The (16) Lehigh Mountain Hawks(18-17) season comes to an end after losing to SWAC Tournament champion, the (16) Prairie View A&M Panthers(19-17), 67-55 in the First Four at UD Arena in Dayton, Ohio on Wednesday night.
With the win, the Panthers, who won only five games last season, get their first victory in NCAA Tournament play in school history and will battle (1) Florida in the South Region on Friday.
Prairie View’s leading scorer, Dontae Horne, led the way with game-highs of 25 points and four steals. Cory Wells added 19 points, 12 rebounds, three steals, and three blocks.
Lehigh, the Patriot League Tournament champion, got the start they wanted against Prairie View, and after an Andrew Urosevic three, the Mountain Hawks had a 23-15 lead with 7:38 in the first half. However, the Panthers would end the half on a 12-6 run, and Lehigh would lead 29-27 at the break.
The Panthers started the second half on an 8-1 run to take a 35-30 lead with just over 17 minutes to go. After a Hank Alvey layup, who led the Mountain Hawks with 23 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, Lehigh would cut the lead to 37-36.
Following another layin by Alvey, who was the Lehigh player in double figures, the Mountain Hawks cut the lead to 43-41 with 12:00 minutes left. However, the Panthers went on an 8-0 run over the next three minutes, and they had a 51-41 lead; Prairie View would lead by as many as 13 points in the second half.
Prairie View’s defense did a great job on Lehigh’s leading scorer, Nasir Whitlock. The junior guard had zero points in the first half on 0-8 shooting from the field. Whitlock finished the game with five points on 2-15 shooting. The Panthers were active on defense. They had forced 16 turnovers, including 12 steals. In addition, they held Lehigh to 36% shooting, including 6-24 from deep.
It would have been difficult for Lehigh to win this game with Whitlock scoring only 5 points; he is the team’s best and leading scorer, but he struggled. Also, 16 turnovers that led to 18 points are difficult to overcome.
Despite the loss, the Mountain Hawks had a successful season, especially considering they were 4-11 at one point, but they turned things around, which is a credit to head coach Brett Reed and his staff.
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