Thursday, January 11
Lewisburg, Pa.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
7-9, 2-3PL
65
at
78
Bucknell
10-8, 4-1PL
1
2
F
Lehigh
26
39
65
Bucknell
28
50
78
Bucknell pulls away from Mountain Hawks, 78-65
1/11/2018 10:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Postgame Reaction (Video):Â Head Coach Brett Reed
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell began the second half on a 10-1 run to turn a two-point halftime lead into an 11-point advantage, on its way to downing the Lehigh men's basketball team, 78-65 on Thursday evening at Sojka Pavilion. The Mountain Hawks (7-9, 2-3 Patriot League) trimmed a 17-point deficit down to nine with 3:28 remaining, but that's as close as they would come. Sophomore Pat Andree led the offense with 14 points, including 4-of-6 from three-point range while classmate Jordan Cohen had 13 and senior Kahron Ross scored 12. Lehigh committed a season-high 20 turnovers in the defeat.
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"It was really unfortunate because I thought being on solid on defense in the first half and managing the rebounding margin gave us a chance in this game despite not necessarily converting," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "We had too many first-half turnovers then at the start of the second half, we turned the basketball over and gave them easy opportunities. Bucknell scored a lot of points early in the second half and some of it was our self-inflicted pain – turnovers and some bad decisions."
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Junior Kyle Leufroy had nine points, a career-high 10 rebounds and five assists to tie a season high. Junior Lance Tejada scored nine points, seven in the second half while junior Caleb Sedore scored his first career points in the second half while adding four rebounds. Collectively, Lehigh's front line held Bucknell's top two scorers, Zach Thomas and Nana Foulland, to 25 total points, more than 13 points below their season average. The Bison were led by Stephen Brown, who scored a game-high 23 points, 19 coming in the second half.
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"When you start thinking about the front court and rebounding presence that we had, that goes to the grind parts of the game," said Reed. "If you can play interior defense and rebound the basketball, you give yourself a chance. Offensively, our guys didn't finish as well as they would like in the interior, but they did their part to neutralize what is a very effective and powerful Bucknell frontcourt; that's part of the reason why we were in the game. When you consider we had 20 turnovers and they had 11, that's a lot of possessions to give a very good team."
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Lehigh jumped out to leads of 4-0 then 9-4 following a Ross three-pointer with 16:41 on the clock. From there, the Bison reeled off nine consecutive points before the Mountain Hawks ended a 5:56 scoreless drought with an Andree three-pointer, pulling Lehigh within 13-12 midway through the half.
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A few minutes later, the Mountain Hawks retook a lead following a goaltending call on a Leufroy driving layup, giving Lehigh a 17-15 advantage with 7:49 left in the first half. The teams traded leads over the ensuing minutes with Bucknell opening a 26-22 advantage late in the stanza. Four straight Lehigh points, behind an Andree baseline jumper and Tejada driving layup, evened the score, but a Brown jumper with 26 seconds remaining gave the Bison a 28-26 halftime advantage.
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The Bison scored 10 of the first 11 second-half points to open an 11-point, 38-27, lead following a pair of Brown free throws. Lehigh's first two second-half field goals were three-pointers, from Andree and Ross, to pull the Mountain Hawks back within 40-33 with 14:58 on the clock. Bucknell's lead hovered between seven and 12 over the ensuing minutes until an 8-0 surge capped off by a Thomas trey gave the Bison a 55-38 lead with 8:12 remaining.
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The Mountain Hawks began to chip away as five straight points via a Cohen layup and Andree three, pulled them right back within 11 at 60-49 with 5:39 to go. Lehigh got as close as nine following a Tejada free throw with 3:28 remaining, but that's as close as the Mountain Hawks would come.
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For the game, Lehigh shot 41 percent from the field (23-of-56), including 37 percent from three-point range (7-of-19). The Bison also shot 41 percent (28-of-69) and 30 percent from long distance (8-of-27). Rebounds were tied at 39.
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Lehigh returns home on Sunday, Jan. 14 to host American at 2 p.m. Tickets for are on sale and can be purchased online at LehighTickets.com by clicking here. It will be Camper Appreciation Day as any past Lehigh Basketball camper will get FREE admission.
