Wednesday, March 9
Stabler Arena
7:30 pm
Lehigh University
56
vs
59
Holy Cross (Championship)
Mountain Hawks fall just short to Holy Cross in Patriot League Championship Game
3/9/2016 10:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lehigh men's basketball team trailed Holy Cross by 10 with five minutes to play in the Patriot League Championship Game before the Mountain Hawks pulled within one at 55-54 with 1:21 on the clock, but the Mountain Hawks couldn't complete the comeback as the Crusaders closed out a 59-56 victory Wednesday evening in Stabler Arena. The loss snaps Lehigh's school-record tying 11-game winning streak as the Mountain Hawks fell to 17-15 overall.
"We went into this season understanding that we would have a difficult journey," said head coach Brett Reed. "Our nonleague strength of schedule was one of the toughest in the country and we were ready to step up and play anyone in the country. Unfortunately, due to a variety of different reasons including a number of injuries, we weren't at full strength for those challenges.
"We overcame adversity and once our players started figuring it out, they showed great resiliency and togetherness to not back down, come together, play harder and believe in what we were trying to do," Reed continued. "As a coach who is coaching young men and asking them to understand the value of teamwork and commitment, I couldn't be more proud."
Junior Tim Kempton led Lehigh offensively with 20 points behind an 8-for-10 showing from the field. Freshman Kyle Leufroy followed with 13 points and a team-best eight rebounds, while sophomore Kahron Ross chipped in 12 points and a squad-best six assists as he became Lehigh's all-time record holder for a single season with 194, passing Mackey McKnight who dished 192 during the 2013-14 campaign. Kempton, Leufroy and Ross were all named to the Patriot League All-Tournament Team thanks to their strong efforts to get Lehigh to the championship game. A Patriot League Championship Game record 4,587 fans were in attendance in Stabler Arena Wednesday.
"[Holy Cross' 1-3-1 defense] certainly caused a lot of problems for us," said Reed. "We tried to replicate it and took different strategies in practice to replicate it, but unfortunately, I don't think we were as assertive and aggressive against it as we needed to. Because of that, we were in a more passive stance with some of our turnovers and balls were getting deflected. It wasn't until our guards really started to probe and penetrate that we were able to get more of the looks that we wanted. That's something we wanted to have as part of our attack. Unfortunately, we didn't do it quickly enough."
The Crusaders were led by Patriot League Tournament MVP Malachi Alexander with 26 points. Eric Green chipped in 13 points for Holy Cross.
After Holy Cross knocked down a three-pointer to open the scoring, Kempton got Lehigh on the board, hitting a layup with 18:22 left in the first half. From there, neither team scored for more than five minutes until a Robert Champion jumper gave the Crusaders a 5-2 advantage with 13:05 on the first-half clock.
A Leufroy layup pulled the Mountain Hawks within 5-4, but from there, Holy Cross went on a long 15-2 run over the next 7:10 as Lehigh struggled to score against the Crusaders' defense. A Kempton layup ended a long 2:10 scoreless drought and pulled the Mountain Hawks within 20-8 with 3:58 on the clock.
The Crusaders reopened a 14-point lead on multiple occasions, but Kempton scored the final three points of the half, all in the final minute, to pull the Mountain Hawks within 25-14 after 20 minutes of play.
Lehigh shot just 26.1 percent (6-of-23) from the field in the first half and just 14.3 percent (1-of-7) from three-point range. Holy Cross shot 41.7 percent (10-of-24) and 35.7 percent (5-of-14) from three-point range.
The Mountain Hawks scored five of the first seven second-half points to quickly pull within single digits. A few minutes later, Ross knocked down a three-pointer to pull Lehigh within six at 28-22 with 16:35 on the clock. Just under two minutes later, Kempton completed a three-point play to again pull the Mountain Hawks within six at 31-25.
Another Kempton three-point play pulled the Mountain Hawks within four at 37-33 with 11:46 on the clock, but Holy Cross' Alexander answered with a three-pointer less than one minute later to give the Crusaders a 40-33 advantage.
Lehigh again pulled within four at 42-38 then 44-40 following more Kempton points, but a 6-0 Holy Cross run helped the Crusaders reopen a 10-point, 50-40 lead with five minutes on the clock. The Crusaders had an answer for Lehigh's next two shots, both three-pointers from Leufroy, as Holy Cross held onto a 55-46 lead following an Alexander jumper at the 3:45 mark.
Junior Austin Price drained a three-pointer 12 seconds later before the Lehigh defense came up with a big stop and Ross followed with a layup with 2:51 to play to pull the Mountain Hawks back within four at 55-51. Following a Holy Cross missed shot and offensive rebound, Ross came up with a big steal and then Chuku followed by draining a three from the top of the key to cut Holy Cross' lead to one at 55-54 with 1:21 remaining.
Alexander snapped Lehigh's 8-0 run with a pair of free throws at the 1:02 mark to put the Holy Cross advantage at 57-54. A Crusader foul sent Ross to the charity stripe where the sophomore drained both attempts with 33 seconds to play to pull the Mountain Hawks back within one at 57-56.
Lehigh sent Alexander to the line on the Crusaders' next possession as he made both attempts to put the Holy Cross advantage back at 59-56 with 26 seconds left on the clock. The Mountain Hawks were able to rattle off four three-point tries, but none would fall as time expired and the Crusaders held on for the 59-56 win.
The Mountain Hawks finished the game shooting 38.2 percent (21-for-55) from the field, highlighted by a 46.9 (15-for-32) second-half clip. Lehigh shot 30.8 percent (8-for-26) from three-point range and 85.7 percent (6-for-7) from the free throw line. Holy Cross shot 44.7 percent (21-for-47) from the field, 37.9 percent (11-for-29) from downtown and 50 percent (6-for-12) from the charity stripe. Lehigh held a 35-25 edge in rebounding.
Like Lehigh men's basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Players Mentioned
C/F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ 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
