Dec. 17, 2013

EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette used a 22-0 run surrounding halftime to break the game open as the team returned from finals with a 79-54 victory over Immaculata on Tuesday night at Kirby Sports Center. Seth Hinrichs led all scorers with 19 points in Lafayette's fourth consecutive win.

Joining Hinrichs in double figures were Joey Ptasinski (14 points) and Nick Lindner (10 points). Lindner reached double figures in the scoring column for the fifth straight game.

With the game tied at 19-19 midway through the opening period, Lafayette (4-5) strung together an 11-4 run that started with Lindner's straightaway three. Hinrichs then drilled a trey of his own to put Lafayette up six before Immaculata (3-4) scored four points surrounding a Lindner pull-up jumper at the foul line. Hinrichs found Zach Rufer open for another triple to complete the stretch as Lafayette led 30-23. Rufer scored eight points and collected a career-high four steals in the win.

Eight straight points by Hinrichs to end the half built the Leopards' advantage to 40-32 as the home team went into the locker room on a 10-4 run. Hinrichs scored all of his 19 points before intermission on 6-of-11 shooting. As a team Lafayette was 13-of-25 from the floor (52 percent), while Immaculata hit nine of its 22 attempts (40.9 percent) in the frame.

Michael Hoffman started the second half with back-to-back jumpers, including a three-pointer, and the Leopards scored the first 18 points after the break to take a 58-32 lead. During the 22-0 run, Ptasinski drained two threes, Rufer drilled another and Trist scored inside. Immaculata put in its first point of the half on Barry Brockington's free throw at 13:42 before Julian Diaz's three-pointer ended an 11:57 draught without a field goal going back to the first half.

The Leopards led by as many as 27 points and finished the night shooting 52.9% percent on 27-of-51 attempts. Lafayette's performance on the defensive end was impressive, as the Pards held Immaculata to season lows in points (54), field goals (14) and field goal percentage (34.1). The Mighty Macs turned the ball over 20 times, which was the most for a Lafayette opponent this season.

Next up for the Leopards is a trip to Brooklyn Heights, N.Y. on Thursday for a meeting with St. Francis Brooklyn. Opening tip from the Pope Center is set for 7 p.m. and the game will air live online on NEC Front Row.

Game Notes:

Lafayette turned the ball over a season-low eight times

Lafayette shot a season-low 51.9 percent from the free throw line (14-27)

Monty Boykins scored a career-high eight points

Ben Freeland tied his career-highs with four points and three assists

Hoffman blocked a career-high two shots in his first-career start