South Mountaineer Volume 39, Issue 15

              SATURDAY'S HOME EVENTS
1:00 Wrestling vs. Columbia
1;00 Men's Basketball vs. Colgate
3:15 Women's Basketball vs. Colgate
7:00 Wrestling vs. Navy
TRACK AND FIELD: Success at John Covert Classic, 7
SWIMMING AND DIVING: BRING ON THE LEOPARDS, 7
ON TV.: MBB vs. Colgate 7:30, Ch.69; Wrestling vs. Navy 12:00, Ch.39
South Mountaineer
Volume 10, Issue 15
Lehigh University Athletics Weekly
January 22,1997
Lehigh nets first victory
LEHIGH / HOLY CROSS
GAME STATS
by T.J. Furman '98
South Mountaineer
Sal Mentesana didn't
need long to find the
meaning behind his first
victory as head basketball
coach at Lehigh.
"It means I won't lose
them all," Mentesana said
after Lehigh pulled off a 79-
75 victory over Holy
Cross College Saturday
evening.
While Mentesana joked
at first about the win,
clearly it was rewarding for
him to see his players
leave the court with smiles
on their faces.
"This team has stuck
together, continued to
work hard and finally it is
starting to reap the benefits," he said.
The win ended an 18-
game losing streak for
Lehigh (1-15, 1-3 Patriot
League) which extended
back to last season and was
the longest in Division I
men's basketball.
Sophomore guard Brett
Eppehimer and freshman
center Damien McGill led
the charge down the final
stretch against the Crusaders (3-13, 0-3).
With 30 seconds left
and the score tied at 73-73,
Eppehimer made a move
along the baseline, but
slipped and was forced to
throw up a wild, off-balance
shot which missed the rim.
McGill pulled down the
offensive rebound and took
the ball straight back to
the hoop for the layup and
a two-point lead.
On Holy Cross' follow-
Joe Ryan
Freshman Jared Hess.
ing possession, McGill
blocked a jump shot by
senior guard Damien Ezell
and the Crusaders were
forced to foul for the final
10 seconds.
Eppehimer, among the
nation's leaders in free
throw shooting percentage,
calmly drained four foul
shots in that span to seal
the victory.
"I love that situation,"
Eppehimer said. "Whenever I don't want to practice I just shoot foul shots.
I guess it came in handy."
Eppehimer's last-
minute heroics made up for
his errant pass that almost
cost Lehigh the game just
a moment earlier.
With the Engineers
nursing a three-point lead,
Eppehimer grabbed a
rebound and fired a pass
downcourt for a fast-break
opportunity. He overthrew
his mark and turned the
ball over with a minute
left.
The turnover resulted
in a three-point play for
Holy Cross to tie the score
at 73-73.
Eppehimer's mistake
late in the game was part
of an all-too-familiar
scenario for Mentesana.
"When Eppehimer
threw that pass and then
the kid got a three-point
play at the other end, I just
wanted to die," Mentesana
said. "I thought, 'Not again.
This can't happen to them
again.' "
The victory reversed
the trend of recent Lehigh
losses in which the Engineers found themselves
within striking distance in
the closing minutes only to
lose.
Wednesday against
Navy, the Brown and
White fought back from a
12-point, second-half deficit
to tie
the score and were within
two points with less than a
minute to play before
losing 70-64.
On Jan. 8 the Brown
and White extended
Lafayette to double overtime before dropping a 90-
87 decision.
"Tonight, thank goodness, is when it finally
came together for them,"
Joe Ryan
Dan Handerhan scored a career-high 21 points.
Mentesana said.
McGill, sophomore
forward Dan Handerhan
and freshman guard Jared
Hess all had career days for
Lehigh.
Handerhan led the
Brown and White with 21
points in 34 minutes of
action and Hess scored 19.
McGill recorded personal
career highs with 12 points,
13 rebounds, six blocks and
five assists.
McGill's passing prowess in the high-post surprised everyone, including
himself.
"I just like to rebound
and block shots," McGill
said. "The assists ... I don't
know where they came
from."
Eppehimer was pleased
with the team's scoring
balance Saturday.
"Everybody stepped up,"
he said. "We had four
players in double figures. It
was a total team effort."
The 6-foot guard has
good reason to hope his
teammates pick up the
scoring slack. All of
Lehigh's opponents this
season have targeted
Eppehimer as the Brown
and White's top player and
have designed their defenses to stop him.
The defensive attention
paid to Eppehimer.the
league's second-leading
scorer has left Hess with
more open shots lately.
Hess has responded by
averaging 12.5 points in
the last four games.
With the victory,
Lehigh moved out of the
Patriot League cellar. The
Engineers are in sole
possession of sixth
place, a half-game behind
Lafayette (5-11, 1-2).
NOTES: Hess, a 6-foot-5
guard, had Lehigh's first
dunk of the season. His
rim rocker came at 16:59
in the first half.
Hess earned Patriot
League Rookie-of-the-
Week honors after averaging 17.0 points per gime
in two contests.
Colgate comes to
Stabler Arena for, a 1:00
p.m. tipoff Saturday. All-
American center Adonal
Foyle is the nation's
leading rebounder and
shot blocker and is ranked
third in scoring.
Score By Halves
Holy Cross
42
33
75
Lehigh
34
45
79
Rojik 8-16 6-8 24, Clark 5-9 1-1 11,
Kerr 1-6, 0-0 2, Ezell 4-12 3-6 13,
Hightower 7-12 0-2 14, Tutwiler 0-3 1
; 2% Domhroski 1-1 0-0 3, Shea 1-2 :(M
3, Driscoil 1-2 2-2 4, Nelson 0-0 0-0 0.
Totals: 28-63 13-21 75.
Dean 0-2:0-0 0,Handerhan 7>i4i4,5:
21, McGill 6-10 6-3;;lilHess::7-ll 2-2
19, Eppehimer 4-15 8-8 19, WiMyMr^;
1-6 6-8 8, Glark Q-2,Q-0;Oi SMorovO-0
0-0 0. Totals: 25-60 20-26 79.
::;:3:-ppint goals: Holy Gross 6-16 (Ezell'
2-5, Rojik 2-6. Dombroski 1-1, Shea 1-
2, Kerr 0-1. Hightoweri; Lehigh 9-17
{Handerhan 3-5, Hess 3-5, Eppehimer
3-7). Rebounds: Holy Cross 35 (Rojik
9);Lehigh42<McGitll3,WilIybiro9).
QUOTEBOARD
"It feels great to come out of here
with a smile, finally. The fans
were great. They were behind us
through this whole ordeal. They
stuck with us. They were a big
factor today."
Brett Eppehimer
Lehigh Guard
"I was really happy for them,
because they feel like they've
taken a giant step, and they
have. There wasn't any aspect of
our game tonight that I would
change. It's never easy and it's
not over. We 've got quite a few
left to play and we 've gotta get a
few of those too."
Sal Mentesana
Lehigh Coach
"I can't stop smiling. I wasn 't
happy with the way I was
playing, but I'm happy now."
Dan Handerhan
Lehigh Forward
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