Box Score

February 22, 2015

BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lafayette men's basketball team got its revenge in the second round of the Lafayette-Lehigh rivalry in Bethlehem on Sunday afternoon, pulling out a 63-61 victory to salvage a split in the season series.

Two jumpers with less than 10 seconds remaining in the game from Lehigh's Kahron Ross and Austin Price were unable to find the bottom of the net to tie the game as the Leopards walked away with the win. Seniors Dan Trist and Seth Hinrichs were stellar with 14 and 16 points on the day, respectively.

Trist added 10 rebounds for his seventh double-double of the season, while Hinrichs helped out with seven assists, five rebounds, a block and a steal to round out his stat line. Sophomore Nick Lindner was the third Leopard in double figures with 14 points and five assists on the afternoon.

"We had a lot of resiliency in this game and just made some huge shots," head coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "In a hotly-contested game, I'm very proud of how our guys finished."

Lafayette went 26-for-60 from the field (43.3%) and 8-of-22 from beyond the three-point line (36.4%), while Lehigh made 39.7 percent of its shots from the floor (23-for-58) and 33.3 percent from three-point range (5-for-15). Lehigh is just the fifth team all season that Lafayette has held under the 40-percent mark from the field and first since the beginning of conference play. The Hawks held a 40-30 edge on the glass, but Lafayette committed just eight turnovers compared to 17 assists.

The win moves the Maroon and White back to the .500 mark in Patriot League play at 8-8 and 16-11 overall, while Lehigh falls to 15-12 on the year and 9-7 in conference action.

The Leopards came out of the gates strong as senior Joey Ptasinski hit his first triple of the day and junior Bryce Scott connected on a floater down the left side of the lane to take a 9-5 advantage after the first five minutes. Lafayette expanded its lead to six at 14-8 out of the break, but four back from the Hawks took the game into its second media timeout at 14-12.

A second triple from Ptasinski and a turnaround jumper in the lane from Trist pushed the Lafayette edge back out to seven at 19-12 midway through the first. Following four minutes of scoreless action, a pair of free throws ended a drought of over three minutes for the Leopards to put the Maroon and White in front, 21-13. A pair of buckets from Price, though, forced a Lafayette timeout at the 5:24 mark with Lehigh pulling within four at 21-17.

Lafayette worked its edge out to as many as 10 at the four-minute mark, but a 7-0 spurt from Lehigh with two minutes left made it 27-24 late in the half. With time winding down at the end of the first, Hinrichs came off a screen and drained a shot from distance at the top of the key to give the Leopards a 32-27 lead into the intermission.

The second half started as a completely different game with Lafayette cold from the field and Lehigh beginning on a 13-1 run to take a 40-33 lead with 16 minutes to play. Hinrichs finally hit a triple off an inbounds pass at the 15:30 mark for Lafayette's first field goal of the half to cut the lead to four at 40-36.

The Lafayette response continued as Trist's put-back at the 12:40 mark tied the game up again at 42 and Michael Hoffman's triple answered a Ross triple to knot it at 45 with 11:57 to play. Hinrichs' putback at the 10:15 mark moved the Leopards back in front, 47-45.

The teams traded buckets throughout the midway point of the second before a triple from Lindner, his second in two minutes, extended the lead to five at 55-50 with less than seven minutes to play. A jumper from Trist on the following possession made it eight straight for Lafayette and a 57-50 lead with 5:50 to play.

Lehigh's response came over the next two minutes as the Hawks moved the Lafayette lead to just two at 59-57 with 3:38 to play. A Goldsborough putback a minute later tied the game at 59 again with 2:41 remaining on the clock.

The game went back-and-forth over the final minutes with Lafayette taking over, holding a two-point lead with less than a minute remaining. With 18 seconds left on the clock, Lindner drove to his right and sent a tough driving layup long off the rim to give the Hawks a chance to tie or take the lead. Out of a timeout, two jumpers from Ross and Price were off the mark, and Lafayette survived with the 63-61 win.

Lafayette will host its final two regular-season games at Kirby Sports Center on Wednesday against Colgate at 7 p.m. and Saturday against Army at 12 p.m.