Dec. 22, 2006
Box Score
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EASTON, Pa. - Junior Bilal Abdullah scored a career-high 22 points and led Lafayette to a 58-56 win over Mount St. Mary's on Friday night at Kirby Sports Center.
Coming off a 15-point effort in a win over King's, Abdullah maintained his more assertive stance on the offensive end and used an 8-for-13 shooting night to spark Lafayette to its fifth win in the last six games.
Lafayette (6-7) controlled the tempo from the opening tip, jumping out to an early 14-2 lead going into the first media timeout. Jesper Andersson started and finished the run, nailing a three-pointer on the first Leopard possession and draining another triple from the corner off a Matt Betley assist at the 15:57 mark of the first half.
From there, the Leopards stretched their lead to as many as 15 (20-5) on another Andersson triple with 13:20 remaining before intermission. Two Chris Vann free throws at the 10:33 mark capped a 9-0 run by the Mount and closed the Lafayette lead to six at 20-14. Lafayette led 38-29 at halftime.
The second half entailed a see-saw battle that came down to the final minutes. An Andrew Brown three-pointer gave Lafayette its largest second half lead at 43-33. However, a 15-4 run by Mount St. Mary's (2-9) that culminated with a Vann lay-up at 7:39 left gave the Mount its first lead of the game.
The next seven minutes were a stalemate with neither team able to build a lead of more than four points. Two Betley free throws with 1:54 left gave the Leopards a 58-54 lead and forced Mount St. Mary's head coach Milan Brown to call a 30-second timeout.
Mount forward Kelly Beidler, who led his squad with 16 points, drained two free throws with exactly one minute left to bring the Mountaineers within two (58-56).
That was as close as Mount St. Mary's would get, as the Mountaineers squandered three offensive possessions in the final 25 seconds of the game. Mount St. Mary's had one final chance with an inbounds play underneath the basket with 0.9 seconds remaining. Each team exchanged timeouts to set up the final play. Beidler used two screens to find an open lay-up on the weak side, but his attempt rimmed off the basket and the Leopards held on for the two-point win.
Abdullah bettered his career-high by one point, finishing with 22 points. Andersson was the only other Leopard to record double figures, tallying 11 for the game, but left the game in the first half after sustaining an ankle injury. Beidler and Vann led the Mount with 16 and 11, respectively.
The Leopards will take a quick break for the holiday season before returning to the court on Dec. 28 when they travel to Temple. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Liacouras Center.
NOTES:
Lafayette cooled off from its 16 three-pointer effort against King's on Wednesday night. The Leopards shot 8-for-25 from behind the arc. However, they held the Mount to just 10 percent (2-for-20) on triples.
The Leopards were outrebounded 44-23 in the game. Betley led Lafayette for the second straight game with eight boards.
