Lehigh gets bitten by ‘Jaws’

Lafayette senior hits late jumper to drop Lehigh in finale of regular season

Justin Jaworski struggled Sunday and played perhaps his worst game of the 2021 Patriot League season.

Still, the senior known as “Jaws” was again the hero for Lafayette’s Leopards.

Jaworski, who scored nine points — 13 below his season average, banked in a straight-on 10-footer with 19 seconds remaining to lift Lafayette to a 71-70 win over rival Lehigh at Stabler Arena in the regular-season finale for both teams.

Coach Fran O’Hanlon’s Leopards swept the weekend series vs. Lehigh and won three of four meetings this season.

The Mountain Hawks had three shots in the final 7.7 seconds to pull out the victory, and secure a home game in the upcoming league tournament, but they couldn’t convert. Senior Marques Wilson was short on an 18-footer from the top of the key before two rushed shots missed the mark.

Lafayette, with a 9-5 record, earned the No. 3 seed for the postseason as the Central Division champs.

Lehigh, at 4-10, will be seeded 10th and play a road contest in Wednesday’s first round.

“We knew this was going to be a tough game over here,” said O’Hanlon, in his 26th season at Lafayette. “It’s so competitive between the two teams. We got the big stops at the end, and obviously, that big shot at the end. On that final possession, we were hoping Marques Wilson would not have the same heroics as last time we played here.”

O’Hanlon was referring to Wilson’s 32-foot buzzer-beater in Lehigh’s 90-89 victory over the Leopards in the season-opener.

On the possession prior to Jaworski’s go-ahead shot in the

paint, O’Hanlon said the play was set up for his reliable sharpshooter but ended up in the hands of Tyrone Perry. Perry’s 3-point attempt rimmed out.

The coach, a former standout player at Villanova, said he was uncertain if Jaworski called his bank shot — or if it took a fortunate bounce for the Leopards.

“I’m sure, having been a player, that I’d have said yes, I intended to do that,” O’Hanlon said. “I don’t know but we’ll take it.”

Jaworski connected on only 3 of 13 shots from the field, but his biggestonefoundthebottomofthe net.Hescoredsevenstraightpoints downthestretchandfinishedwith 23 in Lafayette’s 75-69 win over Lehigh on Saturday.

The senior from Schwenksville should find out this week if he earned Patriot League player of the year honors.

“I don’t know if he’ll win MVP,” O’Hanlon said, “but he’s our MVP.”

Underclassmen unite for Leopards

With Jaworski off for most of the evening, two players in particular stepped up for the Leopards.

Freshman Kyle Jenkins scored an efficient 16 points on seven shot attempts and 7-foot sophomore Neal Quinn contributed 13 points on eight attempts. Jenkins and Quinn combined for 13 rebounds.

“Kyle has done a great job,” O’Hanlon said. “He’s come on the last half of the season and is playing more like a veteran right now. He hit some big shots. Obviously for us, a team that uses the outside shot a lot, it’s great we have an inside presence in Neal. I thought he did a great job the last two days. [Quinn scored 10 points in Saturday’s win.] We really need that from him.”

Jenkins, an excellent two-way player with a bright future, said it

was nice to help carry the scoring load on a night when the team’s No. 1 scorer struggled to get going.

“My teammates were finding me for good looks,” he said. “I was trying to move without the ball and play to my strengths.”

Senior E.J. Stephens and Perry also reached double digits in scoring for the Leopards. Both had 10 points.

Lehigh’s ledger

The Mountain Hawks trailed for most of the opening 20 minutes and fell behind by 12 late in the first half. But, they battled back to take their first lead of the second half on Ben Li’s threepoint play with 4:41 left.

The game was a seesaw the rest of the way until Jaworski’s winner. Wilson gave Lehigh its final lead, at 70-69, on a 3-pointer with 2:10 left.

“I thought our kids fought hard and played with great energy,”

Mountain Hawks coach Brett Reed said. “Unfortunately, we had a number of plays which we didn’t convert on. In many respects, a lot of those looks were good looks for us. But you had someone who made the play on their part, an area where we kind of came up short. That’s the difference in the game.”

Li, a freshman from Toronto, led Lehigh’s balanced attack with 13 points. Sophomore Evan Taylor added 12 and Wilson finished with 11.

Tournament time

Lafayette, which clinched the Central Division crown and No. 3 seed with Saturday’s win, is scheduled to play sixth-seeded Bucknell in Saturday’s quarterfinals at Kirby Sports Center.

Lehigh, as the No. 10 seed, will travel to Boston to play the seventh-seeded and defending champ Terriers in one of

two first-round games set for Wednesday. The other opening-round matchup is a battle between No. 9 Loyola Maryland at No. 8 Holy Cross.

Navy, thanks to its perfect 9-0 league record, won the South Division title and picked up the No. 1 seed for the tournament.

Colgate, at 11-1, will be seeded second as the North Division champs.

Army earned the No. 4 seed and is scheduled to host No. 5 American in a quarterfinal-round clash on Saturday.

All games will be played at the site of the higher-seeded team.

“We talked about ending the season on a good note to have some momentum going into the tournament,” O’Hanlon said. “We won two in a row this weekend. It certainly wasn’t easy but I think it gives us a little confidence.”