Wednesday, November 10
Piscataway, N.J.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
0-1,0-0Patriot
70
at
73
Rutgers
1-0,0-0Big Ten
1
2
OT 1
F
Lehigh
36
27
7
70
Rutgers
31
32
10
73
Photo by: Hannahally Photography
Lehigh Falls Just Short of Opening-Night Upset at Rutgers, Falling 73-70 in OT
11/10/2021 11:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – The Lehigh men's basketball team led for more than 19 minutes of Wednesday night's season opener at Rutgers and held a lead in the final minute of regulation, but the Scarlet Knights forced overtime where they outscored the Mountain Hawks 10-7 to win, 73-70. On a night in which Rutgers unveiled its NCAA Tournament banner from last season, Lehigh nearly spoiled the night. Fifth-year senior Marques Wilson led the offense with 21 points, while sophomore Dominic Parolin recorded his second-career double-double with 13 points and a career-high 14 rebounds.
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"It's unfortunate because we competed for a big portion of the game," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "We gave them a good fight. We answered their runs. Any time they got to four or five, they seemed to be able to offensively respond. I'm really pleased with that."
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Playing in front of a sellout crowd, junior Jakob Alamudun was a big spark off the bench, scoring 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting, including 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Freshman Ben Knostman was strong manning the point, posting four points, four assists and three rebounds while turning the ball over just once. As a team, though, Lehigh had 22 turnovers which proved costly.
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"I saw a lot of good things. Obviously, there are a lot of things we need to grow and build upon," said Reed. "But you can't have 22 turnovers and expect to beat somebody. Unfortunately, towards the end of the game, some of our finishes were acrobatic finishes versus power finishes, which we'd want. You combine that with a few turnovers and it's probably the difference in the game."
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The Mountain Hawks' defense impressed in holding Rutgers to just 37.5 percent shooting (27-of-72), while hitting just 1-of-13 3-pointers.
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Lehigh came out strong, using an early 5-0 surge behind a Knostman jumper and three straight Parolin points to take a 7-5 advantage. Leading 11-10, the Mountain Hawks scored seven of the next nine points, capped off by a Marques Wilson driving layup, to take an 18-12 lead, forcing a Rutgers timeout with 11:07 on the clock. In the end, Lehigh held the Scarlet Knights to just two points over a stretch of 5:20.
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The Mountain Hawks wouldn't trail the rest of the half. Lehigh took its largest lead at 36-29 following a Jake Betlow 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining in the stanza. Rutgers responded with two free throws to pull within 36-31 at the break.
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Rutgers began the second half on a 6-1 run to pull even at 37, forcing an early Lehigh timeout. The second half featured numerous Scarlet Knight rallies to go ahead, but the Mountain Hawks didn't let the deficit get any more than five. Among Lehigh's second-half highlights was a Reed Fenton and-one dunk over a defender to pull the Mountain Hawks within 51-48 with 10:37 remaining.
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Lehigh would up holding Rutgers scoreless for a stretch of 3:58, and to just two points over the final 4:43 of regulation.
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"I think our defense has a better foundation this year," said Reed. "I think we have guys who understand it's going to be required to play good defense to be successful, and want to make sure that we put ourselves in that position. I still am seeing a few times where they need to take more ownership in the second half, in communication, where it really becomes part of their DNA and their identity, but we're making strides towards that. The degree of toughness of this team is slowly increasing and it's going to be something we'll need to be successful."
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Rutgers scored on its first possession of overtime and wouldn't trail the rest of the way. A Knostman pull-up jumper with 3:22 remaining got the Mountain Hawks within 67-65, but the Scarlet Knights responded with the next four points to go ahead, 71-65. Marques Wilson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it was too little, too late.
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For the game, Lehigh shot 47.4 percent from the field (27-of-57) and 31.3 percent from 3-point range (5-of-16). The Mountain Hawks held a 43-41 edge on the boards.
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The Mountain Hawks will now return home for their home opener, as Lehigh will host NJIT on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
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Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.Gallery: (11-10-2021) Men's Basketball at Rutgers, 11/10/21
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"It's unfortunate because we competed for a big portion of the game," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "We gave them a good fight. We answered their runs. Any time they got to four or five, they seemed to be able to offensively respond. I'm really pleased with that."
