Saturday, February 8
Easton, Pa.
2 p.m.
Lehigh University
6-18,3-9Patriot
62
at
59
Lafayette
15-8,7-5Patriot
1
2
F
Lehigh
31
31
62
Lafayette
21
38
59
Photo by: Josh Liddick
Mountain Hawks earn hard-fought, gritty 62-59 victory at Lafayette
2/8/2020 9:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball
EASTON, Pa. – All five Lehigh starters scored in double figures as the Lehigh men's basketball team jumped out to an early lead and led for much of the game in a thrilling 62-59 win over Lafayette on Saturday afternoon at the Kirby Sports Center. The win gave the Mountain Hawks their sixth straight victory at Lafayette. Sophomore Jeameril Wilson led the offense with 13 points and a career-high 15 rebounds for his first-career double-double. Lehigh got to the line 25 times, knocking down 19, including four in the final minute to help clinch the victory. The Mountain Hawks' defense was a big story, holding the Leopards to their second-lowest point total of the season and lowest in Patriot League play.
"This was a game won on will," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "Our guys showed a great deal of passion and they played really hard. We put ourselves in positions to continue to fight. We had some possessions when we didn't convert, then we had to go on the other end and give that same effort without any letup. We had to be resilient."
For the first time this season, five Mountain Hawks reached double-figure points. Along with Wilson's 13, senior Jordan Cohen, junior Marques Wilson, sophomore Nic Lynch and freshman Reed Fenton all scored 12 points. Fenton shot 5-of-7 from the field, knocking down his only 3-pointer while Lynch finished 5-of-9 from the floor. Cohen became just the third player in program history to go a perfect 4-0 at Lafayette, joining Kahron Ross and Kyle Leufroy.
Jeameril Wilson's 15 boards shattered his previous career high of seven and marked the most rebounds for a Mountain Hawk since last February.
"Jeameril was absolutely phenomenal and he fueled us in such a huge way," said Reed. "When he's making those types of plays and he's playing as hard as he did, everybody gravitates towards him. He's got tremendous influence for our team because he brings toughness and he brings the right type of mentality, especially when he's on. For him to clear that many rebounds, to have 15, that's incredible."
Defensively, the Mountain Hawks held down Lafayette leading scorer Justin Jaworski, holding him to nine points on 2-of-10 shooting.
"I thought we were really locked in," said Reed. "To hold them to 21 points in the first half, it was an example of just how hard we were working. In the second half, we knew they were going to find their opportunities. They hurt us in a little phase with some post up action in the beginning of the second half, then towards the end, they were driving to the rim and we didn't have a great answer. We tried a couple different things. But it was all said and down, we ended up getting some key rebounds."
The scoring pace was slow in the early going with the Mountain Hawks leading 4-1 five minutes into the game. Lehigh's lead reached as much as four before a five-minute stretch saw two ties and six lead changes, with neither side leading by more than a single point. A Lynch layup with exactly eight minutes remaining in the first changed that and gave the Mountain Hawks a 15-12 advantage.
Lafayette would pull even at 19 with 4:22 left in the first, but a Fenton trey sparked a 12-2 run to end the half as a Cohen 3-pointer with four seconds remaining gave the Mountain Hawks a 31-21 halftime advantage.
Lehigh's lead reached 13 on two occasions early in the second half, including after a Jeameril Wilson trey just 90 seconds in, but the Leopards wouldn't go down quietly. Midway through the stanza, Lafayette used a 9-1 surge to turn a nine-point Lehigh lead into a 43-42 Mountain Hawks' advantage with 7:55 left in the second half.
Lafayette took its first lead of the second half with 6:56 on the clock following a Jaworski 3-pointer. However, the Mountain Hawks answered with eight straight points capped off by a Cohen 3-pointer to give Lehigh a 53-47 lead with 5:45 remaining.
Lafayette took one last lead at 55-54 following another Jaworski trey with 3:15 remaining, but Lynch answered just 19 seconds later and the Mountain Hawks wouldn't trail the rest of the way. After almost two minutes with no scoring for either side, Lynch hit a baseline jumper to give the Mountain Hawks a 58-55 lead with 1:07 on the clock, and Lehigh hit enough free throws down the stretch to wrap up the 62-59 victory.
For the game, the Mountain Hawks shot 33.9 percent (19-of-56) and 26.3 percent from 3-point range (5-of-19). Lafayette finished at 37.0 percent (20-of-54), including 22.2 percent from long distance (6-of-27).
"We were able to outrebound them (42-34) and also give up just seven fast break points," said Reed. "That's really critical because that's where we lost the game the first time – in the transition push.
"I'm really proud of our guys for being able to walk out of here with a win," Reed continued. "That's not easy to do and it's certainly not easy to hold a pretty high octane offense like Lafayette down the way we did."
