The Lehigh men’s basketball team came from behind Wednesday night to beat Saint Francis University (Pa.) 61-59 in Stabler Arena and improved their season record to 3-4.
Junior forward Justin Goldsborough led the team’s offense coming off the bench, totaling 15 points and seven rebounds.
Lehigh did not come out shooting well in the first half, making only 44 percent of their shots. However, they forced their opponent to foul as they drove to the basket. This allowed the Mountain Hawks to attempt 14 free throws and they converted on 12 of them (85.7 percent). Goldsborough was the Hawks’ spark on offense in the first half, scoring 10 points in 10 minutes.
“Justin really played well in the first half; he led the team in points in the first half,” junior forward Jesse Chuku said.
But the Mountain Hawks’ offense was a proponent of the stingy defense they played, only allowing St. Francis to score 28 points and forcing them to turn the ball over eight times in the first half.
“Our fearless leader on defense was Austin Price,” junior forward Justin Goldsborough said.
Lehigh kept the St. Francis offense at bay for most of the first half. Free throws really hurt the Red Flash. They shot an unfortunate 22 percent from the line in the first half, only making two of their nine attempts.
With Lehigh holding a 38-28 lead coming out of halftime, the Mountain Hawks came out and scored first, pushing the lead to 13 points. That is when St. Francis began to go on a run, eventually taking the lead with about nine minutes left in the game. From there the game went back and forth all the way until the end. St. Francis had a much better shooting performance, shooting almost 50 percent (13-27) from the field while Lehigh shot only 38 percent (7-20).
Lehigh would take the lead for the final time with about three minutes to go in the game and ride that to a win for Lehigh. This win over St. Francis makes it three straight victories for Lehigh.
“Our big men (Goldsborough and sophomore center Tim Kempton) really played well for us tonight, combining for almost half of our points,” senior guard Corey Schaefer said. “But the way the team played together really led to us winning this game.”
Lehigh moves on to face a winless LIU Brooklyn in the Bronx on Saturday before a long week and a half break.
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