Saturday, January 16
Worcester, Mass.
1:00 pm
Lehigh University
5-12, 3-3PL
87
at
66
Holy Cross
7-10, 2-4PL
1
2
F
Lehigh
40
47
87
Holy Cross
31
35
66
Lehigh rolls to 87-66 win at Holy Cross
1/16/2016 3:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
WORCESTER, Mass. - The Lehigh men's basketball team used a complete team effort, led by 22 points from junior Austin Price and 20 from classmate Tim Kempton, to pick up an impressive 87-66 win at Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon. The win marked Lehigh's largest-ever victory at Holy Cross. Leading by nine at the half, the Mountain Hawks extended their lead to 20 in the second and wouldn't look back as they improve to 3-3 in Patriot League play.
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"I was really pleased," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "Our guys had more of an attack mentality where they didn't want to let it up. You knew Holy Cross was going to make a little bit of a run. They tried to field Alexander in the post and Husek made some perimeter shots, but our defense held strong. We ended up making some slight adjustments and we forced them into one-and-done. We didn't give up a ton of offensive rebounds. To hold a team to 38 percent for the night and only give up six offensive rebounds, it's a positive sign for us when we struggled to rebound in the beginning of the year."
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Price finished the afternoon shooting 7-of-10 from the field, including 6-of-8 from three-point range. Kempton finished 7-of-8 from the field as well.
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"Every time Austin got the ball, it was a pretty clean look and he was in great rhythm," said Reed. "The ball was smooth off his finger tips. I don't think he hit much rim tonight; everything was net. He was in the zone and was making shots. Credit to his teammates for finding him the open opportunities, for swinging the ball against the zone defense and obviously for Austin being ready with his footwork and confident enough to shoot confidently and make good shots."
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Along with Price and Kempton's 42 combined points, freshman Kyle Leufroy added 13 points, 11 coming in the second half. He also shattered a career high with a game-high nine rebounds. Senior Devon Carter scored a career-high 10 points, eight coming after halftime. Sophomore Kahron Ross added seven points, a career-high six rebounds and four assists while senior Jesse Chuku tallied four points, six rebounds and a career-high five assists.
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For the game, the Mountain Hawks shot 56 percent from the field (33-of-59), including 48 percent from three-point range (11-of-23). Holy Cross shot 38 percent (21-of-55) and 35 percent from long distance (7-of-20). The Mountain Hawks dominated the glass, holding a 39-24 advantage.
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The Mountain Hawks got off to a fast start as Chuku scored the game's first four points. After a Holy Cross layup, Price responded with consecutive three-pointers to give Lehigh a 10-2 advantage with 16:09 on the clock.
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After the Crusaders knocked down a pair of free throws, Lehigh scored the next five points behind a Ross three-pointer and Kempton layup to extend its run to 11-2 and take a 15-4 advantage with 14:05 remaining in the first half.
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The Mountain Hawks continued their momentum, eventually taking a 24-9 lead after a Price three-pointer with 10:38 to go in the first, his third trey of the half. Lehigh continued to build its lead, taking an 18-point lead following a Kempton jumper with 6:18 remaining. In that stretch, the Mountain Hawks used all-around team basketball as sophomore Tyler Jenkins and senior John Ross Glover came off the bench to make key contributions. Jenkins had a steal and fastbreak layup while Glover scored four straight points as eight Mountain Hawks scored in the first half.
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With Lehigh on top 38-21 with 3:52 on the clock, the Crusaders caught fire, ending the half on a 10-2 run to pull within 40-31 after 20 minutes of play.
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Price led the way with 13 first-half points while Kempton scored 10. Lehigh shot 62 percent from the field in the first (16-of-26) to Holy Cross' 44 percent (11-of-25).
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After Lehigh scored four of the first six second-half points, a three-point play pulled Holy Cross within eight at 44-36. The Mountain Hawks answered with an 8-0 run, which included four points from Leufroy, to take a 52-36 advantage with 16:45 remaining in the second half.
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Lehigh's lead eventually reached 20 behind consecutive three-pointers from Leufroy and Carter, to make the score 60-39 with 13:09 on the clock.
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The Mountain Hawks extended their lead to 23, the Crusaders pulled back within 18 on multiple occasions, but never got any closer. Lehigh always had an answer. Price's sixth three-pointer of the afternoon helped Lehigh regain a 20-point lead at 79-58 with less than five minutes remaining.
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Lehigh cruised from there, scoring eight more points the rest of the way which included a Carter three-pointer to give the Mountain Hawks an 82-60 lead and giving him a career-high 10 points on the afternoon. A Jenkins three-pointer rounded out the scoring, giving Lehigh an 87-66 lead, which proved to be the final.
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The Mountain Hawks will now return home next Wednesday (Jan. 20) to host Navy at 7 p.m.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
HC
FG%
.559
.382
3FG%
.478
.350
FT%
.833
.773
RB
39
24
TO
11
6
STL
3
6
Game Leaders
Pts
22
FGM
7
3FGM
6
FTM
2
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
13
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
G/F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballC/F
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
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