BETHLEHEM, PA (1/17/07) – Colgate‘s
Jon Simon (Phoenix, AZ) scored a career-high 28 points, but Lehigh (8-12, PL 3-1) managed to hold on for a 60-59 win over the Raiders (6-11, PL 1-3) Wednesday night in a Patriot League game at Stabler Arena.
Simon became the 25th player in school history to score over 1,000 points in a career finishing with 1,005 in 103 games. He scored 12 of Colgate’s final 13 points to bring the Raiders back from a 13-point second half deficit making his career-best eighth 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Junior forward
Kendall Chones (Cleveland, OH) was Colgate’s other top scorer with 12 points. It was his eighth straight game in double figures.
Jose Olivero led Lehigh with 20 points, while Kyle Neptune tallied 11 and Phil Anderson 10.
With the score tied 2-2, the Mountain Hawks scored 13 straight points for a 15-2 lead with 13:35 remaining in the first half. Colgate started slowly scoring only two points in the first 6:53 of the contest.
The Raiders, however, came back with a 15-5 run to cut the deficit to three points, 20-17, with 6:44 remaining, when Simon hit his first 3-pointer of the game. Simon had five points in the run, while
Kendall Chones tallied seven.
The Mountain Hawks moved back out to a 10-point lead behind eight points from Olivero before settling for a 30-23 halftime lead.
After Simon hit a 3-pointer to start the second half, Lehigh scored nine straight points to equal its biggest lead of the game, a 13-point advantage, 39-26. The Raiders refused to quit going on a 15-5 run to pull within six points, 44-38, with 10 minutes remaining.
Lehigh came back with eight straight to enjoy its biggest lead of the contest 52-38 with eight minutes left. Neptune and Marquis Hall had a 3-pointer and Olivero made two free throws for the Mountain Hawks.
Colgate scored the next eight points to trail 52-46 with 5:21 left, but Neptune made a lay up and Anderson drilled a 3-pointer to extend Lehigh’s advantage back to 11 points.
Lehigh led 59-50 with 31 seconds remaining before Simon nailed a pair of 3-pointers to move the Raiders within three points with 2.3 seconds left. Oliver made one-of-two free throws with 1.1 seconds left, before Simon tallied his final 3-pointer from just over mid-court at the buzzer.
Colgate out-rebounded Lehigh 32-29 with
Alex Woodhouse (Alexandria, VA) leading the way with seven caroms, while Simon hauled down five boards. The difference in the contest came at the free throw line where the Raiders made only eight of 16 attempts.
The Raiders will travel to Bucknell on Saturday for a Patriot League game televised by ESPNU.
