Dec. 4, 2008
Box Score
WEST HARTFORD, Conn. - On most nights, a 50-percent showing from the field and the arc would be enough for a win. But that wasn't the case as the Lafayette men's basketball team lost a 97-82 decision to Hartford (3-5) on Thursday night.
Senior guard Andrew Brown led the team with 20 points, off of a season-high six three-pointers, despite playing much of the second half with four fouls.
The Leopards (2-5) could not stop Michael Turner in the first half. He entered the game averaging 8.9 points per contest but had already scored a career-high 20 points by the break. He and leading scorer Joe Zeglinski both finished with 26. Thanks in part to their output, the Hawks shot 55 percent from both the field and three-point range.
Jeff Kari drained a three off the bat and Lafayette jumped out to a 22-15 lead midway through the first half. The Hawks kept it close and took their first lead of the game, 26-25, at 8:23.
Lafayette pulled away again with six-straight points, but Hartford came back again. The Hawks started to pull away with less than two minutes in the first period with an 8-0 run before Jared Mintz hit a pair of free throws with 32 seconds remaining. Hartford led 51-43 at halftime.
Lafayette fell behind by 12 points at the opening of the second half before Brown hit back-to-back treys to re-energize the Leopards. When freshman Jim Mower drained a three from the corner near Lafayette's bench at the 13:58 mark, he tied the game at 62.
The teams traded threes but when Turner hit a jumper with 10:36 remaining in the game to make the score 70-65, the Hawks never gave up the lead again. The Leopards' offensive effort was slowed when Brown was whistled for an offensive foul with his nine and a half minutes left in the game, his fourth foul. The Preseason All-Patriot League pick was forced to play much of the game in foul trouble, seeing just 25 minutes compared to his average of 34.3 minutes per game. Hartford led by as many as 18 late in the second half.
Lafayette returns to action on Monday at Fordham. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.
Game Notes: The Leopards' 43 points in the first half was the most by the team so far this season. The Hawks' 51 points were also the most given up by a Lafayette this year.
Freshman Nick Petkovich drained two treys en route to a career-high eight-point performance. He also made two steals when he ripped the ball away from a Hartford player and grabbed three rebounds in 14 minutes.
