EASTON, Pa. – The Lafayette men's basketball team couldn't find a defensive answer on Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center as Army shot 62.5 percent from the floor in a 94-74 Patriot League defeat.
 
The Leopards, coming into the night second in the Patriot League in scoring defense, allowing just 68.2 points per night, simply had an off outing, giving up their highest total of the season to an Army team that has now won three straight. The Black Knights improve to 8-10 with the victory and 3-4 in conference play, while Lafayette falls to 11-7 overall and 3-4 as well in Patriot League action.
 
Senior co-captain Lukas Jarrett was a prominent bright spot, scoring a career-high 18 points on 4-of-7 from beyond the arc to go with a team-high four assists. Sophomore Tyrone Perry finished a bucket shy of his career-best with 17 on 4-of-6 from distance, while freshman Neal Quinn had his best offensive game of his rookie campaign with 14 points on 6-of-8 from the floor.
 
Army, ninth in the Patriot League in three-point percentage, took advantage of open shots all night long, draining 12-of-21 from deep (57.1%), including a 5-for-7 mark from Lonnie Grayson, who finished with 19 points, one of five double-figure scorers. Matt Wilson led all scorers with 23 and Tommy Funk added a double-double with 19 points and 11 assists.
 
Buckets from Perry and Quinn off assists from junior Justin Jaworski and senior Kyle Stout opened the game on the front foot for the Maroon and White before Army answered with five of the next seven to send it under the 16-minute mark at 7-5 in the Leopards' favor. A stretch of almost six minutes without a field goal allowed Army to capture the lead, but freshman Leo O'Boyle's three through a foul stopped the Army run, putting the deficit at 13-11 toward the midway point of the half.
 
Army took control over the next four minutes, using a 12-5 run to extend its advantage to nine at the 6:59 mark, 25-16. Back-to-back scores from Quinn kept the Leopards within striking distance at 31-25 into the final media break, but Army's hot shooting continued to the intermission, sending Lafayette into half with its largest halftime deficit of league play, 43-30.
 
Lafayette continued to struggle as the lead grew to 20 less than four minutes into the second stanza, 57-37. The advantage got as high as 24 before an 8-0 run from Jarrett on his own forced an Army timeout at 7:12 with the deficit at 16, 80-64. The Leopards closed the gap to as small as a 13-point margin with 4:26 remaining, but they couldn't find stops down the stretch to make the comeback a reality.
 
The Maroon and White will look to regroup in their next contest on Saturday, traveling across town for The Rivalry at Lehigh at 12 p.m.