Mountain Hawks hold off Bucknell for big 82-71 road win

Wednesday, January 11

Lewisburg, Pa.

7 PM

Lehigh University

9-7, 3-2PL

Bucknell

12-6, 4-1PL

Team	1	2	F
Lehigh	40	42	82
Bucknell	34	37	71

Mountain Hawks hold off Bucknell for big 82-71 road win

1/11/2017 10:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

| Postgame Reaction: Freshman Pat Andree | Head Coach Brett Reed

LEWISBURG, Pa. - In a back-and-forth game of runs, the Lehigh men's basketball team fended off several Bison runs, on its way to a big 82-71 win at Bucknell on Wednesday evening. The win marked Lehigh's fifth in its last seven tries at Sojka Pavilion as the Mountain Hawks (9-7, 3-2 Patriot League) handed the Bison (12-6, 4-1) their first league loss of the season.

"I couldn't be more proud of our guys," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "We bent, but we didn't break. Bucknell played a tremendous stretch of basketball and they put themselves in position to get right back in the game. At times, it looked a little bit bleak because the momentum, particularly in this building, seemed to soar. But our guys were able to refocus, gather and find a way to win. Some key plays came from guys that we count on a lot, but it was also very nice that we got some great contributions from a lot of other players in our lineup."

Four Mountain Hawks scored in double figures, led by senior Tim Kempton, who scored 20 points despite battling foul trouble. Senior Austin Price hit his first four three-pointers and finished with 16 points, as did freshman Pat Andree. Andree tallied 16 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks.

"Pat was a huge spark for us because the ball was moving, he was finding opportunities and he was contributing on offense," said Reed. "He also got a lot of hustle baskets. That might have been one of his best defensive efforts as well."

Junior Kahron Ross added 11 points, five assists and two steals, moving into third place in school history for career assists with 456.

Lehigh scored seven of the game's first 11 points as two Kempton free throws gave the Mountain Hawks an early 7-4 lead. The teams went back and forth over the ensuing minutes as the sides were tied at 10 and 13 before a Ross three-pointer gave Lehigh a 16-13 advantage. The lead eventually reached six following an Andree floater with 11:40 on the first-half clock.

Leading 24-20, the Mountain Hawks scored 14 of the next 18 points capped off by consecutive three-pointers. Two Matt Holba offensive rebounds led to a Price corner trey, then Andree drained a three-pointer, giving Lehigh a 38-24 lead which forced a Bucknell timeout with 3:51 on the first-half clock.

The Bison immediately staged an 8-0 run, ending the half with 10 of the final 12 points, as a Stephen Brown layup in the final seconds pulled Bucknell within 40-34 after 20 minutes of play.

Lehigh came storming out of the locker room with a 12-0 run over the first 2:08 of the second half. The run included three consecutive three-pointers from Kempton, Price and Andree, then Andree converted a three-point play to give the Mountain Hawks a 52-34 advantage with 17:52 remaining.

Bucknell responded by scoring 22 of the next 28 points as a Brown three-pointer quickly pulled the Bison back within 58-56 with 11:31 on the clock.

Bucknell pulled even at 60, 62 64 and 66, but Lehigh continued to answer, despite Kempton being on the bench with four fouls The Mountain Hawks broke a tie with a 7-0 run as a Jordan Cohen three-pointer and layup gave Lehigh a 73-66 lead with 4:38 remaining. Bucknell couldn't get any closer than four the rest of the way as a Kempton three-point play with 53 seconds remaining gave the Mountain Hawks an 80-71 lead, sealing the victory.

"Not only were things going a little bit south as far as momentum, but then you lose someone who's been a performance leader for us," said Reed. "It's really nice that we could make a run with Tim on the bench, then he could come in and do what he does to complement guys who were already in a flow and feeling pretty confidently about themselves."

For the game, Lehigh shot 50 percent from the field (29-of-58), including 59 percent from three-point range (10-of-17). Bucknell shot 45 percent (25-of-56) and 26 percent from long distance (6-of-23). The Mountain Hawks held a 35-29 edge in rebounds.

Lehigh returns home on Saturday to host Holy Cross at 2 p.m. in a rematch of last season's Patriot League Championship Game. Tickets are available and can be purchased by clicking here.

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