OPENING TIP
* The Maroon and White are looking to buck a number of trends in the first edition of The Rivalry on Saturday afternoon in Bethlehem. The Leopards have lost eight straight to their crosstown foe in the series and are coming off just their second two-game skid of the season, falling to Army on Wednesday in Kirby.
* Lafayette basketball on the men's and women's sides are looking to turn the page in a rivalry that historically has gone the Leopards' way, but recently has held momentum in Bethlehem. Both programs have not defeated Lehigh since the 2014-15 campaign. 
* A win on Saturday avoids the Leopards' first three-game losing streak of the 2019-20 campaign.

LAST TIME OUT
Lafayette 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 improved to 8-10 with the victory and 3-4 in conference play, while Lafayette fell 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, entering 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.

LAST MEETING
Alex Petrie's falling-away runner down the right side of the lane with three seconds left in regulation forced overtime with last year's preseason Patriot League favorite Lehigh on Jan. 30, 2019 at Kirby Sports Center, but it was all Jordan Cohen for the Mountain Hawks in the extra session as Lafayette fell by a final of 93-86. 

Cohen scored 14 of Lehigh's 18 points in the final frame on his way to a game-high 33. Lukas Jarrett scored 17 points on 6-of-7 from the field and 5-of-6 from the foul line, adding five boards, four assists, three blocks and a steal with just a single turnover.

Another bright spot was Isaac Suffren, who scored a season-high 16 points on 6-of-9 from the field and 2-of-3 from the three-point line. Suffren added four rebounds and two steals, while Justin Jaworski and Petrie rounded out the Leopards' double-figure scorers with 15 and 12, respectively.

Both offenses were efficient on the night as both shot at least 50.0 percent from the field. Lehigh went 34-of-63 overall (54.0%) and 9-of-23 from distance (39.1%), while Lafayette countered at 30-of-60 overall (50.0%) and 12-for-28 from beyond the arc (42.9%).

THE SKINNY ON THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS
Trying to extend an eight-game winning streak in the series with the Maroon and White, Lehigh enters Saturday afternoon's tilt with a 5-14 overall mark and a 2-5 record in conference action. The Mountain Hawks returned just two starters this season from a 20-win team that advanced to the Patriot League semifinals a year ago, falling to Bucknell in Lewisburg by a 97-75 score. Following an eight-game losing streak heading into conference action, the team in brown has won two of its last five, but dropped three straight, including an overtime defeat at Holy Cross on Wednesday, 96-95.

Senior Jordan Cohen has been forced into a do-everything role for the Mountain Hawks this year with junior James Karnik, the only other Lehigh player averaging double-figure scoring, out for the last five games due to injury. Cohen is putting up 16.1 points per night, including an impressive 34-point effort in Wednesday's road loss in Worcester. In the two rivalry matchups a year ago, Cohen averaged 21.0 points per  contest, including his 33-point outburst in the Easton tilt. Nic Lynch has earned the majority of minutes on the block in Karnik's absence, putting up 8.0 points and 4.0 rebounds per night in his five starts and six appearances overall this season.

SHOOTERS SHOOT
Junior Justin Jaworski hasn't been himself recently as the Leopards have needed to find other sources of offense in recent weeks. Jaworski, setting the Lafayette single-season record a year ago witha 48.9 percent mark from three-point range, is hitting at a 35.5 percent clip this season and has made just 26.9 percent of his distance shots in Patriot League outings. Following a tilt against Widener where he connected on all nine of his field-goal attempts, including going 3-for-3 from beyond the arc, Jaworski has netted just 37-of-113 overall from the field (32.7%) and 18-of-69 from three-point range (26.1%).  

That being said, the Maroon and White will continue to count on "Jaws" to provide offense and have full confidence he will shoot his way out of the current downturn. Averaging 16.7 points per game this season, good for second in the Patriot League in scoring, Jaws accounts for 23.0 percent of the Lafayette offense, up from 19.9 percent of the attack a year ago.

FIREPOWER OFF THE BENCH
Lafayette treats its starters much differently than most programs in that the five that start are very unlikely to be the five counted on for a lion's share of the production. The Maroon and White are the only team in the nation with two of their top-three scorers coming off the bench as Myles Cherry and E.J. Stephens put up 11.2 and 10.9 points per game, respectively, with just one start between them in 2019-20.

While senior Kyle Stout gets the start over Stephens, Stephens averages 7.3 more minutes, and the same goes for Cherry, who averages 15.6 more minutes per outing than freshman Neal Quinn, who has started each of the last eight games.