
Mountain Hawks set to host Monmouth in home opener Tuesday evening
11/13/2017 4:35:00 PM | Men's Basketball
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Following a thrilling season-opening victory at Marist, the Lehigh men's basketball team will return home to host Monmouth in its home opener on Tuesday evening. Opening tipoff is set for 7 p.m. in Stabler Arena. On Saturday, junior Lance Tejada scored a career-high 24 points in his Lehigh debut, including six of the Mountain Hawks' 15 points in overtime, to lead Lehigh to its first season-opening victory since 2008.
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Tickets for Tuesday's game are free with a Lehigh ID and as low as $5 for the general public. Lehigh students can take the Campus Connector bus to the game, with buses set to leave at 6:30 p.m. from Packer Ave. and 6:34 from Alpha Phi. Buses will continually run back from the Goodman Campus at 8:33, 8:53, 9:13, 9:33, etc. For the complete campus connector bus schedule, please click here.Â
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Tejada was especially strong early and late on Saturday, scoring 14 first-half points on 5-of-10 shooting (and 4-of-8 from three-point range) while scoring eight points in the final 5:05. With five seconds left in regulation, he evened the score with two free throws while in overtime, he had six points on 3-of-3 shooting and a steal. The Red Foxes jumped out to an early overtime lead, but Lehigh ended the game on a 13-2 run. Tejada had a jumper, steal then layup in the matter of 28 seconds to turn a 74-74 tie into a 78-74 advantage. The Mountain Hawks wouldn't look back.
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Senior Kahron Ross finished with 17 points to reach 990 for his career. Twelve of those points came in the second half, finishing the night a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range. His third trey gave Lehigh a 67-66 advantage with 58 seconds remaining in regulation. Ross enters Tuesday vs. Monmouth needing just 10 points from becoming the 35th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. Sophomore Pat Andree added 13 points while junior Kyle Leufroy had nine points, a career-high tying nine rebounds, three steals and two assists. After getting into first-half foul trouble, freshman Caleb Bennett made a major impact after halftime, posting all nine points on 3-of-4 shooting, along with four rebounds. Included were several key driving layups at opportune times.
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The win marked Lehigh's first season-opening victory since beating Saint Peter's (also a MAAC team, like Marist) on Nov. 15, 2008. It was Lehigh's first season opener to go to overtime since Nov. 29, 1986, a 99-98 win over Harvard. In the process, the Mountain Hawks snapped a four-game losing streak against MAAC opponents, marking Lehigh's first win vs. the MAAC since a 76-69 home win over Quinnipiac on Dec. 9, 2013. It was Lehigh's first road win against the MAAC since Dec. 28, 2011 at Saint Peter's.
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Monmouth is the second of three straight MAAC opponents Lehigh will face to begin the season (also hosting Siena this Friday). This past Saturday at Marist was Lehigh's first game vs. a MAAC opponent since Nov. 16, 2015 (a 98-89 loss at Canisius). Lehigh's three games against MAAC teams in seven days come after three games vs. MAAC opponents over the previous 1,419 days. The last team Lehigh played three straight nonleague opponents from the same conference came in 2012 when it played at Sacred Heart (91-77 win), Quinnipiac (77-66 victory) and hosted Fairleigh Dickinson (102-62 win) of the NEC.
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Lehigh has won nine of its last 11 home openers. Last season's 76-67 win over Princeton snapped a two-game home opening losing streak, this after an eight-game winning streak in home openers - beating Cornell 90-73 (2006-07), NJIT 67-58 (2007-08), Delaware State 76-58 (2008-09), Quinnipiac 79-71 (2009-10), Wagner 73-57 (2010-11), Quinnipiac 86-75 (2011-12), Fairfield 82-67 (2012-13) and Rider 92-78 (2013-14).
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Monmouth enters Tuesday with a 1-1 record, defeating Bucknell at home (79-78) and falling at Seton Hall on the road (75-65). Through two games, Micah Seaborn is learning the Hawks in both scoring (18.5 points per game) and rebounding (7.0). Deion Hammond is averaging 15.0 points off the bench while Diago Quinn is averaging 10.0. Monmouth is coming off two straight strong seasons, finishing 27-7 last year and 28-8 in 2015-16. Monmouth did lose Justin Robinson and his 19.7 points per game to graduation, but returned its second-leading scorer in Seaborn, who averaged 13.2 last year. Through two games this season, Monmouth is shooting 45.7 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from three-point range and 82.1 percent from the charity stripe.
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Lehigh leads the all-time series against Monmouth, 4-2, last playing in 2010. Lehigh won the first-ever meeting in 1987 by a 72-59 final, then after 18 years of not squaring off, the sides reconvened every year from 2005-10. Monmouth earned its first-ever win over Lehigh in 2006 and also won the last matchup in 2010. Both games were at Monmouth. Lehigh is 3-0 all-time vs. Monmouth at home.
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Following Tuesday's game, the Mountain Hawks will remain home to host another MAAC opponent in Siena on Friday (Nov. 17) before welcoming Eastern University on Sunday (Nov. 19).
