PHILADELPHIA, Pa.- The Lafayette men's basketball team opened the season with an 81-60 loss at St. Joseph's on Monday evening at Hagan Arena.
Lafayette's top performance came through junior guard
Devin Hines, who scored a career-high 15 points, grabbed five rebounds and dished
an assist. Junior forward
Justin Vander Baan recorded four blocks to go along with six points in his season-opening performance.
Hines began the evening's scoring for the Leopards, knocking down eight points in the first seven minutes of play as the Leopards trailed the Hawks 16-13 (13:19).
Over the following five minutes, St. Joseph's stretched their margin with a 14-7 run, led by Rasheer Fleming with five points, for a 28-20 lead at 8:21. Vander Baan and
Jon Brantley combined for five points to cut the gap in half at the following media timeout, 30-25 (3:33).
The Leopards closed the first half with a 10-3 barrage coming from four scorers to pull within three, 38-35, of the Atlantic 10 foe at halftime.
St. Joseph's aggressively opened the second half with a 13-2 run to break open the game at 16:19 and the Hawks leading 51-37. The next three minutes went by scoreless, before
Luka Savicevic assisted
Chris Rubayo under the basket.
A 10-0 run by St. Joseph's from 4:11 to the 2-minute mark put away the game, as the Hawks expanded their lead to 77-57 before Lafayette freshman
Andrew Phillips tallied the Leopards' final 3-pointer of the evening in an 81-60 final.
The Hawks shot 46 percent from the field and 35.3 percent from beyond the arc, piloted by Erik Reynolds' 18 points and four assists. The Maroon and White shot 37 percent from the floor with 20 points in the paint, including seven off turnovers and 22 off the bench. Lafayette held its own on the glass with St. Joe's holding a 38-35 margin.
Next up, the Leopards travel to California to face UCLA and Pepperdine on Friday and Sunday, respectively.
For the latest on the Lafayette College men's basketball program, follow the Leopards on Twitter
@LafayetteMBB and Instagram
@lafayettembb.
