Instant Classic
January 29, 2025
#8 Lafayette 60, @Lehigh 59
I thought Lehigh was pretty good a week ago. They prove me right this evening, coming very close to knocking us off...and to be fair, the Mountain Hawks outplay us for 38 minutes. Unfortunately for them, a college basketball game is 40 minutes long.
The first half is the worst half of basketball we've played all season. Lehigh leads 31-18 at intermission. Sometimes, Coach Sims can get the guys going during halftime, and they come out hitting on all cylinders at the beginning of the second half. That doesn't happen this time, although the Leopards do manage to come back and tie the score at 57 on a
Micah Rodriguez midrange jumper with 2:08 remaining.
Brendan Meehan, whom we recruited heavily, puts the Mountain Hawks back ahead with a two-handed slam dunk. Then, with 43 seconds remaining,
Kenton Lashley drives and dishes back out to a wide-open
Micah Rodriguez, who lets fly from just behind the arc. It's good. Lafayette 60, Lehigh 59.
Coach Sims is on his feet, exhorting his players to get a stop. Lehigh can't penetrate the Lafayette defense, and the shot clock expires.
The Mountain Hawks foul twice, and with four seconds left,
Kurt Ritchie steps to the line to shoot one-and-one. Kurt is a 57 percent free throw shooter for his career. He's doing a bit better this season, making 60 percent. This is exactly what the Mountain Hawks want. The other four Leopards on the court--Lashley, Rodriguez,
Kamari Stone, and
Duncan Sims*--have combined to shoot 79 percent this year.
Kurt misses the first free throw, giving Lehigh one last chance.
Zane Goodall, a 6'10" junior who is a good outside shooter, lets fly from just inside half court and barely misses.
Code:
Lafayette 60, Lehigh 59
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Lafayette (19-2, 6-0):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Kurt Ritchie PF 31 2-6 1-3 1 7 1 3 6
Jeffrey Hampton PF 18 1-3 0-2 0 3 2 4 2
Carl McGriff SF 25 4-12 0-0 0 3 1 2 8
Kenton Lashley SG 26 4-11 2-2 2 4 2 2 13
Kamari Stone PG 28 1-2 0-0 2 7 4 2 3
Micah Rodriguez PG 10 4-5 0-0 0 0 1 4 10
Charles Allen SG 21 4-9 0-0 2 5 1 1 11
Carter Todd C 26 2-5 0-0 1 6 1 3 4
Bret Bryant SF 10 0-0 0-1 0 1 1 0 0
Duncan Sims PG 5 1-3 0-0 0 0 1 0 3
Turnovers: 16 (K.Ritchie 2, J.Hampton 1, C.McGriff 2,
K.Lashley 4, K.Stone 2, C.Allen 3, C.Todd 2)
Blocked Shots: 3 (K.Ritchie 1, C.McGriff 1, K.Lashley 1)
Steals: 7 (J.Hampton 1, C.McGriff 1, K.Lashley 1,
K.Stone 1, M.Rodriguez 1, C.Allen 1, C.Todd 1)
3P FGs: 11-17 (K.Ritchie 1-1, K.Lashley 3-8, K.Stone
1-1, M.Rodriguez 2-2, C.Allen 3-4, D.Sims 1-1)
Lehigh (15-7, 4-2):
Player Pos Min Fgm-a Ftm-a Off Reb Ast PF Pts
Zane Goodall PF 35 3-11 1-2 3 7 1 1 8
Brendan Meehan C 36 8-12 1-1 2 12 2 3 17
Barney Dillman SF 31 4-12 3-4 0 5 1 0 11
James Perry SG 27 0-1 3-4 0 7 3 3 3
Trevor Tibbetts PG 32 5-11 0-1 0 1 4 2 14
Dudley Velasquez SG 17 0-3 0-0 0 1 1 3 0
Jarek Kopecky PG 8 2-3 0-0 0 0 0 2 4
Bradford Gallup PF 8 0-2 0-0 1 2 0 0 0
John McKinnie SF 5 1-1 0-0 1 1 0 0 2
Chris Wimer PF 1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0
Turnovers: 15 (Z.Goodall 2, B.Dillman 3, J.Perry 1,
T.Tibbetts 4, J.Kopecky 2, B.Gallup 1, J.McKinnie 2)
Blocked Shots: 5 (B.Meehan 3, D.Velasquez 1, B.Gallup 1)
Steals: 6 (J.Perry 4, T.Tibbetts 2)
3P FGs: 5-19 (Z.Goodall 1-4, B.Dillman 0-4, T.Tibbetts
4-8, D.Velasquez 0-2, J.Kopecky 0-1)
Player of Game: C Brendan Meehan (LEHGH)
* I coached this game. I had Sims on the floor in this situation for one reason only: his free throw shooting prowess. Duncan has not missed a foul shot as a collegian. I figured that even if we couldn't rebound a missed free throw, Lehigh would have only four seconds to get a good shot. Fortunately, that's how it turned out.
Record: 19-2 (6-0).