Saturday, February 14
Worcester, Mass.
3:00 pm
Lehigh University
14-11, 8-6PL
52
at
58
Holy Cross
11-13, 6-8PL
1
2
F
Lehigh
18
34
52
Holy Cross
30
28
58
Mountain Hawks’ spirited comeback falls short at Holy Cross, 58-52
2/14/2015 5:52:00 PM | Men's Basketball
WORCESTER, Mass. - The Lehigh men's basketball team scored just 18 first-half points then responded in the second to pull as close as four, but Holy Cross had an answer as the Crusaders ended the Mountain Hawks' four-game winning streak 58-52 on Saturday afternoon. Sophomore Tim Kempton scored a game-high 22 points, 18 coming in the second half including Lehigh's first 13 second-half points. He added 11 rebounds for his 11th career double-double and 17th this season.
"It was unfortunate that we weren't able to convert early," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "We didn't make shots and we had a string of turnovers which gave them the open-floor opportunities. When we go back and check spot-up percentage on shots, we'll find that it was a little bit low. Offensively in the second half, we forced some action at times. We made some bad choices in individual one-on-one play. We at times had to make that extra pass. I think sometimes, when things weren't going well, some of our players wanted to take it upon themselves. I would have liked for us to have a little bit more trust in what we were doing, but we just weren't able to do it."
Kempton shot 6-of-13 from the field and 10-of-13 from the free throw line. It marked his second straight 20-point effort and second 20-point effort against the Crusaders this season.
"Converting from the free throw line is important. Tim ended up earning a lot of points tonight on the offensive glass with five second-half offensive rebounds," said Reed. "When shots aren't falling, you need that type of contribution; you need that effort to give us extra possessions and give us high-percentage shots to complement some of the other things that we'd ultimately like to see."
Freshman Kahron Ross chipped in with 12 points, including a perfect 5-of-5 from the free throw line. Sophomore Austin Price scored 10 points, eight in the second half. Junior Justin Goldsborough grabbed eight rebounds.
Both teams' offenses struggled at the beginning of the first half, but a Ross three-point play gave the Mountain Hawks a 5-3 lead with 15:59 left in the first half.
Holy Cross immediately responded with an 11-0 run. A Malcolm Miller dunk made it 14-5 Crusaders and forced a Lehigh timeout with 11:36 on the clock.
Austin Price and Brandon Alston came right back with layups to pull Lehigh within five (14-9), but Holy Cross scored the next five points to take its first double-digit lead, 19-9.
Holy Cross extended its lead to 12 at 23-11, forcing the Mountain Hawks to call their second timeout of the half with 4:45 remaining. Lehigh came out of the timeout with the next four points via Jesse Chuku and Kempton jumpers, but the Crusaders opened a 30-15 lead before Lehigh scored the final three points of the half to pull within 30-18 after 20 minutes of play.
Ross scored five first-half points to lead the way while a pair of Crusaders had seven points to lead Holy Cross. Lehigh shot 31 percent in the first half (7-of-23) while the Crusaders shot 32 percent (11-of-34). Holy Cross had 12 offensive rebounds which led to 11 more field goal attempts than the Mountain Hawks.
Lehigh scored five of the first six second-half points as the Mountain Hawks came out of the locker room with a vengeance, quickly pulling within nine. Lehigh got within eight (31-23) after a pair of Kempton free throws with 16:10 left in the second half.
Holy Cross answered and gradually built its lead back up, eventually reaching 16 after a Malachi Alexander jumper made it 45-29 with 10:22 on the clock.
Down 47-31 after a Justin Burrell jumper, the Mountain Hawks staged a 7-0 run, beginning with two Ross free throws and ending with a Ross three-pointer as great ball movement led to Lehigh's first made three of the game. That pulled the Mountain Hawks within nine (47-38), forcing a Holy Cross timeout with 7:58 still remaining.
Holy Cross answered with the next three points, but the Mountain Hawks used an 8-0 run, five of the points scored by Price, to pull within 50-46 with 2:25 on the clock. That's as close as the Mountain Hawks would come, however, as the Crusaders scored four of the game's next five points as a pair of Burrell free throws gave Holy Cross a 54-47 lead with 45 seconds remaining. A Price trey in the final seconds pulled the Mountain Hawks back within four, but it was too little, too late.
For the game, Lehigh shot 30 percent (16-of-54) and 19 percent from three-point range (3-of-16). Holy Cross shot 36 percent (21-of-58) and 17 percent from long distance (3-of-18). After a tough first-half rebounding, the Mountain Hawks came back to win the battle of the boards, 44-41.
The Mountain Hawks head to Navy next Wednesday before returning home to host archrival Lafayette on Sunday, Feb. 22 in a nationally-televised CBS Sports Network game.
Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
LEHIGH
HC
FG%
.296
.362
3FG%
.188
.167
FT%
.773
.565
RB
44
41
TO
14
8
STL
3
9
Game Leaders
Pts
22
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
10
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
4
FGM
1
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballC/F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballSeason Preview: Men's Basketball
Thursday, October 31
Lehigh Sports Central: Men's Basketball
Wednesday, October 30
Lehigh Sports Central: Men's Basketball
Wednesday, February 07
Men's Basketball vs SUNY Oneonta
Thursday, November 16
