Dunk after dunk after dunk, the Lehigh men’s basketball team threw down shots in pre-game warmups, high-fiving each other and sharing smiles. Starter or bench player, senior or freshman, it didn’t seem to matter.
Senior forward Jesse Chuku knocked down a windmill dunk. Senior forward John Ross Glover made a flurry of his own dunks. The 5-foot-11 sophomore guard Kahron Ross successfully dunked a ball, too. The energy was apparent before the game even began.
“We always joke around with (the dunks) in practice and something clicked,” junior center Tim Kempton said. “It’s a mentality more than anything else, but it’s fun to do.”
That energy flowed over into the game from beginning to end, fueling Lehigh’s seventh straight win as the Mountain Hawks (13-14, 11-5 Patriot) defeated rival Lafayette College 73-61 to move into sole possession of second place in the Patriot League.
Kempton took the spirit beyond warmups. In the first half, Kempton drove along the baseline and converted on a one-handed dunk to a roar from the crowd of 1,949, the biggest of the year.
Kempton (16 points and 15 rebounds) and Ross (11 points and 12 assists) both compiled double-doubles in the game, serving as the team’s usual 1-2 punch. They were far from the team’s only contributors, however.
Lehigh coach Brett Reed said the team’s four seniors were key players, noting that this team has recently been receiving contributions up and down the roster. Senior guard Devon Carter had one of the most productive games of his Lehigh career picking up seven points and five rebounds.
“Not only just for me, but the rest of our seniors, we thank Lehigh for everything that they’ve done for us,” Carter said. “Coming in as a freshman, you don’t have the experience, but you think you know everything. And it’s kind of a humbling experience, at least in my case, going through injuries and different things like that. To battle through those…I’m grateful.”
Chuku added to that senior firepower, nearing a double-double with 10 points and eight rebounds.
The team’s energy reached its climax with 1:35 left in the second half as junior guard Austin Price weaved through four Lafayette players and passed to Chuku who, naturally, dunked the ball.
“Chuku has really come a long way over the course of his career,” Reed said, “whereas early in his career, if he made shots, he helped us. But if he didn’t make shots, there wasn’t a whole lot that he was contributing to our team.”
The Mountain Hawks maintained a double-digit lead for a large portion of the game, using a 17-2 run over an eight-minute span in the first half to gain the advantage. They held the lead for over 35 minutes throughout the game.
Lehigh won its seventh straight, while Lafayette (5-22, 2-14 Patriot) dropped its 11th straight.
The Hawks will go on the road for their final two games of the regular season, beginning with Colgate University on Wednesday at 7 p.m.
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