BETHLEHEM, PA - Division I Lehigh topped visiting
Haverford College, 83-39, Monday evening in men's basketball action.
The Fords were led by senior forward Ray Brown's team-high 11
points. Haverford falls to 2-6 overall on the season, while Lehigh
improves to 5-8.
Sophomore guard Chaz Thomas opened the scoring in the game, collecting
an offensive rebound and laying the ball right back in for the
2-0 lead. Lehigh went on an 11-0 run over the next four plus minutes,
taking the 11-2 lead into the game's first media timeout. Lehigh
extended its lead to 17-2 before senior guard Mike Fratangelo
cut the Mountain Hawk lead to 17-4 with 13:30 to go in the first
half. With 11:15 left in the half, sophomore forward Ben McDowell
was fouled after making a lay up and hit the free throw to cut
the deficit to 21-7. Lehigh followed with a 13-0 run over the
next 4:03 to put significant distance between itself and Haverford
at 34-7. After a 30 second timeout, the Fords put together four
straight points on two free throws by sophomore guard Matthew
Stitt, and a lay up by sophomore guard Greg Rosnick to close the
score to 34-11. The Fords matched Lehigh basket for basket over
the next couple minutes, highlighted by a deep three-pointer by
Thomas, making the score to 41-18 with 2:26 to go in the half.
However, Mountain Hawks Jose Olivero hit a three as the half expired,
giving the Mountain Hawks a 47-20 advantage going into the locker
room.
Haverford opened the second half with five points in the opening
1:30 off a three-pointer by Thomas and a 17 foot jump shot by
sophomore forward Brent Anderson. After Lehigh extended its lead
up to 28 points, Fratangelo drained a three-point basket to cut
the Haverford deficit down to 25 points at 53-28 with 15:41 left
in regulation. That is as close as the Fords would get, as the
Mountain Hawks put even more distance between the two teams over
the rest of the contest, en route to the 83-39 win.
In addition to his 11 points, Brown also collected five rebounds
and had a game-high two blocks. Thomas contributed eight points
and five rebounds, while Rosnick collected a game-high five steals
in the loss.
Lehigh's offense was paced by Kyle Neptune's 20 points. Olivero
totaled 16 of his 17 points in the first half for the Mountain
Hawks, while Zahir Carrington had ten points in the game in the
win.
The Mountain Hawks forced 26 Fords turnovers, and held Haverford
to 29.2% shooting in the contest. Lehigh shot 52.5% in the game,
and also out rebounded Haverford by a 43-26 margin. Both teams
struggled from the charity stripe in the game, as Haverford made
8-of-15 free throws (53.3%) while Lehigh connected on 12-of-21
attempts (57.1%). The Fords shot 17.6% from three-point land in
the game (3-of-17) while the Mountain Hawks connected on 43.8%
(7-of-16) of their three-point attempts.
The Fords will next play Hamilton at the Tampa Bay Shootout on
December 29 at 7:00 p.m.
