Sunday, February 12
Worcester, Mass.
12 PM
Lehigh University
14-11, 8-6PL
45
at
61
Holy Cross
13-14, 7-7PL
1
2
F
Lehigh
23
22
45
Holy Cross
26
35
61
Holy Cross pulls away from Mountain Hawks in second half, 61-45
2/12/2017 2:57:00 PM | Men's Basketball
WORCESTER, Mass. - Lehigh struggled offensively all game, connecting on just 29.2 percent of its field goals in a tough 61-45 loss at Holy Cross on Sunday afternoon. Senior Tim Kempton did post his third straight double-double, while also breaking the Lehigh career record for rebounds (currently owning 1,015). Sophomore Kyle Leufroy scored a team-high 12 points as well as the Mountain Hawks fall to 14-11 on the season, 8-6 in Patriot League play.
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Kempton passed Daren Queenan's previous record of 1,013, finishing the game with 10 points and 10 rebounds. Leufroy finished 4-of-8 from the field while senior Austin Price added seven points and four rebounds. Freshman Pat Andree chipped in six points behind a pair of threes.
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"It was really disappointing," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "I thought we were up for the fight in the first half. Not everything was going our way. We weren't making shots and we had to find another way, but we did that with some energy plays by going to the offensive glass and trying to be stingy on defense. We were hoping it could break open. Kahron (Ross) had a nice drive to begin the second half, we got the ball inside to Tim and we didn't get a foul call. Unfortunately, the turning point of the game was when emotionally, we lost our focus. At that point forward, Holy Cross took over. We were distracted on our mission, which was to focus on every possession. When we were able to refocus, we had some solid offensive possessions, but were unable to knock down open shots."
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Junior Kahron Ross dished three assists on the afternoon to reach exactly 500 for his career; he's just the third player in school history and seventh in Patriot League history to reach the milestone.
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Kempton opened the scoring with a layup, but Holy Cross responded with the next nine points. An Andree corner three-pointer ended Lehigh's 5:07 scoreless drought, pulling the Mountain Hawks within 9-5 with 12:56 remaining in the first half.
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The Crusaders went on to reopen a 16-9 lead, but a four-point play from Leufroy quickly pulled Lehigh back within 16-13 less than 40 seconds later.
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Holy Cross again reopened a seven-point advantage at 20-13, but the Mountain Hawks scored 10 of the final 16 first-half points capped off by a short Leufroy jumper in the final minute, pulling Lehigh within 26-23 after 20 minutes of play.
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Ross opened the second half with a basket, but Holy Cross responded with an 11-0 run as a pair of Patrick Benzan free throws gave the Crusaders a 39-28 lead with 13:31 remaining.
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Holy Cross' lead eventually reached 14, Lehigh scored seven of the next eight points to pull within eight, but the Crusaders' lead reached 15 at 50-35 following a Malachi Alexander trey. The margin eventually swelled to 22 with 1:30 remaining before Lehigh scored the final six points of the game, four from junior Jay Jay Davis, to pull the Mountain Hawks within 61-45 at the final horn.
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Lehigh connected on 29.2 percent of its field goals (14-of-48) while Holy Cross was 20-of-44 (45.5 percent). The Mountain Hawks were just 20.0 percent from three-point range (5-of-25) while the Crusaders were 37.5 percent (6-of-16). Lehigh held a 32-31 edge in rebounds.
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"We had extreme pressure on placed on us on the perimeter," said Reed. "Holy Cross deflected the ball often and their pressure caused us to miss open players, like Tim, in the paint. But we also missed key reversal passes on the perimeter. When we were able to get the ball inside, Tim was double teamed and didn't have many clean looks 15 feet and in. I expected us to be able to handle their defense better than we did. And those possessions when we did do a good job and got very good looks, we didn't convert on wide open shots."
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The Mountain Hawks return home for three of their final four regular season games, beginning on Wednesday (Feb. 15) when they host Navy at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online and can be purchased, here.
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Team Stats
LEHIGH
HC
FG%
.292
.455
3FG%
.200
.375
FT%
.923
.682
RB
32
31
TO
15
9
STL
3
12
Game Leaders
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
4
Pts
7
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
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