Wednesday, December 1
New Haven, Conn.
7 p.m.
Lehigh University
1-7,0-0Patriot
72
at
82
Yale
5-4,0-0Ivy League
1
2
F
Lehigh
33
39
72
Yale
25
57
82
Photo by: Justin Lafleur
Tale of Two Halves as Yale Storms Back to Beat Lehigh, 82-72
12/1/2021 10:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – The Lehigh men's basketball team played one of its best halves of the season in the first, but the Bulldogs matched their first-half point total (25) in just the first 6:14 of the second, on their way to defeating the Mountain Hawks, 82-72 on Wednesday evening. Yale turned an eight-point Lehigh halftime lead into a 13-point Bulldogs' advantage midway through the stanza, but the Mountain Hawks wouldn't go away quietly. Lehigh rebounded to pull as close as seven on multiple occasions down the stretch, but couldn't get any closer.
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"We've got to be able to figure this one out because we have shown that we can do it, but we have to do it more consistently," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "I will give Yale credit. They had some really good players in both Swain and Gabbidon who seemed to really ignite them in the second half. Some of those things were communication errors, going under on a screen on a guy who we know can really shoot it. There were a few turnovers on our end that allowed them to get some easy opportunities. After that, they had so much energy that they were doing a great job on the offensive glass, which hurt us."
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Junior Evan Taylor led Lehigh with 16 points and nine rebounds, narrowly missing a double-double. Fifth-year senior Marques Wilson added 15 while junior Reed Fenton scored a season-high 15 points. Sophomore Dominic Parolin had nine points and five rebounds, including four offensive boards – several of which directly led to Lehigh second-chance points.
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Fenton scored five straight points early on, including a 3-pointer to give Lehigh an 11-2 lead. At that point, four Mountain Hawks already had points. Yale responded with a 10-0 run to take its first lead at 12-11, but Lehigh answered with a 13-2 run of its own to take its first double-figure lead, 24-14, following a Nic Lynch 3-pointer with 8:13 on the first-half clock.
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Yale continued to rally, eventually going up by 10, 53-43, but a Jake Betlow 3-pointer got Lehigh back within 53-48 with 12:03 left in the second half. The Bulldogs responded with five straight to retake a 10-point lead, but just over two minutes later, a Fenton layup again pulled Lehigh within five.
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"I thought our kids showed pretty good resiliency coming back [from Yale's second-half run]," said Reed. "They fought and they battled and came with simple plays – like a strong, hard defensive rebound and a deflection that maybe didn't even lead to a steal, but showed that we had a presence and some activity. The formula is there. It's just a matter of can we sustain it, can we put it together and the fact that the guys did it towards the end of the game was at least a positive sign."
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The Mountain Hawks will return home to host Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in the second game of a doubleheader with the Lehigh women (who host Binghamton at 2 p.m.). To purchase tickets, please click 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: (12-1-2021) Men's Basketball at Yale, 12/1/21
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"We've got to be able to figure this one out because we have shown that we can do it, but we have to do it more consistently," said Lehigh head coach Brett Reed. "I will give Yale credit. They had some really good players in both Swain and Gabbidon who seemed to really ignite them in the second half. Some of those things were communication errors, going under on a screen on a guy who we know can really shoot it. There were a few turnovers on our end that allowed them to get some easy opportunities. After that, they had so much energy that they were doing a great job on the offensive glass, which hurt us."
Azar Swain led Yale with 23 points while Jalen Gabbidon added 22 (all coming in the second half).A lot of good happened tonight at Yale, especially in the first half. Here's just a sampling in 60 seconds 📹 pic.twitter.com/GiEMVdj7BN
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) December 2, 2021
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Junior Evan Taylor led Lehigh with 16 points and nine rebounds, narrowly missing a double-double. Fifth-year senior Marques Wilson added 15 while junior Reed Fenton scored a season-high 15 points. Sophomore Dominic Parolin had nine points and five rebounds, including four offensive boards – several of which directly led to Lehigh second-chance points.