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Playing in front of a sellout crowd, junior Jakob Alamudun was a big spark off the bench, scoring 10 points on 4-of-4 shooting, including 2-of-2 from the free throw line. Freshman Ben Knostman was strong manning the point, posting four points, four assists and three rebounds while turning the ball over just once. As a team, though, Lehigh had 22 turnovers which proved costly.
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"I saw a lot of good things. Obviously, there are a lot of things we need to grow and build upon," said Reed. "But you can't have 22 turnovers and expect to beat somebody. Unfortunately, towards the end of the game, some of our finishes were acrobatic finishes versus power finishes, which we'd want. You combine that with a few turnovers and it's probably the difference in the game."
Â
The Mountain Hawks' defense impressed in holding Rutgers to just 37.5 percent shooting (27-of-72), while hitting just 1-of-13 3-pointers.
Â
Lehigh came out strong, using an early 5-0 surge behind a Knostman jumper and three straight Parolin points to take a 7-5 advantage. Leading 11-10, the Mountain Hawks scored seven of the next nine points, capped off by a Marques Wilson driving layup, to take an 18-12 lead, forcing a Rutgers timeout with 11:07 on the clock. In the end, Lehigh held the Scarlet Knights to just two points over a stretch of 5:20.
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The Mountain Hawks wouldn't trail the rest of the half. Lehigh took its largest lead at 36-29 following a Jake Betlow 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining in the stanza. Rutgers responded with two free throws to pull within 36-31 at the break.
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Rutgers began the second half on a 6-1 run to pull even at 37, forcing an early Lehigh timeout. The second half featured numerous Scarlet Knight rallies to go ahead, but the Mountain Hawks didn't let the deficit get any more than five. Among Lehigh's second-half highlights was a Reed Fenton and-one dunk over a defender to pull the Mountain Hawks within 51-48 with 10:37 remaining.
Lehigh's deficit remained between one and five until Parolin knocked down a layup to give the Mountain Hawks a 62-61 lead with 1:34 on the clock, Lehigh's first lead since early in the half. An Evan Taylor free throw in the final minute gave the Mountain Hawks a 63-61 advantage, but Rutgers pulled even on the next possession, then its final possession was well-defended by Marques Wilson, to force overtime.As promised, here's the crazy highlight-reel dunk from @reed_fenton in the second half tonight at Rutgers. Let's get this on #SCTop10, folks!@ESPNAssignDesk | #PLTop3 pic.twitter.com/4Vx5jNgpzq
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 11, 2021
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Lehigh would up holding Rutgers scoreless for a stretch of 3:58, and to just two points over the final 4:43 of regulation.
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"I think our defense has a better foundation this year," said Reed. "I think we have guys who understand it's going to be required to play good defense to be successful, and want to make sure that we put ourselves in that position. I still am seeing a few times where they need to take more ownership in the second half, in communication, where it really becomes part of their DNA and their identity, but we're making strides towards that. The degree of toughness of this team is slowly increasing and it's going to be something we'll need to be successful."
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Rutgers scored on its first possession of overtime and wouldn't trail the rest of the way. A Knostman pull-up jumper with 3:22 remaining got the Mountain Hawks within 67-65, but the Scarlet Knights responded with the next four points to go ahead, 71-65. Marques Wilson hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it was too little, too late.
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For the game, Lehigh shot 47.4 percent from the field (27-of-57) and 31.3 percent from 3-point range (5-of-16). The Mountain Hawks held a 43-41 edge on the boards.
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The Mountain Hawks will now return home for their home opener, as Lehigh will host NJIT on Saturday at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
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Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
We caught up with head coach @BrettReed following tonight's season-opening overtime defeat at Rutgers. pic.twitter.com/DzH6PtLXOa
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 11, 2021
Team Stats
Lehigh
RU
FG%
.474
.375
3FG%
.313
.077
FT%
.647
.720
RB
43
41
TO
22
11
STL
4
14
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
21
FGM
9
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Pts
13
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
5
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
6
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
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