Lehigh Falls To American On Last-Second Buzzer Beater

WASHINGTON – Senior Tyler Whitney-Sidney and sophomore Nasir Whitlock both tallied 19 points to lead a shorthanded Lehigh men’s basketball team on the road at American University on Wednesday evening, but a last second shot at the buzzer from AU’s Lincoln Ball gave the Eagles a 68-67 win.

“Incredibly disappointing,” said head coach Dr. Brett Reed. “Our kids battled, fought, competed and had great energy. But you can’t allow all those points when you’re up and you can’t give up points at the line.”

Wednesday night’s contest was the first meeting of the season between Lehigh (6-12, 1-6 PL) and American (11-9, 5-2 PL). The Mountain Hawks entered the night having lost their previous five contests while the Eagles were riding a three-game winning streak.

Lehigh’s offense took a minute to get going in the first half, only scoring six points through the first nine minutes of the game. The slow start allowed American to lead for the majority of the first half, eventually taking their largest lead of the game at 27-15 with 5:21 to go in the frame. However, the Mountain Hawks began to mount a comeback, starting with a Whitney-Sidney and-one. Whitlock then started to get hot, scoring 10 points in just two minutes to cap off a 14-0 run that put Lehigh ahead 29-27 with under three minutes to play. The Eagles responded with five unanswered in the closing moments of the first to take a 32-29 lead into halftime.

American extended their lead to open the second half with quick baskets from Greg Jones and Ball. Trailing by six, Lehigh’s offense began to click, steadily chipping away at the Eagles’ lead. A Nasir Whitlock triple gave the Mountain Hawks their first lead of the second half with 15:24 to go. After a Matt Rogers free throw briefly put the lead back in AU’s favor, Lehigh once again jumped in front thanks to a 71.4% three-point percentage through the first 12 minutes of the half. The Mountain Hawks continued to build on their lead, eventually gaining their largest advantage at 61-54 with 2:46 remaining.

AU’s Matt Mayock brought their deficit down to two points after knocking down a triple at 1:59, but a Whitlock jumper on the other end put Lehigh back up by four. The Eagles then began to foul, putting Joshua Ingram, Whitney-Sidney, first-year Hank Alvey and Whitlock on the line. The Mountain Hawks went 4-8 from the line in that stretch, keeping AU’s chances alive. After another Mayock three brought the Eagles within one, AU successfully trapped Cam Gillus off the inbounds, resulting in a held ball and possession for the home team with 6.1 seconds remaining. In the final seconds, Rogers found an open Ball for a floater that dropped through the net as time expired to give American an improbable walk-off victory.

Lehigh’s offense was very efficient on the night, shooting 51.1% (24-57) from the floor and 56.3% (9-16) from three. American posted percentages of 45.7% (21-46) from the floor and 35/0% (7-20) from downtown. The Eagles efficiency at the line helped them tremendously, shooting 79.2% (19-24) to Lehigh’s 58.8% (10-17). The Eagles won the battle of the boards by a slim 27-26 margin.

Both Whitney-Sidney and Whitlock were terrific for the Mountain Hawks, each scoring a game-high 19 points. Whitney-Sidney shot 6-10 from the field to go along with four rebounds, two assists and two made threes. Whitlock shot 7-9 and connected on a career-high four triples.

“Both [Tyler and Nasir] ended up playing really well,” said Reed. “They helped us in a big way to give us a scoring push. Nas came in and was super-efficient and played very very well. It’s also nice to see our senior [Tyler] be able to step up on the road and provide a boost for us as well.”

In his first career start, first-year Edouard Benoit tallied nine points, four rebounds and an assist. Alvey added seven points, a game-high seven rebounds and three assists.

Jones led the Eagles offensively with 14 points on the night. He was joined in double-figures by Eric Michaels (13p) and Rogers (12p).

Lehigh returns home to Stabler Arena on Saturday, January 25 to host Lafayette College in the season’s first installment of The Rivalry, presented by Lehigh Valley Orthopedic Institute. The game will tip-off at 7 p.m. following Lehigh women’s basketball’s bout with the Leopards at 4:30 p.m.

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