Box Score
The Lehman College men's basketball team (3-8 Overall, 1-1 CUNYAC) dropped a hard-fought non-conference game at the APEX Center, falling to the Continentals of Hamilton College (4-3 Overall, 0-0 Liberty) by a score of 76-72 in a matinee contest Tuesday afternoon in the Bronx. The defeat was the third loss in a row suffered by the Lightning.
In the first half, the teams juggled with control of the contest. Hamilton College scored the first five points of the afternoon before Lehman put together a 10-3 run to take a 10-8 lead. Hamilton stormed back, going on a 19-5 run to grab a 27-15 advantage, but the Lightning would close out the half on a 17-7 run to pull to within 34-32 as the teams headed into the locker room at halftime.
The second half would see the Lightning build off the momentum of their strong finish to the first half, eventually taking a 57-49 lead with 9:55 remaining in the game. The Continentals would chip away, however, and eventually they would re-take the lead, 70-69, thanks to a free throw by Jay Simpson with 45 seconds remaining. Hamilton College would never relinquish that advantage, eventually holding on for the victory.
In the win for Hamilton College, Simpson led all scorers with a game-high 26 points (6-9 FG, 12-13 FT) to go along with five assists and a pair of steals. In addition, Russ Rosenband came off the bench and played a major role in the Continentals' win as he scored 20 points, nailing six treys while grabbing three rebounds as well. Finally, it was Ephraim McDowell contributing 12 points in the triumph. For the game, Hamilton College shot 48.1 percent from the floor (25-52) while making good on 77.8 percent (14-18) of their shots from the charity stripe.
Despite the loss for Lehman College, standout Xavier Garvin led the way for the Lightning, scoring a team-high 19 points (9-11 FG) while snatching five rebounds. Mathias Raggiotto scored 16 points, grabbed four rebounds and dished three assists, and Jonathan DeJesus contributed 15 points and four rebounds. The Lightning shot a whopping 51.8 percent from the field for the game (29-56) and won the turnover battle as well, committing 17 miscues compared to 20 for the Continentals. The Lightning also dished 12 assists to Hamilton's 10.
The Lightning will look to break their three-game losing skid tomorrow afternoon as the team takes on Rutgers-Camden in a non-conference contest in Camden, NJ, with game-time scheduled for 3:00pm.