Lehigh returns home on Wednesday to host Holy Cross at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online and can be purchased by clicking here.
Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Gallery: (2/8/2020) Men's Basketball at Lafayette, 2/8/20
"This was a game won on will," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "Our guys showed a great deal of passion and they played really hard. We put ourselves in positions to continue to fight. We had some possessions when we didn't convert, then we had to go on the other end and give that same effort without any letup. We had to be resilient."
For the first time this season, five Mountain Hawks reached double-figure points. Along with Wilson's 13, senior Jordan Cohen, junior Marques Wilson, sophomore Nic Lynch and freshman Reed Fenton all scored 12 points. Fenton shot 5-of-7 from the field, knocking down his only 3-pointer while Lynch finished 5-of-9 from the floor. Cohen became just the third player in program history to go a perfect 4-0 at Lafayette, joining Kahron Ross and Kyle Leufroy.
Jeameril Wilson's 15 boards shattered his previous career high of seven and marked the most rebounds for a Mountain Hawk since last February.
Jeameril Wilson gets the offensive board and basket to record his first career double-double. Lehigh leads 40-33 with 11:48 to play.
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) February 8, 2020
Watch: https://t.co/8TqUUwXFPL pic.twitter.com/7hPaxbgsOh
"Jeameril was absolutely phenomenal and he fueled us in such a huge way," said Reed. "When he's making those types of plays and he's playing as hard as he did, everybody gravitates towards him. He's got tremendous influence for our team because he brings toughness and he brings the right type of mentality, especially when he's on. For him to clear that many rebounds, to have 15, that's incredible."
Defensively, the Mountain Hawks held down Lafayette leading scorer Justin Jaworski, holding him to nine points on 2-of-10 shooting.
"I thought we were really locked in," said Reed. "To hold them to 21 points in the first half, it was an example of just how hard we were working. In the second half, we knew they were going to find their opportunities. They hurt us in a little phase with some post up action in the beginning of the second half, then towards the end, they were driving to the rim and we didn't have a great answer. We tried a couple different things. But it was all said and down, we ended up getting some key rebounds."
The scoring pace was slow in the early going with the Mountain Hawks leading 4-1 five minutes into the game. Lehigh's lead reached as much as four before a five-minute stretch saw two ties and six lead changes, with neither side leading by more than a single point. A Lynch layup with exactly eight minutes remaining in the first changed that and gave the Mountain Hawks a 15-12 advantage.
Nice feed from Jeameril Wilson to Nic Lynch to extend Lehigh's lead to 15-12 with 7:27 left. pic.twitter.com/reNZ42z94I
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) February 8, 2020
Lafayette would pull even at 19 with 4:22 left in the first, but a Fenton trey sparked a 12-2 run to end the half as a Cohen 3-pointer with four seconds remaining gave the Mountain Hawks a 31-21 halftime advantage.
Lehigh's lead reached 13 on two occasions early in the second half, including after a Jeameril Wilson trey just 90 seconds in, but the Leopards wouldn't go down quietly. Midway through the stanza, Lafayette used a 9-1 surge to turn a nine-point Lehigh lead into a 43-42 Mountain Hawks' advantage with 7:55 left in the second half.
Lafayette took its first lead of the second half with 6:56 on the clock following a Jaworski 3-pointer. However, the Mountain Hawks answered with eight straight points capped off by a Cohen 3-pointer to give Lehigh a 53-47 lead with 5:45 remaining.
Lafayette took one last lead at 55-54 following another Jaworski trey with 3:15 remaining, but Lynch answered just 19 seconds later and the Mountain Hawks wouldn't trail the rest of the way. After almost two minutes with no scoring for either side, Lynch hit a baseline jumper to give the Mountain Hawks a 58-55 lead with 1:07 on the clock, and Lehigh hit enough free throws down the stretch to wrap up the 62-59 victory.
For the game, the Mountain Hawks shot 33.9 percent (19-of-56) and 26.3 percent from 3-point range (5-of-19). Lafayette finished at 37.0 percent (20-of-54), including 22.2 percent from long distance (6-of-27).
"We were able to outrebound them (42-34) and also give up just seven fast break points," said Reed. "That's really critical because that's where we lost the game the first time – in the transition push.
"I'm really proud of our guys for being able to walk out of here with a win," Reed continued. "That's not easy to do and it's certainly not easy to hold a pretty high octane offense like Lafayette down the way we did."
Lehigh returns home on Wednesday to host Holy Cross at 7 p.m. Tickets are available online and can be purchased by clicking here.
Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Team Stats
Lehigh
Laf
FG%
.339
.370
3FG%
.263
.222
FT%
.760
.722
RB
42
34
TO
12
11
STL
6
6
Game Leaders
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
1
FTM
4
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
12
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
7
Players Mentioned
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