Thursday, March 5
7:00 pm
Lehigh University
16-14
62
vs
68
American
16-15
1
2
F
American
23
45
68
Lehigh
27
35
62
Second-half surge leads American over Lehigh in PL Quarterfinals, 68-62
3/5/2015 10:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The third-seeded Lehigh men's basketball team jumped out to a quick first-half lead, but American's offense came alive in the second half as the sixth-seeded Eagles eliminated the Mountain Hawks from the Patriot League Tournament, 68-62 on Thursday evening in Stabler Arena. Sophomore Tim Kempton led Lehigh with 20 points and 11 rebounds for his 14th double-double of the season as he finished a perfect 9-for-9 from the field. Lehigh held American to just 39 percent shooting in the first half, but the Eagles responded by shooting 56 percent over the final 20 minutes.
"American's offense is designed to get layups and shoot open threes," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "They really hurt us with their pick-and-roll game. (Marko) Vasic ended up having a number of layup opportunities against our coverage. Jesse Reed was driving hard and we were unable to get the basketball under control."
Junior Justin Goldsborough used a hot start to finish with eight points and eight rebounds. Freshman Kahron Ross tallied nine points and eight assists while sophomore Miles Simelton and junior Jesse Chuku each finished with eight points.
"Give American credit for executing; give them credit for capitalizing," said Reed. "Ultimately, it looked like a lesser-experienced team against a more experienced team. I felt that our players played somewhat tight while their players who were used to that type of circumstance and situation because of their tournament run last year, handled the magnitude of the night better than we did."
The Mountain Hawks struggled from the free throw line, missing all five of its first-half attempts and finishing 7-of-16 for the game. Lehigh also had 14 turnovers compared to American's seven.
"I think our guys were trying to make the right plays, but just lacked a little bit of the confidence and the flow to be able to complete them the right way," said Reed.
Twelve of Kempton's points came in the final 20 minutes as he kept the Mountain Hawks within striking distance down the stretch.
"We tried to establish Tim early on. Some of his post-ups and seals weren't as effective as we would have liked," said Reed. "His catch locations were a little bit off, which forced help to him and he'd ultimately have to kick out. Tim made an adjustment, but I think it's a collective responsibility, both Tim making sure that he seals, and our guards doing a little bit better job of feeding him and giving him the ball in better locations."
Lehigh's offense got off to a hot start, sparked by Ross who assisted on the first three baskets then hit a three-pointer to make it 9-2 Mountain Hawks with 17:37 on the first-half clock. Leading 11-4, American responded with a 6-0 run behind a pair of three-pointers. Layups from Kempton and Simelton helped Lehigh regain a five-point, 15-10 lead, but the Eagles pulled right back within two on several occasions.
A Simelton layup gave Lehigh a 25-19 lead with 4:27 remaining then after American scored the next four points, a Kempton jumper with just over one minute remaining made it 27-23 Lehigh at the half.
Kempton had eight points and four rebounds in the first half while Goldsborough added six points and six boards. Simelton also had six points. Lehigh shot 50 percent from the field, but just 17 percent from three-point range. American shot 39 percent and 30 percent from long distance.
American began the second half by scoring 12 of the first 18 points as a Pee Wee Gardner three-point play gave the Eagles their first lead of the game, making it 35-33 with 16:25 on the clock.
American began extending its lead, reaching eight at 47-39 following a Jesse Reed three-pointer, then eventually nine (53-44) after a Jalen Rhea trey. Lehigh's offense struggled, going 4:54 without scoring until a Brandon Alston three-point play gave the offense life and made it a seven-point, 54-47 game with 5:04 on the clock.
Lehigh got as close as five (57-52) after a Ross free throw with 2:02 remaining then a Chuku jumper pulled the Mountain Hawks within three (59-56) with 57 seconds remaining. That's as close as Lehigh would get, however as American hit enough free throws down the stretch for the 68-62 final.
The Mountain Hawks shot 54 percent for the game (26-of-48) and 21 percent from three-point range (3-of-14). American finished at 47 percent (24-of-51) and 36 percent from long distance (8-of-22). Lehigh won the battle of the boards, 30-25.
"It was emotional in a lot of fronts in our team room after the game," said Reed. "Our players would have loved to continue to play on, not only for the chance to win a championship, but perhaps more importantly, play on and enjoy the journey of being on the same team with a great group of guys. I thought our commitment level throughout the year was high, I thought the unity amongst our team members was high and I really wanted our younger players to identify the great contributions by our senior class. They weren't always on the floor, but they were being selfless, providing leadership. They continued to build our team and set an example of what a unified team should look like. Our group of seniors really helped to build our culture back in a very positive way."
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Team Stats
AMERICAN
LEHIGH
FG%
.471
.542
3FG%
.364
.214
FT%
.706
.438
RB
25
30
TO
7
14
STL
10
3
Game Leaders
Pts
20
FGM
9
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballC/F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
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