Facing No. 7 Xavier this past Friday, the Mountain Hawks fell 84-81 in a game that easily could have gone into overtime. And though the team still has a zero in its win column, Tim Kempton contributed a promising performance against a team that was a No. 2 seed in the NCAA Tournament a year ago.
Kempton scored 9 of his 16 field goal attempts, totaling 25 points on the night against an Xavier side that did not have any answers for Lehigh’s big man. His presence forced the Musketeers to send him to the line nine times over the course of the contest, of which he made seven of his foul shots. Kempton also added seven rebounds, a block and a steal to the stat sheet.
In the last 40 seconds of the game, Kempton scored the last four points for the Mountain Hawks, giving them an opportunity to tie the game with a 3-pointer on their last possession. The team could not connect on two separate attempts from behind the arc in a similar fashion to how Lehigh lost in the Patriot League finals last season to Holy Cross.
It was a huge effort from Kempton, a senior captain, to get the team off to a positive start in its season. Though Lehigh has entered its 2016-17 campaign with high expectations, a three-point differential against a highly ranked team was the first step in proving its worth. Kempton led the team last season averaging 17.7 points per game, and with this first performance against Xavier, he is on his way to making sure Lehigh doesn’t lose in the finals this time around.
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