EASTON, Pa. – Justin Jaworski hit everything he put up on Thursday night in the Leopards' return to Kirby Sports Center after almost a month away as the junior netted 28 points on 9-of-9 from the field in a 96-56 win over Widener.
 
Jaworski went 3-of-3 from beyond the arc and 7-of-7 from the foul line to lead the Leopards to their fifth straight win. The 5-game winning streak is the first in the non-league portion of the schedule since the 2003-04 team won eight straight in non-conference action on its way to an 18-10 season.
 
Twelve different Leopards recorded tallies in the scoring column as the Leopards put up their highest offensive output since a 97-84 win over Wagner on Dec. 16, 2014. Junior E.J. Stephens was the other Leopard in double figures with 12 points, while senior Kyle Stout, sophomore Tyrone Perry and freshman Neal Quinn each added nine apiece.
 
Lafayette tallied 23 assists, its highest since 24 against Rosemont on Dec. 19, 2018, with four coming from Perry and three from sophomore Michael Anekwe. The Maroon and White shot 57.9 percent from the floor (33-of-57) and knocked down 16 three's in 33 attempts (48.5%), its highest three-point total since hitting 16 at Sacred Heart on Dec. 12, 2015.
 
On the other side, the Leopards held Widener to 29.0 percent from the field (20-of-69) and just 5-of-24 (20.8%) from beyond the arc. The 56 points allowed were the best defensive effort since the Rosemont game a year ago (a 95-54 victory), led by nine blocks as a team with three from sophomore Sean Good and two by senior Lukas Jarrett.
 
Lafayette started strong from distance as a pair of threes from Jarrett coupled with another from Jaworski put the Leopards up seven at the opening media break, 11-4. Widener settled in over the next five-minute stretch as a deep off-balance three from Elijah Boyd in the left corner forced a Lafayette timeout with the game knotted at 14-14.
 
Six straight points from Jaworski out of the timeout put the game back in Lafayette's control and a Stephens triple from the left corner sent it under eight minutes with the Leopard lead at nine, 29-20. The Leopards effectively broke open the half from there, scoring 17 of the final 24 points to take a 46-27 lead into the halftime break.
 
Lafayette kept the margin above 20 over the first four minutes of the second half as Stout's three from the left wing took it under 16 minutes at 56-34. Eleven straight from the 14- to 12-minute marks opened it up to 69-40 and Widener couldn't do much to stop the Leopard attack throughout the waning minutes as the Maroon and White saw out the victory with a final of 96-56.
 
Next up for the Leopards is a test on the other end of the spectrum on Sunday, traveling to Big Ten foe Rutgers for a 1 p.m. meeting with the Scarlet Knights in Piscataway, New Jersey.