March 12, 2010

Bethlehem, Pa. - With his team's lead down to one point with just over 10 minutes remaining, Lehigh senior Zahir Carrington took over down the stretch to lead the top-seeded Mountain Hawks to a 74-59 victory over No. 3 Lafayette to win the 2010 Patriot League Men's Basketball Championship and an automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Tournament.

The Mountain Hawks win their second Patriot League title, and first since 2004. They advance to the NCAA Division I Men's Basketball Championship for the first time since that season, and fourth overall. Lehigh will find it out its NCAA opponent and destination when the brackets are announced on Sunday at 6 p.m. on CBS.

"I'm so proud of our players," said Lehigh Head Coach Brett Reed. "They fought all year with dedication, commitment, and a family atmosphere, and I thought our senior leadership throughout the course of the year was tremendous."

Carrington was named Patriot League Tournament Most Valuable Player after posting his second-consecutive double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds, and also blocking four shots in the final nine minutes. C.J. McCollum scored 20 points for Lehigh to lead all scorers, while Dave Buchberger had 13 and Michael Ojo scored 11.

Ryan Willen posted a double-double for Lafayette with 16 points and 10 rebounds, while Jeff Kari added 10 for Lafayette.

Lehigh (22-10) led from start to finish, scoring the first six points on three-pointers by McCollum and Buchberger just over a minute in. Lehigh pushed the lead to seven at 18-11, but Lafayette came back with six straight points to cut it to one with 9:01 left in the half. Lehigh scored five points to push the lead back to six, setting a tone of answering Lafayette rallies that carried throughout the contest. Lehigh went up by as many as eight points before taking a 35-29 lead at the break. McCollum scored 16 of his 20 points in the first half.

Lafayette (19-13) had multiple runs in the first part of the second half, but was never able to tie or take the lead. After Lehigh pushed its lead to nine at 44-35 with 15:08 left, the Leopards came back with seven straight points to get within two on a Jeff Kari layup with 13:27 left. Lehigh came right back with seven consecutive points of its own, getting the lead back to 51-42 with 12:14 to go. The Leopards made their final push to answer, scoring eight straight points and coming back within one at 51-50 on a Jim Mower three-pointer with 10:43 to go.

From that point, Carrington and the Mountain Hawks took over with a 23-9 stretch to close the game. Buchberger hit a three to push the lead to four, and Carrington and Ojo hit consecutive shots for a 58-52 lead with 7:48 to go. With Lehigh up 56-52, Carrington blocked two shots before Ojo's layup. Ojo and Carrington again answered a Lafayette basket with back-to-back layups for a 62-54 lead with 6:09 to go. Lafayette scored the next four points to get back within 62-58 with 5:16 left, and had a chance to get the deficit closer on its next possession. But Carrington stepped up with a big rebound in traffic, and threw an outlet pass to Buchberger for a dunk and a 64-58 lead with 4:19 left. Carrington punctuated the win with back-to-back thunderous dunks to give Lehigh its biggest lead of the game at 68-58 with 2:08 left. The lead was at double digits the rest of the way, with Lehigh closing on a 12-1 run to finish the game.

"I just gave everything I got out there, and no offense to those guys but they just didn't want it as bad as we did," said Carrington.

Lehigh's defense held Lafayette's potent three-point shooting attack to a 3-for-23 clip, and kept the Leopards without a field goal for nearly the final six minutes of the game.

Lehigh shot 27-of-55 for the game, making 15-of-26 after halftime. Lehigh connected on 7-of-19 three-pointers and 13-of-17 free throws in the game. The Mountain Hawks held a 40-33 advantage on the boards, led by the 10 from Carrington as well as seven for McCollum. Marquis Hall had seven ofthe team's 18 assists.

Lafayette made 24-of-66 shots for the game, making 21-of-43 from inside the arc to stay in the game despite the tough night from three-point range. Six Leopards scored five points or more, including Willen, Kari, Mower (9), Ben Wheeler (7), Jared Mintz (6) and Michael Gruner (5). Lafayette only turned it over 10 times while forcing 14 Lehigh turnovers. Darion Benbow led the Leopards with seven rebounds, while Wheeler had a team-high four assists. The Leopards made 8-of-9 foul shots.

Lehigh was in its second Patriot League Championship and first since 2004, while Lafayette played its fourth title game (2-2) and first since 2000.

Carrington was named the Patriot League Tournament MVP, and five other players made the All-Tournament Team. Hall and McCollum were named to the squad from Lehigh, while Mower and Willen made it from Lafayette. American sophomore Stephen Lumpkins was the remaining All-Tournament selection.

For more on the 2010 Patriot League Men's Basketball Tournament, read the Patriot League Men's Basketball Championship page

For the recap from each school, and the box score from the matchup, click on the links below.

at Lehigh 74, Lafayette 59
Box Score

Patriot League Tournament Most Valuable Player - Zahir Carrington, Lehigh, Sr., F

Patriot League All-Tournament Team

Marquis Hall, Lehigh, Sr., G
Stephen Lumpkins, American, So., F
C.J. McCollum, Lehigh, Fr., G
Jim Mower, Lafayette, So., G
Ryan Willen, Lafayette, So., F

Patriot League Men's Basketball Championship Notebook

*Lehigh is the 16th No. 1 seed in the 20 seasons of the Patriot League to win the championship, and the fifth consecutive to pull it off. The Mountain Hawks also won the title as a No. 1 seed in 2004.
*Home teams improve to 15-4 in the title game, and 15-2 in the last 17 years.
*The Mountain Hawks finish 15-2 at Stabler Arena this season.
*Lehigh sets a school record with its 22nd win.
*Lehigh improves to 3-1 in the Patriot League Tournament against Lafayette, as the rivals were meeting in the title game for the first time.
*Lehigh is 2-0 in the Patriot League Championship, while Lafayette is 2-2 with wins in 1999 and 2000 and a previous loss in 1998.
*Lafayette has a 138-75 advantage in the all-time series, but the teams are now tied, 22-22, in games played as Patriot League members.
*Lehigh's C.J. McCollum moved his season total to 605 points. He has shattered the previous Patriot League freshman scoring record of 509. He led all players with 61 points in the Patriot League Tournament
*Lehigh is just the third team that finished as a No. 5 seed the previous season to win the title. The other title teams that were a No. 5 seed in the Tournament the previous year were Navy (1994) and Holy Cross (2001). No team has gone from a lower seed to a Patriot League crown the next year.
*Lafayette tied a Patriot League Tournament record with 50 assists in its three games.
*The Leopards also set a Tournament record with 69 three-point attempts.
*The attendance for the game was 4,259, just 262 shy of the record of 4,521 set in the Holy Cross/American contest in 2002.