18 January, 2007
by Elliot Smilowitz
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1st |
2nd |
Final |
| Colgate (6-11, 1-3 Patriot) |
23 |
36 |
59 |
| Lehigh (8-12, 3-1 Patriot) |
30 |
30 |
60 |
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Jon Simon scored a career-high 28 points, including 8 three-pointers, but Lehigh used a balanced effort to down Colgate 60-59. The Mountain Hawks had three players in double figures scoring.
Lehigh streaked out to a 15-2 lead to begin the game, but the Raiders quickly came back, bringing the game within 20-17. That set the tone for the game, as Lehigh continually opened leads, and Colgate continually came back close but never took the lead. Lehigh’s last big surge put them up 57-46 with 2:33 left. From there, Colgate closed the game with a 13-3 run, falling just short of forcing overtime or winning.
Jose Olivero led the Mountain Hawks with 20 points on 5-of-12 shooting. Kyle Neptune pitched in with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists, and Phil Anderson, starting in place of injured Jason Mgebroff, added 10 points, 4 boards and 2 blocks. For Colgate, Kendall Chones had 12 points, but no one aside from him and Simon had good offensive nights. The rest of the team was a combined 7-for-22 from the field and 1-for-9 from long range.
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| Keys to the Game |
| Key sequence |
A Simon three-pointer early in the second half brought Colgate within 30-26. From there, Lehigh went on a 9-0 run, highlighted by 7 combined points from freshmen Marquis Hall, Matt Shamis and Zahir Carrington. Colgate would fight back and come close, but this run gave Lehigh the cushion they needed to hold on.
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| Key sign it was over |
With 31 seconds left, Lehigh went up by 9 on 2 free throws by Olivero. However, Simon hit 2 threes while Lehigh missed the front ends of two one-and-ones, leading to Olivero going back to the free throw line with a 3-point lead and 1 second on the clock. Olivero missed the first, but hit the second, icing the game. Simon hit one last three-pointer off the inbounds as time expired; had Olivero’s last free throw not gone in, Simon’s shot would have sent the game to overtime.
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| Key performance |
Simon’s huge 28-point scoring output came from 8-of-11 shooting from the arc, and just 2-of-3 from the free throw line. Simon added 5 rebounds and 3 assists, though it was not enough to pull Colgate over Lehigh.
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| Key statistic |
The Raiders shot 8-for-16 on the night from the free throw line. Even though Colgate was trailing for a good margin for most of the game, it turns out that one more made free throw would have radically changed the complexion of this game.
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| Notes |
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Colgate had 14 assists to 12 turnovers. Lehigh’s ratio was 11 assists to 14 turnovers.
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Colgate tried another new starting combination, using Kendall Chones and Marc Daniels in the frontcourt and Trevaron Vinson, Jon Simon and Tim Pounds in the backcourt.
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John Gourlay garnered unusual big minutes for Lehigh. He finished with 1 point, 3 rebounds and 2 fouls in 20 minutes.
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Colgate comes back to Pennsylvania this weekend to face Bucknell in a nationally televised game. Meanwhile, Lehigh will do battle with local rivals Lafayette Saturday night.
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