Friday, November 26
Charlottesville, Va.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
1-5,0-0Patriot
43
at
61
Virginia
5-2,0-0ACC
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2
F
Lehigh
21
22
43
Virginia
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36
61
Photo by: Justin Lafleur
Virginia Pulls Away From Lehigh in Second Half, 61-43
11/26/2021 10:48:00 PM | Men's Basketball
CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – The Lehigh men's basketball team opened an early 11-7 lead and stood within four at the half, but Virginia opened the second half on a 26-8 run, on the way to defeating the Mountain Hawks, 61-43, on Friday evening. Lehigh's defense was especially impressive in the first half, allowing just 25 points and holding the Cavaliers to 33.3 percent shooting, but the 2019 National Champions took advantage of a stretch of five Lehigh turnovers in 4:26 of action to open a 22-point lead.
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"Part of the problem with our second-half defense was the points they scored off turnovers," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "That ignited them and raised their [shooting] percentage. Almost every turnover resulted in an immediate bucket and that was the inflation they needed as far as their scoring to really separate the game."
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Senior Jeameril Wilson and junior Evan Taylor led the Mountain Hawks with eight points apiece. In the end, 10 different Lehigh players scored, including sophomore Jayshen Saigal's first-career two-point field goal in the final minute.
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"I thought we got sloppy," said Reed. "We went from about the 18-minute mark to about the 11-minute mark [of the second half] with a turnover spree and the game just got away. After that point, we started to play a little bit more controlled basketball, but they were already feeling pretty good and making some shots. Give Virginia credit; they were able to go inside and play out of their size and strength, but there were far too many times when we beat ourselves, particularly on the offensive end of the floor, which compromised our defense."
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A Jakob Alamudun finger roll at the rim, off a nifty feed from freshman Ben Knostman, gave the Mountain Hawks an 11-7 advantage with 12:41 left in the first half. UVA responded with a 10-2 run to take a 17-13 lead, but Lehigh scored four consecutive points over the span of 3:05, to pull even following two Tyler Whitney-Sidney free throws.
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It was all Virginia early in the second half. Three times, the Mountain Hawks pulled within eight after UVA opened a double-figure edge, but the Cavaliers erased much doubt with a 10-0 run to take a 45-27 lead, eventually taking as much as a 25-point advantage (61-36) with 3:16 remaining.
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Lehigh chipped away, which included a spark off the bench from junior Jake Betlow. In the final minute, Betlow had a steal and fed Saigal for two. Then with seven seconds remaining, Betlow knocked down a long 3-pointer from well beyond NBA range, to pull Lehigh within 61-43 at the final horn.
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The Mountain Hawks return home on Sunday to host Saint Francis (Pa.) at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
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Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
ÂGallery: (11-26-2021) Men's Basketball at Virginia, 11/26/21
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"Part of the problem with our second-half defense was the points they scored off turnovers," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "That ignited them and raised their [shooting] percentage. Almost every turnover resulted in an immediate bucket and that was the inflation they needed as far as their scoring to really separate the game."
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Senior Jeameril Wilson and junior Evan Taylor led the Mountain Hawks with eight points apiece. In the end, 10 different Lehigh players scored, including sophomore Jayshen Saigal's first-career two-point field goal in the final minute.
Kihei Clark led UVA with 11 points.Great steal by Betlow and basket by Jayshen Saigal (his first-career 2-point field goal) late in this one. pic.twitter.com/rblOlwLhw8
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 27, 2021
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"I thought we got sloppy," said Reed. "We went from about the 18-minute mark to about the 11-minute mark [of the second half] with a turnover spree and the game just got away. After that point, we started to play a little bit more controlled basketball, but they were already feeling pretty good and making some shots. Give Virginia credit; they were able to go inside and play out of their size and strength, but there were far too many times when we beat ourselves, particularly on the offensive end of the floor, which compromised our defense."
Fifty-five seconds in, the Cavaliers took a 2-0 lead, but Lehigh had quite the answer. The Mountain Hawks responded with nine of the next 12 points as a Marques Wilson 3-pointer gave Lehigh a 9-5 advantage with 14:25 on the first-half clock. As part of that run, Lehigh held UVA scoreless for a stretch of 4:14.📹 highlights from tonight. Mountain Hawks return home on Sunday to host Saint Francis (Pa.) at 7 p.m. pic.twitter.com/SGzNreGvNW
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 27, 2021
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A Jakob Alamudun finger roll at the rim, off a nifty feed from freshman Ben Knostman, gave the Mountain Hawks an 11-7 advantage with 12:41 left in the first half. UVA responded with a 10-2 run to take a 17-13 lead, but Lehigh scored four consecutive points over the span of 3:05, to pull even following two Tyler Whitney-Sidney free throws.
With UVA leading 22-19, Taylor had a big rebound and put back to pull Lehigh within one, before the Cavaliers knocked down a 3-pointer for the 25-21 halftime margin.Another first-half highlight. That find by Knostman and finish by Alamudun 👀
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 27, 2021
Watch the second half on @accnetwork pic.twitter.com/KquRONvO1v
"It wasn't the prettiest offensive 20 minutes, but that's the way Virginia makes you play," said Reed. "It looked like we were mature enough to play into that and just take what they gave us. Part of the problem we ended up having in the second half was we failed to execute on two of three consecutive plays on things we had said we were going to do. And then we started to go a little bit more one-on-one, which put us in some challenging spots. You combine that with the turnovers and we might have shot a higher percentage in the second half, but our offense really sputtered."Evan Taylor leads the Mountain Hawks and is tied for a game high with six points, following this big put back late in the first half 💪 pic.twitter.com/WGN5DtgAGA
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 27, 2021
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It was all Virginia early in the second half. Three times, the Mountain Hawks pulled within eight after UVA opened a double-figure edge, but the Cavaliers erased much doubt with a 10-0 run to take a 45-27 lead, eventually taking as much as a 25-point advantage (61-36) with 3:16 remaining.
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Lehigh chipped away, which included a spark off the bench from junior Jake Betlow. In the final minute, Betlow had a steal and fed Saigal for two. Then with seven seconds remaining, Betlow knocked down a long 3-pointer from well beyond NBA range, to pull Lehigh within 61-43 at the final horn.
For the game, the Mountain Hawks shot 35.3 percent from the field (18-of-51) and only 18.8 percent from 3-point range (3-of-16). UVA finished at 45.6 percent (26-of-57) and 40.0 percent from long distance (4-of-10). Virginia finished with a 35-32 edge in rebounds.Jake Betlow from almost half court to end this one. pic.twitter.com/GS6CjGHCpk
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 27, 2021
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The Mountain Hawks return home on Sunday to host Saint Francis (Pa.) at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.
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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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ÂCoach Reed Postgame Press Conference at UVA pic.twitter.com/trVeoJAqVK
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 27, 2021
Team Stats
Lehigh
UVa
FG%
.353
.456
3FG%
.188
.400
FT%
1.000
.556
RB
32
35
TO
15
9
STL
3
9
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
8
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
5
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
0
Pts
4
FGM
2
3FGM
0
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
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