The Brown & White

The men's basketball team halted its three-game losing streak with a 58-53 win over Army on Saturday at Stabler Arena.

With the victory, the Hawks improved their record to 12-12 and 5-5 in the Patriot League. The Black Knights' record dropped to 11-13 and 4-6 in league play.

Head Coach Brett Reed said the team used footage from its last game, an 80-75 loss to Navy, to prepare for the Army match-up.

"The day before, we watched film and we had to do a lot of self-examination based on our performance against Navy," Reed said. "I'm glad our guys could respond. I challenged our guys to play with greater passion, greater intensity and I think we really tried to set the tone initially."

Lehigh sophomore forward Zahir Carrington finished with a team-high 19 points and scored nine straight points to open the second half to give the Hawks a 43-27 lead.

After Carrington's nine straight points, Army retaliated with a 15-2 run capped off by a three-pointer by Black Knights' senior guard Jarell Brown to bring the score to 45-42 with nine minutes left.

The Hawks then answered by making five free throws, and the score was 50-43 with six minutes remaining.

Army sophomore guard Cleveland Richard hit a few field goals to tighten the score at 52-51, and a Carrington jump shot made it 54-51 with just under a minute to play.

With 24 seconds remaining, Brown made one of two shots from the foul line to close Lehigh's lead to 54-52.

Then Lehigh's senior captain and forward Bryan White, who had been sick with the flu for the past few days and played only 23 minutes, converted four of four foul shots after being intentionally fouled to seal the 58-53 victory for the Hawks.

Brown, who came into Saturday's game as the second leading scorer in the Patriot League averaging 19.3 points, led the Black Knights with 19 points, but he turned the ball over five times.

Brown said the game could have been won by either team.

"There definitely were possibilities for us to pull it out," he said. "There were two or three shots that could have [fallen] and it would have been a different outcome. We got the shots we wanted but we just didn't capitalize."

Reed said Carrington's inside presence is essential for the Hawks' offense.

"Zahir balances our offense so much," Reed said. "Part of the reason we were able to build a big run in the second half was because Zahir was the anchor. Those inside scoring opportunities [combined with] the balance of scoring potential that we have on the perimeter and the mid-range scoring that Bryan White creates makes us that much stronger."

Reed said White was not even able to practice with the team towards the end of the week.

"Bryan was struggling with the flu," Reed said. "The last two days he wasn't even with us. Yesterday he didn't practice with us. He didn't watch film with us. I brought him in separately today just to show him some of the stuff."

Although White was sick, Reed was confident in him with the game on the line.

"Bryan's been in pressure situations before," Reed said. "Based on those experiences I had confidence when he stepped to the line. He put all the hurt and all the fatigue aside to focus on the task at hand."

Army played a lot of zone defense in the first half, giving sophomore guard Marquis Hall plenty of opportunities to score from the perimeter. Hall made four of five three-pointers and had 12 points at halftime, when Lehigh entered the locker room leading 34-27. Hall finished the game with 15 points and five rebounds.

Hall said Reed told him to look to attack the defense and spread the ball around.

"Coach has been telling me to stay aggressive and try to probe the defense and not necessarily force things, but try to open things up," Hall said.

When the Black Knights extended their defense to the perimeter to stop Hall, Carrington began to establish his presence in the post. He finished the first half with eight points and three rebounds.

Reed said a lot of Carrington's scoring opportunities were set up by his teammates.

"It's just a matter of giving Zahir the basketball and some space," Reed said. "Fortunately we have guys who are unselfish enough and know how to pass well enough to get him the ball in the right situations."

The lead that Lehigh had at halftime was threatened in the second half, when the Hawks converted only six of 21 field goals, which allowed Army to score points in transition.

Cleveland scored 10 points in the second half, many of them on fast-breaks, and finished the game with 14 points and four steals.

Reed said Army's fast-break points in the second half combined with Lehigh's poor shooting could have spelled disaster for the Hawks if it wasn't for their free throw shooting.

"That point in the game was very tough to deal with because I could see our game and all our efforts ultimately slipping away and that was pretty tough to swallow," Reed said. "Those transition scores really hurt us because they're easy buckets and they kind of break your back. Most teams don't win with six second half field goals in a half unless you're really doing a number from the line."

Lehigh shot 67 percent from the foul line and made 19 free throws, which was more than Army attempted the entire game. The Black Knights finished 10-16 from the foul line, but missed five of 12 free throws in the second half.

Although the Knights kept the score close late, they didn't make a field goal in the final two and a half minutes of the game. White's two free throws with six seconds left made the score 58-53 and a missed three-pointer by Army senior guard Ryan Hodgson kept the score final.

Carrington said he was happy the Hawks played up to their potential and were able to put the game away.

"We know we are a very good team and have the potential to play championship basketball, so we don't want to let the opportunity pass us by," Carrington said. "These past couple games we let some slip away. I was especially trying to not let that happen tonight."

The Hawks' next game is Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. The game will be broadcast on ESPN radio and on the Lehigh sports Web site.

