Mountain Hawks mark return home with 76-66 win over American

Sunday, January 14

Bethlehem, Pa.

2 p.m.

Lehigh University

8-9, 3-3PL

American

4-13, 1-5PL

American

Lehigh

Mountain Hawks mark return home with 76-66 win over American

1/14/2018 5:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - Freshman James Karnik posted his third-career double-double with a career-high 16 points to go with 12 rebounds while sophomore Pat Andree had 19 points and nine boards to lead the Lehigh men's basketball team to a 76-66 win over visiting American on Sunday afternoon in Stabler Arena. The Mountain Hawks (8-9, 3-3 Patriot League) ended the first half on a 16-3 run, on the way to its third league victory of the season.

"Our schedule was extremely challenging at the beginning of Patriot League play," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "With four of five games on the road, it put us in a challenging spot. It also revealed that we need to get better. Today, I like the fact that our defense really held strong in that first half to give us a pretty sizable lead and a chance to play with a margin."

Karnik finished 6-of-8 from the field while Andree was 6-of-12, including 3-of-5 from three-point range. He is now 24-of-44 from long range in Patriot League play (54.5 percent). Junior Lance Tejada added 13 points and four rebounds while classmate Kyle Leufroy had 10 points and three boards. Senior Kahron Ross finished with six points and eight assists. Lehigh held the league's second leading scorer Sa'eed Nelson to just 4-of-13 shooting.

Lehigh jumped out to an early 8-3 lead following the second straight three-pointer from Andree. With Lehigh leading 12-6 following an Andree jumper, the Eagles responded with nine of the next 11 points to take a 15-14 advantage with 12:18 remaining in the first half. A few minutes later, James Washington hit a three-pointer to give the Eagles a 20-19 lead. Lehigh responded by ending the half on a 16-3 run, capped off by an Andree jumper as time expired to give the Mountain Hawks a 35-23 halftime advantage. The 23 points marked the fewest Lehigh has allowed in a half this season.

"I thought defensively, our first-half energy and just execution of the fundamentals was pretty impressive," said Reed. "We held an American team down and contained penetration better than we've had. We controlled rebounding better and ultimately, we didn't give up quite as many easy opportunities off of defensive breakdowns as we've had."

The Eagles chipped away to begin the second half, pulling as close as five on multiple occasions, including 43-38 and 50-45 midway through the stanza. Ross responded with four straight Lehigh points via two free throws and a driving layup to give Lehigh a 56-47 lead with 7:45 on the clock. The Mountain Hawks eventually extended their lead to 12 (63-51) following a Tejada three-pointer and then 15 (69-54) after two Andree free throws with 3:35 remaining. American made one late run in the final minute, but Lehigh hit all four of its free throws in the final minute to wrap up the 76-66 victory.

For the game, Lehigh shot 46 percent from the field (25-of-55), including 36 percent from three-point range (5-of-14). American finished at 35 percent (20-of-57) and 36 percent from long range (12-of-33). The Mountain Hawks won the battle of the boards, 40-32.

Lehigh returns home on Wednesday to host Colgate at 7 p.m. Tickets for are on sale and can be purchased online at LehighTickets.com by clicking here.

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