Sunday, November 28
Bethlehem, Pa.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
1-6,0-0Patriot
68
vs
79
Saint Francis
2-3,0-0NEC
1
2
F
Saint Francis (PA)
26
53
79
Lehigh
27
41
68
Photo by: Hannahally Photography
Lehigh Unable to Contain Saint Francis in 79-68 Loss
11/28/2021 10:06:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – The Lehigh men's basketball team led 27-26 at the half, but visiting Saint Francis exploded for 53 second-half points to beat the Mountain Hawks, 79-68 on Sunday evening in Stabler Arena. Senior Jeameril Wilson tied a career-high 20 points in the defeat, while classmate Nic Lynch scored a season-high 11 points and junior Evan Taylor had 11 as well. It wasn't enough to contain the Red Flash, though, who shot 62.5 percent from the field in the second half (20-of-32).
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"It was really disappointing because I thought we had a really good practice, we identified what we needed to do, we saw it in action for the first 20 minutes and I was really proud of our guys' effort in the first half," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "I feel like if we could have replicated that in the second half, we would have put ourselves in a position to win. We didn't and we've got to figure out why we didn't and make those corrections."
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The Mountain Hawks jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead, with Jeameril Wilson and Taylor each scoring five in the early going. Â
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Saint Francis maintained its lead for much of the ensuing minutes until a Jeameril Wilson 3-pointer with 5:55 on the clock gave the Mountain Hawks a 23-21 edge. That came one possession after a Marques Wilson trey to beat the shock clock.
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The Red Flash reopened a lead, until another Marques Wilson 3-pointer, this time with just one second left in the half, gave Lehigh a 27-26 lead after 20 minutes of play.
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The ensuing minutes saw plenty of back-and-forth action. Junior Jakob Alamudun hit a big 3-pointer with 11:40 remaining to pull Lehigh within 49-44. Saint Francis reopened an 11-point lead, but six straight Mountain Hawk points, capped off by a Jeameril Wilson 3-pointer, got Lehigh back within five at 55-50.
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Lehigh shot 38.9 percent for the game (21-of-54), including 42.3 percent from 3-point range (11-of-26). Saint Francis finished at 50.8 percent (31-of-61) and 54.5 percent from behind the arc (6-of-11). The Red Flash held a 40-28 edge in rebounding. The Mountain Hawks had 13 turnovers to Saint Francis' 12.
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Four Saint Francis players scored between 16 and 18 points, led by 18 from Josh Cohen – 16 of which came in the second half.
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"I thought our first-half defense was pretty solid," said Reed. "We held them to a low percentage, but we just let them explode in the second half. They hurt us in a variety of different ways. They were efficient from the 3-point line. Both [Myles] Thompson and their [Josh] Cohen just destroyed us and they scored at an incredible clip. We could not keep pace, we could not slow them down and that was extremely disappointing. We gave up and-ones, we gave up offensive rebounds, we gave up 3-pointers and ultimately gave up 28 points in the paint in the second half, which was really disturbing."
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The Mountain Hawks will look to bounce back when they head to Yale on Wednesday night. Gametime is set for 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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"It was really disappointing because I thought we had a really good practice, we identified what we needed to do, we saw it in action for the first 20 minutes and I was really proud of our guys' effort in the first half," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "I feel like if we could have replicated that in the second half, we would have put ourselves in a position to win. We didn't and we've got to figure out why we didn't and make those corrections."
Jeameril Wilson shot 7-of-9 from the field, including 4-of-5 from 3-point range – marking a career-high for made 3-pointers. Lynch finished 3-of-6 from the field, and 5-of-5 from the free throw line.🎥 from Stabler pic.twitter.com/5JLkzpwFVz
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 29, 2021
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The Mountain Hawks jumped out to a quick 10-2 lead, with Jeameril Wilson and Taylor each scoring five in the early going. Â
Saint Francis responded, staging an 11-2 run, capped off by an offensive rebound and put back to give the Red Flash their first lead, 13-12, with 11:01 left in the first half.Jeameril just finds a way early in this one. He and ET each have five as the Mountain Hawks lead 10-2 at our first media timeout.
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 29, 2021
Watch on ESPN+ https://t.co/sQhfHpKoRk pic.twitter.com/SvROHroftM
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Saint Francis maintained its lead for much of the ensuing minutes until a Jeameril Wilson 3-pointer with 5:55 on the clock gave the Mountain Hawks a 23-21 edge. That came one possession after a Marques Wilson trey to beat the shock clock.
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The Red Flash reopened a lead, until another Marques Wilson 3-pointer, this time with just one second left in the half, gave Lehigh a 27-26 lead after 20 minutes of play.
Saint Francis knocked down a pair of threes in the opening minute of the second half, in a sign of things to come. A Jeameril Wilson jumper with 16:02 remaining pulled Lehigh within 38-35, but a 9-0 Red Flash run gave them their first double-figure lead of the evening and a 47-35 advantage.Marques with another 👌 for the halftime lead!
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 29, 2021
Watch the second half on ESPN+ https://t.co/9AlKYAzSXe pic.twitter.com/KTtKfridIF
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The ensuing minutes saw plenty of back-and-forth action. Junior Jakob Alamudun hit a big 3-pointer with 11:40 remaining to pull Lehigh within 49-44. Saint Francis reopened an 11-point lead, but six straight Mountain Hawk points, capped off by a Jeameril Wilson 3-pointer, got Lehigh back within five at 55-50.
That's as close as the Mountain Hawks would come, however, as Saint Francis answered with an 18-2 run to open a 73-51 lead. Lehigh scored the final nine points, but it wasn't nearly enough.Here's a look at the Jakob 3-pointer.
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) November 29, 2021
Watch on ESPN+ https://t.co/9AlKYAzSXe pic.twitter.com/99utiZTq7z
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Lehigh shot 38.9 percent for the game (21-of-54), including 42.3 percent from 3-point range (11-of-26). Saint Francis finished at 50.8 percent (31-of-61) and 54.5 percent from behind the arc (6-of-11). The Red Flash held a 40-28 edge in rebounding. The Mountain Hawks had 13 turnovers to Saint Francis' 12.
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Four Saint Francis players scored between 16 and 18 points, led by 18 from Josh Cohen – 16 of which came in the second half.
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"I thought our first-half defense was pretty solid," said Reed. "We held them to a low percentage, but we just let them explode in the second half. They hurt us in a variety of different ways. They were efficient from the 3-point line. Both [Myles] Thompson and their [Josh] Cohen just destroyed us and they scored at an incredible clip. We could not keep pace, we could not slow them down and that was extremely disappointing. We gave up and-ones, we gave up offensive rebounds, we gave up 3-pointers and ultimately gave up 28 points in the paint in the second half, which was really disturbing."
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The Mountain Hawks will look to bounce back when they head to Yale on Wednesday night. Gametime is set for 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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Team Stats
SF-PA
Lehigh
FG%
.508
.389
3FG%
.545
.423
FT%
.647
.750
RB
40
28
TO
12
13
STL
7
3
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
4
FTM
2
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
6
FGM
1
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
F
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