BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Lafayette men's basketball couldn't find its rhythm offensively at Stabler Arena on Sunday afternoon, falling in the second installment of this season's rivalry with Lehigh by a 73-61 final score.
"I thought we did a very good job in the second half to cut to six. We had a couple missed layups, but we got the shots that we wanted," head coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "We dug a hole for ourselves in the first half and didn't shoot well, but we were better in the second."
The Leopards went 24-for-66 from the floor (36.4%) and hit nine of their 30 attempts from beyond the arc (30.0%). With the loss, Lafayette's losing streak extends to 11 games and its record falls to 5-22 overall and 2-14 in Patriot League action.
Senior Bryce Scott led three Leopards in double-figure scoring with 13 points on the afternoon, while juniors Monty Boykins and Nick Lindner joined him with 12 and 11 points, respectively. Senior Ben Freeland chipped in as well with six points and six rebounds in his final game against the Bethlehem side.
Lafayette started strong as the first four points went to Boykins and four more from Freeland on a pair of jumpers put the game into its first media timeout with the Leopards up by a pair, 11-9. Kempton's put-back off an offensive board in transition, though, put Lehigh in front out of the break with a 13-11 advantage with 14 minutes to play in the half.
The Leopards went cold through the midway point of the first half as a stretch of seven consecutive missed field goals helped Lehigh to an 18-11 advantage with 11:14 on the clock. That lead ballooned to 12 at the 7:55 mark of the half and grew to as many as 13 before a Freeland jumper finally ended the drought and made it a 26-15 game with seven minutes left.
Freshman Paulius Zalys' three at the five-minute mark pulled the lead under 10, but a pair of missed opportunities followed by transition buckets from Lehigh moved the edge back to 14 at 34-20 with 3:05 remaining in the first. A Boykins three with 12 seconds left in the half, followed by Lehigh free throws and a Lindner three at the buzzer moved the game into the break with Lafayette down 10, 38-28.
Lafayette came out with a sense of urgency as Boykins hit the first five for the Leopards and a transition layup from Lindner cut the lead to six, 41-35, with 17:08 to play. However, a spree of missed layups moved it back to 10 into the first timeout of the second stanza, 45-35.
Lehigh's advantage remained above 10 through the midway point of the second half as a pair of Justin Goldsborough buckets in the lane made it 54-40 with less than 10 minutes remaining. A jumper from senior Nathaniel Musters and a three from Lindner at the eight-minute mark gave the Maroon and White some hope, though, moving the edge down to nine, 54-45.
A three from senior Zach Rufer made it a seven-point Lehigh lead with less than three minutes left, but an Austin Price response moved it back to 10 on the ensuing possession. An Auston Evans steal led to a Scott layup in transition that cut it to six with less than two minutes left, but a Jesse Chuku dunk and free throws from Tim Kempton at 1:06 made it 69-60 and the Hawks went on to close it out with a 73-61 final.