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Fenton scored five straight points early on, including a 3-pointer to give Lehigh an 11-2 lead. At that point, four Mountain Hawks already had points. Yale responded with a 10-0 run to take its first lead at 12-11, but Lehigh answered with a 13-2 run of its own to take its first double-figure lead, 24-14, following a Nic Lynch 3-pointer with 8:13 on the first-half clock.
The Mountain Hawks remained in control for the majority of the first half, as their lead teetered between three and 10. Taylor hit a 3-pointer with 1:39 left in the stanza to put Lehigh back up 33-23, but Yale answered in the final minute to pull within 33-25 after 20 minutes of play.Here's how it looked, the 3-pointer from 6-foot-11 Nic Lynch.
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) December 2, 2021
Watch on ESPN+ https://t.co/bM9GCmTK7I pic.twitter.com/vdiDgtFnjk
Scoring was abundant early in the second half, with the Bulldogs holding a 17-10 edge over just the first 4:25. Swain and Gabbidon combined for 15 of Yale's 17 points in that stretch.Mountain Hawks' D was all over the place in the first half, perhaps no play better than this Evan Taylor block.
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) December 2, 2021
Watch on ESPN+ https://t.co/bM9GCmTK7I pic.twitter.com/JfLWLyO9pG
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Yale continued to rally, eventually going up by 10, 53-43, but a Jake Betlow 3-pointer got Lehigh back within 53-48 with 12:03 left in the second half. The Bulldogs responded with five straight to retake a 10-point lead, but just over two minutes later, a Fenton layup again pulled Lehigh within five.
An 8-0 Yale surge ultimately gave the Bulldogs a 13-point lead with less than 10 minutes remaining, but Lehigh wouldn't go away quietly. The Mountain Hawks chipped away, as five straight points pulled them within seven at 71-64 with 4:38 remaining. After Yale answered, Lehigh got back within seven on multiple occasions, but couldn't get any closer.Yale opened a 10-point lead, but five straight Lehigh points, capped off by this Jake Betlow 3-pointer has the Mountain Hawks RIGHT back in this one.
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) December 2, 2021
Watch on ESPN+ https://t.co/bM9GCmTK7I pic.twitter.com/DW7A3XOEsV
For the game, the Mountain Hawks shot 49.2 percent from the field (29-of-59), including 23.8 percent from 3-point range (5-of-21). Yale finished at 43.1 percent (28-of-65) and 42.9 percent from behind the arc (9-of-21). The Bulldogs knocked down 7-of-11 second-half threes, which proved critical. The Mountain Hawks held a 39-34 edge in rebounds.The Mountain Hawks will NOT go away. Huge offensive rebound by Parolin and finish by Jeameril to get Lehigh right back within seven as we head down the stretch.
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) December 2, 2021
Watch on ESPN+ https://t.co/bM9GCmTK7I pic.twitter.com/mbPcf8mxBK
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"I thought our kids showed pretty good resiliency coming back [from Yale's second-half run]," said Reed. "They fought and they battled and came with simple plays – like a strong, hard defensive rebound and a deflection that maybe didn't even lead to a steal, but showed that we had a presence and some activity. The formula is there. It's just a matter of can we sustain it, can we put it together and the fact that the guys did it towards the end of the game was at least a positive sign."
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The Mountain Hawks will return home to host Maryland Eastern Shore on Saturday at 4:30 p.m. in the second game of a doubleheader with the Lehigh women (who host Binghamton at 2 p.m.). To purchase tickets, please click here.
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Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more.
Coach @BrettReed following tonight's defeat at Yale. pic.twitter.com/eyPxqDXura
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) December 2, 2021
Team Stats
Lehigh
Yale
FG%
.492
.431
3FG%
.238
.429
FT%
.643
.773
RB
39
34
TO
16
11
STL
6
7
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
15
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
3
Pts
12
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
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