Saturday, December 22
Bethlehem, Pa.
12 p.m.
Lehigh University
7-3
88
vs
76
Saint Francis (Pa.)
4-7
1
2
F
Saint Francis (Pa.)
45
31
76
Lehigh
39
49
88
Mountain Hawks pull away for 88-76 win over Saint Francis (Pa.)
12/22/2018 3:09:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men's basketball team staged a 26-8 run bridging the end of the first and beginning of the second halves to turn a 45-37 deficit into a 63-53 lead, on the way to an 88-76 win over visiting Saint Francis (Pa.) on Saturday afternoon in Stabler Arena. Lehigh's starting backcourt of senior Lance Tejada (22 points), senior Kyle Leufroy (20) and junior Jordan Cohen (19) combined for 61 of the Mountain Hawks' season-high 88 points, as Lehigh improved to 7-3 on the season.
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In a battle of preseason conference favorites, Lehigh knocked down 13-of-23 three-pointers to improve its season percentage to 45.0 percent after entering the day at No. 5 in the nation. Defensively, the Mountain Hawks bounced back from a tough start to hold Saint Francis to just 26.5 percent shooting in the second half (9-of-34). The win marked the 205th of head coach Brett Reed's career to tie for third in Patriot League history.
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"The number of shots they had in the paint was at an incredible rate," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "That's something we've prided ourselves on since the beginning of the year, trying to contain and protect, but we didn't do a good job early on [today]. To give Saint Francis credit, they have guys who can make a play off the bounce and change direction. But you can see where our strategy changed and our guys ultimately lived into the commitment because the number of charge attempts increased a great deal. We didn't get every call – sometimes it was restricted arc foul on us or maybe we were moving a little bit – but we started to increase the commitment to protect that paint and fortunately for us, that carried over into the second half."
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Tejada's season-high 22 points came on 8-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. Leufroy reached 20 points for the fifth time in 10 games this season, in the process, moving into 25th place in school history for career points (currently 1,143). Leufroy was 8-of-11 from the field, including 2-of-2 from three-point range. Leufroy added six assists while Cohen had 19 points, five assists and four rebounds, shooting 3-of-5 from long distance. Junior Pat Andree added 15 points, 13 coming in the second half, and finished 5-of-6 from the field.
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After the Red Flash opened a 6-2 lead, the Mountain Hawks responded with seven straight points, behind a Cohen three-pointer, Andree layup and Leufroy jumper, to take a 9-6 advantage with 16:22 left in the first half.
Lehigh extended its lead to 14-10 following the first of three first-half treys from Tejada, but Saint Francis responded with nine of the next 11 points to take a 19-16 lead just before the midway point of the half.
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The Red Flash continued to lead for the rest of the stanza, opening a seven-point, 32-25 lead with 7:01 on the clock. The margin reached eight with 29 seconds remaining, but Cohen knocked down a pair of free throws with four seconds left to pull within 45-39 at the half.
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Lehigh came out of the locker room on fire, staging a 24-8 run (26-8 dating back to the first half). The Mountain Hawks retook the lead behind a Leufroy three-point play then another three-point play less than 30 seconds later gave Lehigh a five-point, 56-51 advantage with 15:54 remaining.
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The Mountain Hawks finished at 51.8 percent from the field (29-of-56), including 56.5 percent from three-point range (13-of-23). Saint Francis finished at 37.0 percent (27-of-73) and 25.7 percent from distance (9-of-35). The Red Flash held a 45-29 edge in rebounds.
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Lehigh will return to action on Dec. 30 at West Virginia in the final nonleague contest of the season. The Mountain Hawks then open Patriot League play by hosting Lafayette on Wednesday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online by clicking here.
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Lehigh men's basketball held its opponent to under 40% shooting! Fans in attendance received a free appetizer with the purchase of two entrees courtesy of The Brick in Bethlehem!
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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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In a battle of preseason conference favorites, Lehigh knocked down 13-of-23 three-pointers to improve its season percentage to 45.0 percent after entering the day at No. 5 in the nation. Defensively, the Mountain Hawks bounced back from a tough start to hold Saint Francis to just 26.5 percent shooting in the second half (9-of-34). The win marked the 205th of head coach Brett Reed's career to tie for third in Patriot League history.
