Saturday, February 18
Washington, D.C.
2:00 PM
Lehigh University
15-12,10-6Patriot
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59
American
15-12,7-9Patriot
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Lehigh
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Photo by: L.J. Smith
Lehigh Earns Season Sweep of American in Narrow Road Victory
2/18/2023 6:13:00 PM | Men's Basketball
WASHINGTON – The Lehigh men's basketball team snapped a three-game losing streak with a 62-59 road win over American on Saturday afternoon.
The Mountain Hawks (15-12, 10-6 PL) make it four consecutive wins against the Eagles and have won back-to-back games inside Bender Arena while American (15-12, 7-9 PL) drops its fourth straight game since defeating Colgate on Feb. 4 and fall to 15-11 when hosting Lehigh.
After going basket-for-basket until the first media timeout, Lehigh was able to take a six-point lead at 12-6 with 14 minutes in the opening half. The Brown and White stretched it to seven points, 23-16 on a transition three-pointer by senior Evan Taylor with 6:53 on the clock. American clawed back and took a lead on a Jaxon Knotek layup, 25-23 but junior Dominic Parolin evened the game at 25-25 with under two minutes to play in the first. The Mountain Hawks posted an 8-2 run the rest of the half to take a 33-27 lead into the locker room after a trey from sophomore Keith Higgins Jr. put Lehigh up by seven.
The second half started with a second-chance three-pointer by Higgins Jr. off an offensive rebound grabbed by junior JT Tan to extend the Brown and White's advantage to nine points. Lehigh's lead reached double-digits when Taylor knocked down a pair of free throws to put the Mountain Hawks ahead 44-33 with over 15 minutes to play. Over the next five minutes, American saw the deficit rise to as many as 14 points, 51-37, which resulted in a timeout to regroup with over 10 minutes on the clock.
Doing just that, the Eagles chipped away at the deficit throughout the rest of the contest, coming within just one point off a couple of free throws from Elijah Stephens, 60-59. On the ensuing inbound, junior Jalin Sinclair threw the ball off the back of an Eagle defender and was then fouled and sent to the charity stripe for a pair for foul shots. Sinclair knocked them both down to put the game at its final score of 62-59.
Four Mountain Hawks recorded double-digit performances in scoring and combined for 90 percent of the points produced in the win. Higgins contributed a team-high 18 points to go with three assists, two steals and one rebound. He shot 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from the field and made three three-pointers while Taylor scored 16 points with six rebounds and was 4-for-5 at the free-throw line.
Sophomore Tyler Whitney-Sidney added 12 points, with six of them coming from the charity stripe. He also added seven boards and a team-high four assists. Finishing one rebound short of a double-double was Parolin, who tossed in 10 points and led the Mountain Hawks with nine boards and one assist.
Sinclair, Tan and sophomore Ben Knostman each recorded two points apiece, with Sinclair's two coming from the foul line with eight seconds left and added a rebound and an assist. Tan grabbed six boards and had three assists and a steal while Knostman finished with two assists.
American had three players score at least 10 points, led by Matt Rogers who scored a game-high 22 points and was 10-for-15 from the floor with five rebounds and a steal. Both Johnny O'Neil and Stephens contributed 10 points each, with O'Neil grabbing a team-high six rebounds and a blocked shot while Stephens finished with team-highs of five assists and two steals.
The Mountain Hawks shot 46.7 percent (21-for-45) from the floor while shooting 45.5 percent (5-for-11) from long distance while American shot 44.6 percent (25-for-56) and just 9.1 percent (1-for-11) from behind the three-point line.
Lehigh committed 12 turnovers that American turned into eight points while the Eagles were forced into just five miscues that the Mountain Hawks turned into nine points. The Brown and White out-rebounded American 35-27 but the Eagles dominated inside the paint, outscoring Lehigh 44-24.
The Mountain Hawks return to Stabler Arena for their final home game of the regular season to take on Bucknell. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM. Tickets can be purchased at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during business hours.
Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more. Single-game tickets are on sale HERE.
The Mountain Hawks (15-12, 10-6 PL) make it four consecutive wins against the Eagles and have won back-to-back games inside Bender Arena while American (15-12, 7-9 PL) drops its fourth straight game since defeating Colgate on Feb. 4 and fall to 15-11 when hosting Lehigh.
