Westfield, Mass. – The Lehman College men's basketball team dropped its season-opener, 84-81, in the opening game of the Rick Martin-Holiday Inn Express Tournament on Friday in Westfield, Massachusetts.  Luis Hernandez was one of three Lightning players in double-figures, as he finished with a game-best 28 points (including 12-of-14 from the charity stripe.)
 
The first half was a back-and-forth affair with seven ties.  Neither side could get a lead larger than a few points until Jay Trueheart made a foul shot that put the Owls up 42-33 with 2:07 left in the half.  From there, Lehman got hot and closed out the half with a 7-0 run. Tevon Bennett opened the scoring spree with a jumper.  Andrew Utate followed with a three-pointer.  Finally, Hernandez went coast-to-coast for a layup as the buzzer sounded to end the half.
 
Westfield State opened the second-half with a 9-2 run to take another nine point lead, 51-42.  Lehman closed the gap to thee points in just 1:20 of game time on baskets from Mylo Mitchell and Dominek Tucker and a free throw from Ja-Zhyoun Laing.  The score was 51-48 with 14:49 remaining.
 
From there, the Owls took another nine point lead when a bucket made the score 66-57 with 10:28 left.  Lehman took control from there, using a 16-3 run to grab a four point lead.  Hernandez scored the first six points of the run.  Jean Marcial added a basket before Hernandez scored four more points.  Finally an Utate layup at 5:34 put Lehman up, 73-69.  Westfield State eventually took an 84-81 lead and Lehman missed a game-tying three-pointer at the buzzer.
 
As a team, Lehman shot 49.1% from the field (26-53).  Hernandez shot 8-13 in the game.  Utate made 6-13 en route to 16 points, while Mylo Mitchell was 4-6 and finished with 11 points.  The Lightning finished with 36 points in the paint.

The Lehman College men's basketball team will return to action on Saturday, November 15 as they play in the consolation game of the Tip-Off.  They will face the loser of the St. Lawrence/Bowdoin game at 1 PM.