BETHLEHEM, Penn. – The first thing one may be tempted to do with Lehigh is look at the best player, a freshman. Without question, C.J. McCollum has already done quite a bit in winning the Patriot League Player of the Year, the first freshman to do so. But he has some pretty good teammates at the opposite end of their college careers, and that was certainly clear in Lehigh’s 74-59 win over arch-rival Lafayette in the Patriot League championship game.
McCollum was the story early, as he was active and aggressive and set the tone. Then he went quiet in the middle of the first half and a lot of the second half after a couple of strong early minutes. In the meantime, the senior trio of Marquis Hall, Zahir Carrington and Dave Buchberger did plenty of work to lift the Mountain Hawks to the win for their second Patriot League title.
“I thought our senior leadership throughout the course of the season was tremendous,” said head coach Brett Reed, who also cited reserve Matt Shamis. “The four of those individuals spent so much of their own personal energy to make this team what it was: a team that was pulled together, a team that could face adversity, and a team that would not crumble and would not back down.”
Down the stretch, no one wanted it more than tournament MVP Carrington, who posted his second double-double of the tournament with 18 points and 10 rebounds to go with four blocks. All four blocks came in the second half, along with 12 points and seven rebounds. It seemed like he made every big play, whether it was to keep Lehigh out in front or for a momentum swing back in their favor.
Carrington, who mentors middle to high school-aged boys in Allentown’s “Boys to Manhood” program, remembered how his first three years went and had an idea how that could change.
“We’ve been eliminated the first three years in this league, and had been a sub-par, mediocre kind of team,” said Carrington. “The only way to make up for that was to go out like this.”
He gave the Mountain Hawks their biggest lead at the time when a dunk put them up 42-33 early in the second half. But that was just the beginning. When the Leopards pulled within two with less than ten minutes to play, he hit a jumper to put the Mountain Hawks back up by four. It would be the last time the Leopards were within a possession, as Carrington blocked two shots on the next possession and another one a minute later. During a decisive 8-0 run that put Lehigh up by 12 to put the game out of reach, Carrington had three rebounds, an assist and two dunks.
“Zahir really carried us in the second half, he willed us to victory late down the stretch,” said Hall.
Speaking of Hall, he is closing a college career that has had plenty of accomplishments, but no NCAA Tournament trip until now. He was the league’s Rookie of the Year three seasons ago, is the first player in Patriot League history with over 1,500 points and 500 assists, and was the Patriot League Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2009. Given the chance, he would have gladly traded it all in for a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. Now he will get to play later in March, and he had no small part in it as he was named to the all-tournament team.
“It’s indescribable, really,” said Hall. “Just to be out there and share a moment with my teammates, my group of seniors, it was the cap that I thought it would be.”
Playing the second half with a heavily-bandaged left leg, Hall scored just three points but had seven assists and ran the offense like he has for four years. His numbers don’t convey his value, as he transitioned from a scorer to a floor leader as more scoring talent developed around him. In the Patriot League Tournament, he had 17 assists against six turnovers, continuing a season-long trend as he is 15th in the nation in assist/turnover ratio.
There’s one senior starter who doesn’t get much acclaim, and in keeping with the theme, he came up big on Friday. Dave Buchberger had 13 points, going 3-5 from long range, and handed out three assists. More importantly, he hit a couple at key junctures of the game, and perhaps none bigger than the one he hit near the halfway point of the second half to put Lehigh up 54-50 after the Leopards had come within one. That came after he put them up 51-42 a couple of minutes earlier, and later he leaked out for a breakaway dunk during the decisive 8-0 run.
This followed a semifinal outing where he shot 6-8 from the field, including 4-5 from long range, en route to a season-high 16 points to help the Mountain Hawks knock off American. As that came after a game where he went scoreless, he clearly bounced back well.
McCollum wound up with a game-high 20 points and grabbed seven rebounds, averaging over 20 points per game for the tournament. A case could be made for him as the tournament MVP. But make no mistake about it, as often happens Lehigh won the game and the championship led by the seniors. They came through during the tournament the way coaches and teammates would expect, and the desired result followed from it.
