Men's basketball - Lehigh 71, Holy Cross 67: Crusaders can't cap furious comeback

WORCESTER — Holy Cross’ start to the second half of Monday night’s game at the Hart Center was uninspiring. The Crusaders managed just one basket in the first seven minutes and Patriot League foe Lehigh built its lead to 19 with 9:23 left.

On the contrary, the Crusaders’ performance over the last eight minutes was nearly unbelievable. HC switched to its 1-3-1 zone, which rattled the Mountain Hawks and resulted in eight turnovers over the next five minutes.

The Crusaders capitalized, cutting what seemed like an insurmountable lead to two on a Jacob Grandison 3-pointer with 1:07 left.

Freshman Caleb Green missed a potential go-ahead 3 with 20 seconds to go and Lehigh made four free throws in the final eight seconds to hang on for a 71-67 win.

“We were more aggressive on defense and got in passing lanes,” said HC junior Karl Charles, who had three steals and played a key role in the rally. “We were desperate out there. We had to make plays. That’s what we were trying to do.”

Holy Cross (7-15, 4-7) was coming off back-to-back wins over American and Lafayette and was trying to win three games in a row for the first time this season.

Lehigh (9-13, 4-7) snapped a four-game losing streak.

“It’s a learning experience,” Holy Cross junior center Jehyve Floyd said. “We’ve been here before. We just have to get over the hump.”

Charles scored 16 points and had five assists. Floyd scored 15 points, had a game-high 9 rebounds and tied a career high with 6 blocks. Floyd made all seven of his attempts from the field and in the last three games is 25 for 28 from the floor.

Lehigh was without its leading scorer, junior guard Lance Tejada (15.7 ppg), who missed the game due to injury. Sophomore guard Jordan Cohen (19 points), senior guard Kahron Ross (13) and junior guard Kyle Leufroy (12) picked up the scoring slack.

The Mountain Hawks led by eight in the first half, but the Crusaders finished the first with a flourish as Floyd knocked the ball away from Ross, Charles grabbed it and hit Floyd going to the basket for a dunk.

Lehigh led, 35-33, at the break.

Cohen scored Lehigh’s first eight points of the second half and 12 during a 16-2 run that put the Mountain Hawks ahead, 51-35, with 13:39 left.

A Floyd layup accounted for HC’s only points of the second until Charles made a pair of free throws with just under 13 minutes left.

“They were doing their best to get us out of our offense,” Floyd said. “We weren’t making shots. It took us until the end to figure it out.”

Holy Cross coach Bill Carmody said he didn’t like the way the Crusaders were playing at the defensive end at all — “We couldn’t guard anybody; we couldn’t keep our body in front of anybody,” he said.

A 3-pointer by Charles kept HC within 13, but 3s by Leufroy and sophomore forward Pat Andree pushed Lehigh’s lead to 61-42.

“We tried to maintain our composure,” Charles said. “Coach always says to win the next four-minute segment. That’s what we tried to do, win those little segments and go on a little run.”

Freshman Austin Butler, who scored a game-high 28 points in Saturday’s win over Lafayette, was quiet in the first half, but scored seven straight HC points and his 3 with 5:20 left started a 9-0 run.

The Crusaders switched to their 1-3-1 and that’s when things got going.

Steals by Butler, Charles and Floyd all led to baskets. Charles stole the ball from Ross, got it to Floyd, who sent it back to Charles for a layup and one. A steal by Green led to a Grandison 3 and HC was within five with 2:52 left.

“We called a timeout and said, ‘Let’s go 1-3-1,’ ” Carmody said, “and that’s what ignited us. We got some deflections and scored off our defense, got some easy ones. (Lehigh) was too fast for us and sometimes that 1-3-1 makes you more flat-footed, helps you neutralize speed. We probably should have done it sooner.”

After the Green miss from 3, Cohen sank two free throws to make the Lehigh lead four. Grandison was fouled attempting a 3 and made 2 of 3 free throws with 6.5 seconds left. Leufroy made a pair of free throws with 4.8 seconds left.

—Contact Jennifer Toland at jennifer.toland@telegram.com. Follow her on Twitter @JenTandG.