The Saint Peter's College Peacocks (2-11) saw their losing streak extended to seven games tonight in a 76-67 loss to the Lehigh University Mountain Hawks. The Peacocks held a 10-point lead in the first half, but went into the break tied at 34. Lehigh then used a 16-6 run to open the second half, opening up a 10-point lead and held off the Peacocks late for the win. Darius Conley led Saint Peter's with a double-double (16 points and 10 rebounds).
Saint Peter's quickly fell behind 5-0, but an 8-0 run put them in front 8-5 at the 15:40 mark. The Peacocks led 19-16 then used an 11-4 run to open up a 30-20 lead with 6:42 to play in the first half. Saint Peter's then led 32-23 late in the half, but an 11-2 run by Lehigh made the halftime score 34-34.
Lehigh quickly took the lead to start the second half, but the score was tied at 36 early on. The Mountain Hawks then used a 14-4 spurt to give them their largest lead at 50-40 with 14:12 to play in the second half. The Peacocks did cut the deficit to five points at 59-54 midway through the half, but six straight by Lehigh gave them their an 11-point cushion at the 6:13 mark. Saint Peter's would cut the lead down to five points in the final minute, but the Mountain Hawks scored the final four points of the game from the line to seal the nine-point victory.
Conley was 8-13 from the field and also had two assists. Lamin Fulton also scored 16 points and had three assists. Chris Burke scored 12 points off the bench, while Chris Prescott added 11 points. CJ McCollum led all scored with 22 points for Lehigh. He also grabbed 11 rebounds. Holden Greiner added 19 points, while Gabe Knutson scored 10 points.
Both teams shot 48% from the field in the game, but the Mountain Hawks shot nearly 45% from beyond the arc while Saint Peter's shot just 23.5%. The Peacocks held a slight rebounding edge 32-30 and committing 12 turnovers and forced 13.
The Peacocks will now get back into MAAC play after four days off as they travel to face Marist on Monday, January 2nd at 7pm in Poughkeepsie.