The men's basketball team halted its three-game losing streak with a 58-53 win over Army on Saturday at Stabler Arena.

With the victory, the Hawks improved their record to 12-12 and 5-5 in the Patriot League. The Black Knights' record dropped to 11-13 and 4-6 in league play.

Head Coach Brett Reed said the team used footage from its last game, an 80-75 loss to Navy, to prepare for the Army match-up.

"The day before, we watched film and we had to do a lot of self-examination based on our performance against Navy," Reed said. "I'm glad our guys could respond. I challenged our guys to play with greater passion, greater intensity and I think we really tried to set the tone initially."

Lehigh sophomore forward Zahir Carrington finished with a team-high 19 points and scored nine straight points to open the second half to give the Hawks a 43-27 lead.

After Carrington's nine straight points, Army retaliated with a 15-2 run capped off by a three-pointer by Black Knights' senior guard Jarell Brown to bring the score to 45-42 with nine minutes left.

The Hawks then answered by making five free throws, and the score was 50-43 with six minutes remaining.

Army sophomore guard Cleveland Richard hit a few field goals to tighten the score at 52-51, and a Carrington jump shot made it 54-51 with just under a minute to play.

With 24 seconds remaining, Brown made one of two shots from the foul line to close Lehigh's lead to 54-52.

Then Lehigh's senior captain and forward Bryan White, who had been sick with the flu for the past few days and played only 23 minutes, converted four of four foul shots after being intentionally fouled to seal the 58-53 victory for the Hawks.

Brown, who came into Saturday's game as the second leading scorer in the Patriot League averaging 19.3 points, led the Black Knights with 19 points, but he turned the ball over five times.

Brown said the game could have been won by either team.

"There definitely were possibilities for us to pull it out," he said. "There were two or three shots that could have [fallen] and it would have been a different outcome. We got the shots we wanted but we just didn't capitalize."

Reed said Carrington's inside presence is essential for the Hawks' offense.

"Zahir balances our offense so much," Reed said. "Part of the reason we were able to build a big run in the second half was because Zahir was the anchor. Those inside scoring opportunities [combined with] the balance of scoring potential that we have on the perimeter and the mid-range scoring that Bryan White creates makes us that much stronger."

Reed said White was not even able to practice with the team towards the end of the week.

"Bryan was struggling with the flu," Reed said. "The last two days he wasn't even with us. Yesterday he didn't practice with us. He didn't watch film with us. I brought him in separately today just to show him some of the stuff."

Although White was sick, Reed was confident in him with the game on the line.

"Bryan's been in pressure situations before," Reed said. "Based on those experiences I had confidence when he stepped to the line. He put all the hurt and all the fatigue aside to focus on the task at hand."

Army played a lot of zone defense in the first half, giving sophomore guard Marquis Hall plenty of opportunities to score from the perimeter. Hall made four of five three-pointers and had 12 points at halftime, when Lehigh entered the locker room leading 34-27. Hall finished the game with 15 points and five rebounds.

Hall said Reed told him to look to attack the defense and spread the ball around.

"Coach has been telling me to stay aggressive and try to probe the defense and not necessarily force things, but try to open things up," Hall said.

When the Black Knights extended their defense to the perimeter to stop Hall, Carrington began to establish his presence in the post. He finished the first half with eight points and three rebounds.

Reed said a lot of Carrington's scoring opportunities were set up by his teammates.

"It's just a matter of giving Zahir the basketball and some space," Reed said. "Fortunately we have guys who are unselfish enough and know how to pass well enough to get him the ball in the right situations."

The lead that Lehigh had at halftime was threatened in the second half, when the Hawks converted only six of 21 field goals, which allowed Army to score points in transition.

Cleveland scored 10 points in the second half, many of them on fast-breaks, and finished the game with 14 points and four steals.

Reed said Army's fast-break points in the second half combined with Lehigh's poor shooting could have spelled disaster for the Hawks if it wasn't for their free throw shooting.

"That point in the game was very tough to deal with because I could see our game and all our efforts ultimately slipping away and that was pretty tough to swallow," Reed said. "Those transition scores really hurt us because they're easy buckets and they kind of break your back. Most teams don't win with six second half field goals in a half unless you're really doing a number from the line."

Lehigh shot 67 percent from the foul line and made 19 free throws, which was more than Army attempted the entire game. The Black Knights finished 10-16 from the foul line, but missed five of 12 free throws in the second half.

Although the Knights kept the score close late, they didn't make a field goal in the final two and a half minutes of the game. White's two free throws with six seconds left made the score 58-53 and a missed three-pointer by Army senior guard Ryan Hodgson kept the score final.

Carrington said he was happy the Hawks played up to their potential and were able to put the game away.

"We know we are a very good team and have the potential to play championship basketball, so we don't want to let the opportunity pass us by," Carrington said. "These past couple games we let some slip away. I was especially trying to not let that happen tonight."

The Hawks' next game is Wednesday night at 7 p.m. against Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y. The game will be broadcast on ESPN radio and on the Lehigh sports Web site.