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Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
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BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Following a thrilling season-opening victory at Marist, the Lehigh men's basketball team will return home to host Monmouth in its home opener on Tuesday evening. Opening tipoff is set for 7 p.m. in Stabler Arena. On Saturday, junior Lance Tejada scored a career-high 24 points in his Lehigh debut, including six of the Mountain Hawks' 15 points in overtime, to lead Lehigh to its first season-opening victory since 2008.
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Tickets for Tuesday's game are free with a Lehigh ID and as low as $5 for the general public. Lehigh students can take the Campus Connector bus to the game, with buses set to leave at 6:30 p.m. from Packer Ave. and 6:34 from Alpha Phi. Buses will continually run back from the Goodman Campus at 8:33, 8:53, 9:13, 9:33, etc. For the complete campus connector bus schedule, please click here.Â
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Tejada was especially strong early and late on Saturday, scoring 14 first-half points on 5-of-10 shooting (and 4-of-8 from three-point range) while scoring eight points in the final 5:05. With five seconds left in regulation, he evened the score with two free throws while in overtime, he had six points on 3-of-3 shooting and a steal. The Red Foxes jumped out to an early overtime lead, but Lehigh ended the game on a 13-2 run. Tejada had a jumper, steal then layup in the matter of 28 seconds to turn a 74-74 tie into a 78-74 advantage. The Mountain Hawks wouldn't look back.
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Senior Kahron Ross finished with 17 points to reach 990 for his career. Twelve of those points came in the second half, finishing the night a perfect 3-of-3 from three-point range. His third trey gave Lehigh a 67-66 advantage with 58 seconds remaining in regulation. Ross enters Tuesday vs. Monmouth needing just 10 points from becoming the 35th player in school history to reach 1,000 career points. Sophomore Pat Andree added 13 points while junior Kyle Leufroy had nine points, a career-high tying nine rebounds, three steals and two assists. After getting into first-half foul trouble, freshman Caleb Bennett made a major impact after halftime, posting all nine points on 3-of-4 shooting, along with four rebounds. Included were several key driving layups at opportune times.
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The win marked Lehigh's first season-opening victory since beating Saint Peter's (also a MAAC team, like Marist) on Nov. 15, 2008. It was Lehigh's first season opener to go to overtime since Nov. 29, 1986, a 99-98 win over Harvard. In the process, the Mountain Hawks snapped a four-game losing streak against MAAC opponents, marking Lehigh's first win vs. the MAAC since a 76-69 home win over Quinnipiac on Dec. 9, 2013. It was Lehigh's first road win against the MAAC since Dec. 28, 2011 at Saint Peter's.
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Monmouth is the second of three straight MAAC opponents Lehigh will face to begin the season (also hosting Siena this Friday). This past Saturday at Marist was Lehigh's first game vs. a MAAC opponent since Nov. 16, 2015 (a 98-89 loss at Canisius). Lehigh's three games against MAAC teams in seven days come after three games vs. MAAC opponents over the previous 1,419 days. The last team Lehigh played three straight nonleague opponents from the same conference came in 2012 when it played at Sacred Heart (91-77 win), Quinnipiac (77-66 victory) and hosted Fairleigh Dickinson (102-62 win) of the NEC.
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Lehigh has won nine of its last 11 home openers. Last season's 76-67 win over Princeton snapped a two-game home opening losing streak, this after an eight-game winning streak in home openers - beating Cornell 90-73 (2006-07), NJIT 67-58 (2007-08), Delaware State 76-58 (2008-09), Quinnipiac 79-71 (2009-10), Wagner 73-57 (2010-11), Quinnipiac 86-75 (2011-12), Fairfield 82-67 (2012-13) and Rider 92-78 (2013-14).
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Monmouth enters Tuesday with a 1-1 record, defeating Bucknell at home (79-78) and falling at Seton Hall on the road (75-65). Through two games, Micah Seaborn is learning the Hawks in both scoring (18.5 points per game) and rebounding (7.0). Deion Hammond is averaging 15.0 points off the bench while Diago Quinn is averaging 10.0. Monmouth is coming off two straight strong seasons, finishing 27-7 last year and 28-8 in 2015-16. Monmouth did lose Justin Robinson and his 19.7 points per game to graduation, but returned its second-leading scorer in Seaborn, who averaged 13.2 last year. Through two games this season, Monmouth is shooting 45.7 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from three-point range and 82.1 percent from the charity stripe.
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Lehigh leads the all-time series against Monmouth, 4-2, last playing in 2010. Lehigh won the first-ever meeting in 1987 by a 72-59 final, then after 18 years of not squaring off, the sides reconvened every year from 2005-10. Monmouth earned its first-ever win over Lehigh in 2006 and also won the last matchup in 2010. Both games were at Monmouth. Lehigh is 3-0 all-time vs. Monmouth at home.
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Following Tuesday's game, the Mountain Hawks will remain home to host another MAAC opponent in Siena on Friday (Nov. 17) before welcoming Eastern University on Sunday (Nov. 19).
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Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
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