The Red Foxes dominated the Lehigh Mountain Hawks in head coach John Dunne’s 100th win at Marist, 78-55.
It also marks the Red Foxes’ first win against Lehigh in program history; Marist was previously 0-9 versus the Mountain Hawks.
After the Red Foxes trailed 13-12 with ten minutes to play in the first half, they pulled in front and never looked back, peaking at a 28-point cushion en route to the victory.
Sophomore guard Justin Menard and junior guard Jadin Collins-Roberts shone in the win: The Iona transfer finished with 17 points on 8-for-11 shooting, while the New Jersey native notched a season-high 13 points, adding six rebounds and five assists along with it.
“I stopped being passive-aggressive and started looking for my shot—while still looking for my teammates,” Collins-Roberts told the ESPN+ broadcast. “I always try to figure out the best way to balance it out.”
Overall, the Marist offense effectively rebounded after shooting struggles against Army four days prior. Their 78 points on Tuesday night are the highest mark of the season against Division I opponents.
The Red Foxes’ defense stifled the opposing five players per usual: they allowed their second-lowest mark of the season and logged their sixth-straight game holding their opponent under 40 percent from the field. Lehigh shot just 2-for-19 from distance and 35 percent from the field.
Marist dominated the rebounding battle (43-32) and spread the ball out, finishing with 14 assists to Lehigh’s seven. Junior guard Nasir Whitlock did all he could for his unit, tying Menard’s game-high of 17 points, but no other Mountain Hawk broke ten points.
Marist led 10-6 at the call of the first media timeout, propelled by efficient early jump-shooting, but the Mountain Hawks quickly surged back with a 6-0 run to retake the lead 12-10 by the second timeout.
The Red Foxes started 2-for-4 from distance, but missed nine of their next 10 field goals, including six straight misses from three, as they trudged through a four-minute scoring drought that paved the way for Lehigh’s small cushion.
The Marist defense refused to buckle despite their offensive woes; when the Foxes finally broke the scoreless streak, they held the Mountain Hawks to a three-minute dry spell of their own.
Collins-Roberts buried a transition pull-up midrange—his third bucket—to give himself seven points and push Marist ahead by seven, forcing a Lehigh timeout during a 12–2 run he helped spark.
The Lehigh offense continued to deteriorate; two consecutive missed wide-open dunks by sophomore forward/center Hank Alvey punctuated another four minutes without a field goal for the Mountain Hawks. Collins-Roberts scooped up the botched slam and kicked it to graduate guard Rhyjon Blackwell in the corner, where he buried the three to extend the Marist advantage to 12.
At halftime, the lead stood at 17—the Marist defense stood tall and suffocated Lehigh en route to just 20 first-half points. The Mountain Hawks shot just 24 percent from the field and an abysmally low nine percent from beyond the arc, again finishing the half with another streak of scoreless possessions.
Joining Collins-Roberts (nine points) in the scoring column at the half were Blackwell (seven points) and senior guard Elijah Lewis (five points), as the Marist three-headed backcourt continued to be the focal point of the offense.
The offense stayed aggressive, and Collins-Roberts remained in attack mode, surpassing his previous season-high of 12 points with his 13th four minutes into the second half.
Marist fired on all cylinders, and Lehigh looked lost. Senior forward Jaden Daughtry rose for the flush for yet another easy fastbreak bucket. The Foxes toted a quick 8-0 run and a dominant 51-26 lead with 14 minutes to play.
With seven minutes remaining, the Mountain Hawks surpassed their first-half total in a much-improved effort, but they still could not impede the Marist offense as the lead continued to hover around 20 points.
The lowest Lehigh managed to chip their lead was 18 as Marist repeatedly snapped back into place after giving up short spurts of offense to the Mountain Hawks. Marist refused to give any ground, and the game ended promptly with a comfortable Red Fox win.
After nine days off, Marist will return to action against the reigning MAAC champions, Mount St. Mary’s. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. on Dec. 5 in McCann Arena.
Edited by Ben Leeds
Photo by Cassidy Connors
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