After going basket-for-basket until the first media timeout, Lehigh was able to take a six-point lead at 12-6 with 14 minutes in the opening half. The Brown and White stretched it to seven points, 23-16 on a transition three-pointer by senior Evan Taylor with 6:53 on the clock. American clawed back and took a lead on a Jaxon Knotek layup, 25-23 but junior Dominic Parolin evened the game at 25-25 with under two minutes to play in the first. The Mountain Hawks posted an 8-2 run the rest of the half to take a 33-27 lead into the locker room after a trey from sophomore Keith Higgins Jr. put Lehigh up by seven.
The second half started with a second-chance three-pointer by Higgins Jr. off an offensive rebound grabbed by junior JT Tan to extend the Brown and White's advantage to nine points. Lehigh's lead reached double-digits when Taylor knocked down a pair of free throws to put the Mountain Hawks ahead 44-33 with over 15 minutes to play. Over the next five minutes, American saw the deficit rise to as many as 14 points, 51-37, which resulted in a timeout to regroup with over 10 minutes on the clock.
GO TO WORK, ET!! Taylor converts the fadeaway jumper to extend Lehigh's lead. #GoLehigh
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) February 18, 2023
Watch on @PatriotLeagueTV and @ESPNhttps://t.co/1rkyqzEEjV pic.twitter.com/dGnrbbAIb9
Doing just that, the Eagles chipped away at the deficit throughout the rest of the contest, coming within just one point off a couple of free throws from Elijah Stephens, 60-59. On the ensuing inbound, junior Jalin Sinclair threw the ball off the back of an Eagle defender and was then fouled and sent to the charity stripe for a pair for foul shots. Sinclair knocked them both down to put the game at its final score of 62-59.
Four Mountain Hawks recorded double-digit performances in scoring and combined for 90 percent of the points produced in the win. Higgins contributed a team-high 18 points to go with three assists, two steals and one rebound. He shot 7-of-12 (58.3 percent) from the field and made three three-pointers while Taylor scored 16 points with six rebounds and was 4-for-5 at the free-throw line.
HIGGINS FOR 3️⃣!! Higgins Jr. splashes a three to put Lehigh up by nine. He leads the squad with 17 points. #GoLehigh
— Lehigh M. Basketball (@LehighMBB) February 18, 2023
Watch on @patriotleaguetv and @ESPNhttps://t.co/1rkyqzEEjV pic.twitter.com/Q3SBXoWs4N
Sophomore Tyler Whitney-Sidney added 12 points, with six of them coming from the charity stripe. He also added seven boards and a team-high four assists. Finishing one rebound short of a double-double was Parolin, who tossed in 10 points and led the Mountain Hawks with nine boards and one assist.
Sinclair, Tan and sophomore Ben Knostman each recorded two points apiece, with Sinclair's two coming from the foul line with eight seconds left and added a rebound and an assist. Tan grabbed six boards and had three assists and a steal while Knostman finished with two assists.
American had three players score at least 10 points, led by Matt Rogers who scored a game-high 22 points and was 10-for-15 from the floor with five rebounds and a steal. Both Johnny O'Neil and Stephens contributed 10 points each, with O'Neil grabbing a team-high six rebounds and a blocked shot while Stephens finished with team-highs of five assists and two steals.
The Mountain Hawks shot 46.7 percent (21-for-45) from the floor while shooting 45.5 percent (5-for-11) from long distance while American shot 44.6 percent (25-for-56) and just 9.1 percent (1-for-11) from behind the three-point line.
Lehigh committed 12 turnovers that American turned into eight points while the Eagles were forced into just five miscues that the Mountain Hawks turned into nine points. The Brown and White out-rebounded American 35-27 but the Eagles dominated inside the paint, outscoring Lehigh 44-24.
The Mountain Hawks return to Stabler Arena for their final home game of the regular season to take on Bucknell. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on ESPN+ and Fox Sports Radio 94.7 FM and 1230 AM. Tickets can be purchased at LehighTickets.com or by calling 610-7LU-GAME during business hours.
Like Lehigh Men's Basketball on Facebook, follow on Twitter and Instagram for exclusive content, team updates and more. Single-game tickets are on sale HERE.
Team Stats
Lehigh
Americ
FG%
.467
.446
3FG%
.455
.091
FT%
.714
.571
RB
35
27
TO
12
5
STL
3
5
Game Leaders
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
16
FGM
5
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
6
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballF/C
/ Men's Basketball
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/ Men's BasketballG
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