. The Mountain Hawks had two chances to pull even in the final minute, but they were called for a pair of travels to end any hope.
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Lehigh shot 48 percent for the game (28-of-58), including 28 percent from three-point range (6-of-21). Robert Morris shot 53 percent (26-of-49) and 45 percent from long distance (9-of-20). The Mountain Hawks turned the ball over 18 times to the Colonials' 15 times.
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"You're not going to survive with 18 turnovers," said Reed. "You're not going to survive turnovers late, turnovers in costly situations. We're giving up possessions and giving up opportunities."
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After Thursday's contest, the Mountain Hawks will return home for the next four games, beginning on Saturday when they host Mount St. Mary's at 7 p.m.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
RMU
FG%
.483
.531
3FG%
.286
.450
FT%
.625
.727
RB
34
23
TO
18
15
STL
9
7
Game Leaders
Pts
19
FGM
8
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's Basketball
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