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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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LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell began the second half on a 10-1 run to turn a two-point halftime lead into an 11-point advantage, on its way to downing the Lehigh men's basketball team, 78-65 on Thursday evening at Sojka Pavilion. The Mountain Hawks (7-9, 2-3 Patriot League) trimmed a 17-point deficit down to nine with 3:28 remaining, but that's as close as they would come. Sophomore Pat Andree led the offense with 14 points, including 4-of-6 from three-point range while classmate Jordan Cohen had 13 and senior Kahron Ross scored 12. Lehigh committed a season-high 20 turnovers in the defeat.
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"It was really unfortunate because I thought being on solid on defense in the first half and managing the rebounding margin gave us a chance in this game despite not necessarily converting," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "We had too many first-half turnovers then at the start of the second half, we turned the basketball over and gave them easy opportunities. Bucknell scored a lot of points early in the second half and some of it was our self-inflicted pain – turnovers and some bad decisions."
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Junior Kyle Leufroy had nine points, a career-high 10 rebounds and five assists to tie a season high. Junior Lance Tejada scored nine points, seven in the second half while junior Caleb Sedore scored his first career points in the second half while adding four rebounds. Collectively, Lehigh's front line held Bucknell's top two scorers, Zach Thomas and Nana Foulland, to 25 total points, more than 13 points below their season average. The Bison were led by Stephen Brown, who scored a game-high 23 points, 19 coming in the second half.
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"When you start thinking about the front court and rebounding presence that we had, that goes to the grind parts of the game," said Reed. "If you can play interior defense and rebound the basketball, you give yourself a chance. Offensively, our guys didn't finish as well as they would like in the interior, but they did their part to neutralize what is a very effective and powerful Bucknell frontcourt; that's part of the reason why we were in the game. When you consider we had 20 turnovers and they had 11, that's a lot of possessions to give a very good team."
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Lehigh jumped out to leads of 4-0 then 9-4 following a Ross three-pointer with 16:41 on the clock. From there, the Bison reeled off nine consecutive points before the Mountain Hawks ended a 5:56 scoreless drought with an Andree three-pointer, pulling Lehigh within 13-12 midway through the half.
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A few minutes later, the Mountain Hawks retook a lead following a goaltending call on a Leufroy driving layup, giving Lehigh a 17-15 advantage with 7:49 left in the first half. The teams traded leads over the ensuing minutes with Bucknell opening a 26-22 advantage late in the stanza. Four straight Lehigh points, behind an Andree baseline jumper and Tejada driving layup, evened the score, but a Brown jumper with 26 seconds remaining gave the Bison a 28-26 halftime advantage.
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The Bison scored 10 of the first 11 second-half points to open an 11-point, 38-27, lead following a pair of Brown free throws. Lehigh's first two second-half field goals were three-pointers, from Andree and Ross, to pull the Mountain Hawks back within 40-33 with 14:58 on the clock. Bucknell's lead hovered between seven and 12 over the ensuing minutes until an 8-0 surge capped off by a Thomas trey gave the Bison a 55-38 lead with 8:12 remaining.
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The Mountain Hawks began to chip away as five straight points via a Cohen layup and Andree three, pulled them right back within 11 at 60-49 with 5:39 to go. Lehigh got as close as nine following a Tejada free throw with 3:28 remaining, but that's as close as the Mountain Hawks would come.
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For the game, Lehigh shot 41 percent from the field (23-of-56), including 37 percent from three-point range (7-of-19). The Bison also shot 41 percent (28-of-69) and 30 percent from long distance (8-of-27). Rebounds were tied at 39.
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Lehigh returns home on Sunday, Jan. 14 to host American at 2 p.m. Tickets for are on sale and can be purchased online at LehighTickets.com by clicking here. It will be Camper Appreciation Day as any past Lehigh Basketball camper will get FREE admission.
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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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Team Stats
LEHIGH
BUCKNELL
FG%
.411
.406
3FG%
.368
.296
FT%
.750
.737
RB
39
39
TO
20
11
STL
7
10
Game Leaders
Pts
14
FGM
5
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
F
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