The Lehigh men’s basketball team handed its crosstown rival its seventh straight loss Monday night, defeating Lafayette College 87-72.
With the win, the Mountain Hawks (9-14, 7-5 Patriot) are just three games behind conference leaders Bucknell University.
Junior center Tim Kempton led the game in scoring with 22 points on 9-for-10 shooting, while also contributing a game-high 13 rebounds and three blocks. His front court partner, senior forward Jesse Chuku, had 18 points of his own to go along with five rebounds and two blocks.
After a quick start to the game from Lehigh, Lafayette took the lead with 12:48 left in the first half and didn’t give it up for over 16 minutes.
Lehigh used the 3-pointer to stay in the game and pull away once it had retaken the lead. The team hit 12 of its 24 attempts on the night, including three of four over a 95-second span to turn a one-point deficit into an eight-point lead with 12:48 to go.
It appeared as though there would be a tight finish after Lafayette narrowed the lead to five with 7:50 to go, but the Mountain Hawks finished on a 14-4 run to ensure the victory.
The win propelled Lehigh into a tie for second place in the conference. They next play Wednesday when they travel to Lewisburg to take on Bucknell.
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