EASTON, Pa. – The Lafayette men's basketball team controlled the game for 25 minutes on Saturday afternoon at Kirby Sports Center, but couldn't close out the second half as Army came back and outlasted the Leopards by a 69-63 final.

The Leopards, ahead by four at the break, stormed out of the halftime locker room with a 12-4 run that put the lead at 12, 45-33, with 16:26 left. But that momentum ended there as the offense went cold at the 15-minute mark and Army scored 33 of the game's final 48 points to complete out the comeback.

Eighteen turnovers with nine coming in each half were a big story in the game as Army scored 17 points off those takeaways and led 8-2 in fast-break points. The Black Knights also got 41 of their 69 points from their bench as Jordan Fox and Tommy Funk, two of the team's top three scorers, were held to a combined seven points on the day.

Sophomore Alex Petrie had his best game of Patriot League play, scoring a game-high 20 points on 6-of-9 from the field and 3-of-4 from three-point range. The output was Petrie's highest total since he scored 26 in the Leopards' win over Fairleigh Dickinson on Nov. 25.

Classmate Justin Jaworski chipped in with 15 points to go along with a career-high six rebounds, also finishing 3-of-4 from beyond the arc on the day. A third sophomore, E.J. Stephens, additionally had one of his better games, scoring 10 points on 2-of-4 from distance, his second double-digit scoring performance since the start of Patriot League play.

Overall, the Leopards went 23-of-53 from the field (43.4%) and 9-of-22 from three (40.9%), while Army shot 25-for-55 from the floor (45.5%), but just 6-for-22 from distance (27.3%). The loss drops the Maroon and White to 5-14 on the year and 2-6 in Patriot League action. Army improves to 11-10 overall and 6-2 in conference play.

The game opened with a frenetic pace as a Stephens jumper from the right elbow was answered right back by a Lonnie Grayson layup to put Army in front by a 7-6 score after four minutes of play. Then, the Leopards caught fire from beyond the arc, hitting five straight triples to build a 21-12 advantage midway through the half.

Both sides cooled off over the next few minutes before 11 straight from the Black Knights propelled the visitors in front, 23-21 with 5:07 left. Lafayette responded, though, with an 8-4 spurt to go back in front by a bucket with 3:11 remaining in the opening half.

Buckets from Petrie sandwiched a Jacob Kessler layup around the two-minute mark to give the Leopards a 33-29 lead into the final minute of play. Junior Lukas Jarrett's steal took away Army's final shot, but a Dylan Hastings finish late was blocked to send the game to the intermission with the Lafayette advantage at four.

Lafayette opened the second half on a tear with back-to-back threes from Stephens and Jaworski forcing an Army timeout at the 15:37 mark with the lead ballooning to 12, 48-36. The Black Knights fought back though, pulling within five on John Emezie free throws with just under 13 minutes remaining.

The Leopards continued to struggle offensively as two buckets from Jarrett were it for the offense over a four-minute stretch as Army took over the lead, up 56-52 with 8:19 to go. The Black Knights held that advantage into the under-four timeout as a Jaworski layup cut it to six, 60-54, with 3:48 to play.

The entire offense in the final two minutes from both sides came at the foul line as Army matched Lafayette free-throw shooting to close it out. The Leopards couldn't find open looks to mount a comeback, falling by a 69-63 final.

Next up for Lafayette is a Wednesday meeting against crosstown rival Lehigh with tip-off in the second game of a doubleheader tentatively scheduled for 8:30 p.m.