FAIRFIELD, Conn. – Midway through the second half with the Lafayette men's basketball team in the midst of a five-plus minute field-goal drought, the victory looked to be in doubt in Fairfield, Connecticut at Sacred Heart on Sunday afternoon. Instead, the Leopards dug in and found a way with key plays down the stretch to steal a 67-66 victory in the 2019-20 non-conference finale.
The lead oscillated throughout the first half with the Leopards taking a 39-37 lead into the break, but the Maroon and White came out strong in the second, using an 8-2 run to lead 49-44 with less than 12 left. The defense then had to stem the tide as the offense went cold, going without a field goal from 12:05 to 6:21 as Sacred Heart jumped ahead, 62-56.
Senior
Myles Cherry took over the boards on the next two possessions to make it a two-point game, but Cameron Parker's acrobatic finish kept the distance at four with 1:45 on the clock. Junior
Justin Jaworski finally got his three to fall at the biggest moment with 37 seconds to play, finishing 1-of-10 from beyond the arc on the day, but Sacred Heart answered with a pair of free throws on the other end at the 31-second mark to set up the final stretch.
After a missed front end of a 1-and-1, Jaworski took the easy layup to make it 66-65 and sophomore
Tyrone Perry stole the ensuing inbounds pass and grabbed an offensive rebound while being fouled off a
Lukas Jarrett miss to set up the winning points from the line. Perry made both and Jaworski stole the pass again to not allow a final shot from the home side, finishing off the 67-66 win.
The win moves the Maroon and White to 8-3 overall this season and drops Sacred Heart to 7-6. The 8-3 mark completes the Leopards' best non-conference portion of their schedule since an 8-3 record in 2014-15.
Cherry's seventh-career double-double led an impressive performance on the glass as the senior added 10 boards to his 12 points with half of those rebounds coming on the offensive end. Jarrett and junior
Dylan Hastings added six boards apiece and Quinn added five for a 47-42 overall edge.
Junior
E.J. Stephens had his best offensive performance since mid-November, scoring a game-high 17 points with 15 coming in the opening half. Jaworski rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12, adding four assists, three rebounds and a steal to his credit.
Jarrett opened the game with a pair of buckets from inside and outside the paint, but Sacred Heart answered with back-to-back transition scores to take a 12-7 advantage into the opening timeout. Freshman
Leo O'Boyle dished out back-to-back assists out of the break to bring the Leopards within a point and Perry's triple at the 12:15 mark gave them their first lead at 18-17.
Sacred Heart quickly regained the advantage, using a 7-1 run through the midway point of the half to lead by a 24-21 score with 7:56 on the clock. But Lafayette countered over the next four minutes with three straight strong finishes at the rim from Jarrett, O'Boyle and Stephens to put the Leopards up, 32-26.
The final stretch of the half was played evenly as foul counts grew and it became a free-throw shooting contest late. Five straight for Sacred Heart from the charity stripe surrounded layups from Cherry and Jaworski over the final 1:21 to send the game to intermission with the Leopard lead at a pair, 39-37.
The second half started ugly with just three buckets combined over the first five minutes as Sacred Heart took a 42-41 advantage under the 15-minute mark. But Lafayette struck out of the break, using an 8-2 spurt capped by a pretty teardrop through a foul from Perry to lead by five, 49-44, into the under-12 break.
A pair of in-the-paint buckets from Quinn helped to kill the cold stretch through the midway point and the defense kept the Leopards close for the finishing run. Lafayette made the plays down the stretch and the ball fell its way in the final minute to walk out with a 67-66 victory.
Lafayette opens Patriot League action in its next contest on Thursday, traveling to Boston, Massachusetts for a meeting with Boston U. at 7 p.m.
