BETHLEHEM, Pa. - The Eagles' men's basketball team walked into Lehigh with a swagger that would be unexpected from a middle-of-the-pack team set to face one of the league leaders. The Eagles looked like they knew they could hang with the Mountain Hawks, which they. But in the end the Hawks' experience was too much for AU as it lost, 65-58, Saturday night.
Junior center Paulius Joneliunas led the Eagles with a career-high 21 points, shooting a perfect 7 of 7 from the field in his best game for AU.
Freshman Garrison Carr came off the bench to score 13 points, including three 3-pointers.
The game stayed tight all through the first half, with two Jose Olivero free throws putting the Mountain Hawks ahead, 33-32, at the break.
The first six minutes of the second half were a seesaw battle and saw four ties. Neither team led by more than four points.
After a Carr 3-pointer tied the game with 14:44 left, the Mountain Hawks went on a 7-0 run to take their biggest lead of the game. James Anderson hit a jumper off a Joe Knight miss and then followed up Olivero's miss with a thundering put-back dunk, which sent the Stabler Arena fans into a frenzy. After an Eagles timeout, Knight hit a 3-pointer, which proved to be the dagger.
AU tried to get back in it, but never got the deficit below five the rest of the way.
A huge problem for the Eagles was the lack of productivity from their first- and third-leading scorers, juniors Andre Ingram and Brayden Billbe. Ingram didn't take his first shot until the 11:00 mark of the second half and finished with only two points. Billbe was only slightly better, scoring four points in 31 minutes of action.
Olivero led Lehigh with 21 points and Knight added 18.
Kyle Neptune patrolled the post, scoring 11 points and three rebounds for the Hawks, who improved to 7-1 and retained their position as the second-place team in the league.
The Eagles travel to league-leading Bucknell Wednesday night before returning home to face Colgate on Saturday afternoon. Currently, they sit at 3-5, tied with Lafayette for fourth place in the league.
