Lehigh Defense Clamps Down

BETHLEHEM, Pa.—On Saturday afternoon, Kyle Neptune’s performance wasn’t of this planet.

Neptune went 9-for-16 from the field for 24 points, as Lehigh handed Harvard its third-straight defeat, 67-56 at Stabler Arena in Bethlehem, Pa.

“We just want to get back to winning,” captain Matt Stehle said. “We’ll do anything for a win right now.”

The Mountain Hawks scored the last seven points of the contest to seal the victory.

Senior forward Zach Martin grinded out two straight inside buckets and junior guard Jim Goffredo nailed a trifecta to pull the Crimson within four with less than three minutes remaining. Lehigh answered with two fast-break buckets to forge a 64-56 advantage, and the Harvard offense sputtered the rest of the way.

“Coming into the game, we were very impressed with Lehigh’s defensive numbers,” Sullivan said. “They kept us under 60 points, which is what they’ve been doing, and they frustrated our leading scorers.”

Stehle, who led the Crimson with 13 points, hit two threes and freshman point guard Drew Housman sunk one from the corner to pull Harvard back to within four after it had trailed by as many as 12.

“I was just trying to get anything going,” said Stehle of his two threes. “But in the end it was too little too late.”

A quick 7-0 run put the Mountain Hawks ahead 60-49 with 4:00 left.

Harvard struggled on the offensive end early in the second half, turning the ball over six times in as many minutes to start the final period of play. The Mountain Hawks also out-rebounded the Crimson eight to four over that same span and jumped out to a 40-31 lead.

Lehigh won the battle of the boards 42-30 on the afternoon.

“There’s no formula,” said Stehle of the rebounding disparity. “There’s nothing coach can teach us to work on. It’s just toughness and playing more as a team.

Lehigh went 4-for-13 on three-pointeres, but shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, as the Mountain Hawks pushed their lead to seven with four minutes to go before the break. The Crimson chipped away with three pointers by senior guard Michael Beal and Martin, pulling within 33-29 at the intermission.

Harvard is now 0-3 in games in which it has trailed at halftime.

Jose Olivero and Neptune led the effort for Lehigh as they each had 10 first-half points on a combined 8-for-13 from the field. Olivero finished with 15 points.

“I think Olivero took more of our attention,” Sullivan said. “We talked about Olivero a lot, and maybe [talked about] Neptune as much, but not enough. Neptune certainly had a terrific game.”

The Crimson attempted a season high in three-pointers during the first half, launching 17 and connecting on six. The 35 percent shooting from behind the mark bettered the 3-for-10 effort from inside it.

Junior guard Ko Yada hit two early threes for six of the Crimson’s first 10 points to keep Harvard close in the early going. Sophomore forward Brad Unger added another trifecta, and the contributions by those key reserves allowed Sullivan to rest his starters for most of the first 10 minutes.

—Staff writer Michael R. James can be reached at mrjames@fas.harvard.edu.