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"The number of shots they had in the paint was at an incredible rate," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "That's something we've prided ourselves on since the beginning of the year, trying to contain and protect, but we didn't do a good job early on [today]. To give Saint Francis credit, they have guys who can make a play off the bounce and change direction. But you can see where our strategy changed and our guys ultimately lived into the commitment because the number of charge attempts increased a great deal. We didn't get every call – sometimes it was restricted arc foul on us or maybe we were moving a little bit – but we started to increase the commitment to protect that paint and fortunately for us, that carried over into the second half."
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Tejada's season-high 22 points came on 8-of-14 shooting, including 5-of-8 from three-point range. Leufroy reached 20 points for the fifth time in 10 games this season, in the process, moving into 25th place in school history for career points (currently 1,143). Leufroy was 8-of-11 from the field, including 2-of-2 from three-point range. Leufroy added six assists while Cohen had 19 points, five assists and four rebounds, shooting 3-of-5 from long distance. Junior Pat Andree added 15 points, 13 coming in the second half, and finished 5-of-6 from the field.
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After the Red Flash opened a 6-2 lead, the Mountain Hawks responded with seven straight points, behind a Cohen three-pointer, Andree layup and Leufroy jumper, to take a 9-6 advantage with 16:22 left in the first half.
Lehigh's first three of the game goes down, from Jordan Cohen. Mountain Hawks have scored seven of the last nine points and lead 9-8 at our first media timeout. Watch: https://t.co/WUw3LK8FOt. pic.twitter.com/vPXKzzAMIM
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) December 22, 2018
Lehigh extended its lead to 14-10 following the first of three first-half treys from Tejada, but Saint Francis responded with nine of the next 11 points to take a 19-16 lead just before the midway point of the half.
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The Red Flash continued to lead for the rest of the stanza, opening a seven-point, 32-25 lead with 7:01 on the clock. The margin reached eight with 29 seconds remaining, but Cohen knocked down a pair of free throws with four seconds left to pull within 45-39 at the half.
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Lehigh came out of the locker room on fire, staging a 24-8 run (26-8 dating back to the first half). The Mountain Hawks retook the lead behind a Leufroy three-point play then another three-point play less than 30 seconds later gave Lehigh a five-point, 56-51 advantage with 15:54 remaining.
The run continued as five straight Andree points gave the Mountain Hawks their first double-digit lead at 63-53. The teams went back and forth from there, with Lehigh's lead getting trimmed to six (63-57) thene reaching 12 (69-57), before being trimmed back down to six (71-65). But that's as close as Saint Francis would come. Leading 73-67, the Mountain Hawks scored 11 of the next 15 points, beginning with corner threes from Leufroy and Andree, and capped off by a Tejada three-pointer with less than two minutes to go, giving Lehigh an 84-71 advantage on the way to the 88-76 final.Defense to offense for the Leufroy and-one! Just like that, the Mountain Hawks are up four. Watch: https://t.co/WUw3LK8FOt. pic.twitter.com/ZJ6URmrPBB
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) December 22, 2018
"We extended the game and it started to get where we were comfortable, then on the next few possessions, we didn't really take a good shot," said Reed. "I want our guys to understand how both sides of the floor, both offense and defense, are tied in together. Fortunately for us, we were able to correct it. We took care of the ball better and we have a team that makes shots. These guys stepped up, they got their focus on defense and they also put a lot of energy on sharing the basketball and getting some really nice possessions."Dagger? With the shot-clock winding down, what a find from Jordan Cohen. Leufroy does the rest. He's up to 20 points, his fifth 20-point game of thee season. #OneGoal pic.twitter.com/7GQOSvaZVz
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) December 22, 2018
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The Mountain Hawks finished at 51.8 percent from the field (29-of-56), including 56.5 percent from three-point range (13-of-23). Saint Francis finished at 37.0 percent (27-of-73) and 25.7 percent from distance (9-of-35). The Red Flash held a 45-29 edge in rebounds.
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Lehigh will return to action on Dec. 30 at West Virginia in the final nonleague contest of the season. The Mountain Hawks then open Patriot League play by hosting Lafayette on Wednesday, Jan. 2 at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online by clicking here.
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Lehigh men's basketball held its opponent to under 40% shooting! Fans in attendance received a free appetizer with the purchase of two entrees courtesy of The Brick in Bethlehem!
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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
SFU
LEHIGH
FG%
.370
.518
3FG%
.257
.565
FT%
.867
.895
RB
45
29
TO
15
14
STL
6
7
Game Leaders
Pts
22
FGM
8
3FGM
5
FTM
1
Pts
20
FGM
8
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
19
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
6
Pts
15
FGM
5
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
F
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