Down two starters, Marist men’s basketball faced a tough Lehigh (3-8) team hungry for their first win over a Division 1 program. The Red Foxes led by four points with three minutes left, but Lehigh went on a 12-1 run to take the victory.
The Red Foxes went 34 percent from the floor and went 0-11 from three in the second half after a hot start from behind the arc. Freshman guard Josh Pascarelli finished with 22 points carrying an offense with key absences from sophomore center and leading scorer Max Allen as well as graduate student forward Javon Cooley who was limited due to illness.
Marist was outscored 36-25 in the second half to lose their first home game of the season 65-58 and move to 7-4 overall.
“We didn’t play smart enough today, took bad shots down the stretch, and had some turnovers down the stretch. Even without Max, Javon, and Kam [Farris], we had enough to win the game,” said head coach John Dunne.
Returning to McCann Arena to wrap up non-conference play, the Red Foxes looked to bounce back after a tight road loss to ACC program Notre Dame, ending their five-game win streak. Lehigh entered Poughkeepsie with zero wins on the road.
The Mountainhawks featured two of the top five scorers in the Patriot League, including junior guard Tyler Whitney-Sidney who finished two straight acrobatic layups in the early going.
Marist’s front-court depth was tested as junior forward Jackson Price got two quick fouls and sophomore forward Matt McCool made an early appearance. Sophomore guard Isaiah Brickner ended a five-minute Lehigh 9-0 run but the Red Foxes’ offense was out of sync without Allen on the floor along with Price racking up fouls early.
“It really hurt that Jackson got into foul trouble and it took us out of rhythm on offense for a while,” said Dunne.
With eight minutes left in the first half, Lehigh led 19-17 despite five turnovers. After a layup by Lehigh sophomore forward Bube Momah, Price nailed two straight threes to tie the game at 25 after re-rentering.
Marist relied on their deep shooting to stay close. Freshman guard Josh Pascarelli drained back-to-back threes to give the Red Foxes their first lead since the 10:29 mark in the first half with less than a minute to go.
Sophomore forward Jaden Daughtry capped a late 8-0 run with a layup after accruing his third steal of the half to give Marist a 33-29 lead at halftime. He and Pascarelli led the Red Foxes in scoring with nine and 12 each at the half.
Despite shooting worse overall from the floor, Marist went 6-11 from three, aided by Pascarelli going 4-4 from deep. The Red Foxes limited the Patriot League’s leading scorer and All-Patriot League first-team guard Keith Higgins Jr. to 1-4 shooting and forced 10 team turnovers. The Mountainahwks got a lift from their bench, scoring 11 points to Marist’s zero.
Lehigh came out of halftime with a quick 5-0 run behind a Momah bucket and three-pointer from senior forward Burke Chebuar. The Mountainhawks reached 50 percent shooting with a red-hot start to the second half but were plagued with turnovers, reaching 15 with 14:12 left in the second stanza.
Daughtry eclipsed double-digits with an inside finish to cut the deficit to one. An and-one score by Pascarelli put Marist back ahead as he climbed to 17 points.
Two minutes later, Pascarelli converted another three-point play with a coast-to-coast drive and pushed Marist ahead 48-43 with 10 minutes to go. Lehigh was in the midst of a five-minute scoring drought until Higgins Jr. knocked in a three.
Daughtry reached a career-high 14 points after scoring on a lefty drive to maintain the Red Foxes’ lead with under three minutes to play. The high-motor sophomore added five steals, three blocks, and ten rebounds for his first career double-double.
Momah tied the game at 57 and Marist’s Price fouled out in the process with 2:05 in the game. After another Lehigh turnover, Collins hit 1 of 2 free throws with Marist ahead by one in the final minute.
Higgins Jr hit a mid-range jumper to push Lehigh ahead 59-58 with 54 seconds left. Pascarelli missed a tough jumper and the Red Foxes began to extend the game by fouling. Freshman guard Cam Gillus hit both free throws to go up three with 23 seconds remaining.
“We had control of it with a few minutes to go, and just didn’t do the things we needed to win,” said Dunne.
After a Collins turnover, Momah calmly hit both free throws to ice the game for Lehigh, who got their first road win of the season 65-58. Momah finished with a season-high 19 points, taking advantage of the frontcourt depth issues of Marist.
“It didn’t work out in the end but it’s all good, we will bounce back from this,” said Pascarelli.
Lehigh is a better team than their record indicates, with a top 60 strength of schedule, including matchups against North Carolina, Providence, Penn State, and Boston College.
“We’re playing really hard and we’re defending, I’m proud of that,” said Dunne.
Marist now moves into their full MAAC schedule with a road contest against the Fairfield University Stags on Sunday, January 7th. Tipoff at Leo D. Mahoney Arena is set for 2 p.m.
Edited by: Aidan Lavin
Graphic and Photo Credit: Jaylen Rizzo
