Army Kicks Off League Play Hosting Lehigh

WEST POINT, N.Y. – Army kicks off its Patriot League schedule Friday when Lehigh comes to West Point for a 7 p.m. tip in Christl Arena.

The contest will be carried live on the Patriot League Network with Rich DeMarco on the call.

The Black Knights closed out their nonleague slate with a 71-60 victory over Binghamton back on Dec. 21. That win ended a two-game skid for Army but the Cadets still sit with a 6-6 overall record, which is good enough for fourth place in the conference. Lehigh is currently riding a three-game winning streak after posting victories over Mount St. Mary's, Saint Francis (Pa.), and most recently Division III Cabrini. The Mountain Hawks are tied with Loyola for second in the league with an overall mark of 6-5.

HOW TO FOLLOW
VIDEO • Patriot League Network
RADIO • Army West Point Sports Network
WBNR (1260 AM, Beacon, N.Y.) • WLNA (1420 AM, Peekskill, N.Y.)
AUDIO • Knight Vision
LIVE STATISTICS • GoArmyWestPoint.com
TICKETS • GoArmyWestPoint.com
TWITTER • @ArmyWP_MBB
GAME NOTES • Army | Lehigh

ABOUT THE MOUNTAIN HAWKS
    Four Lehigh players are averaging double-digit scoring on the season with two-time Patriot League Player of the Year Tim Kempton leading the way. The senior is posting 21.5 points per game, which is good enough for tops in the conference and 21st in the nation. Kahron Ross follows next averaging 11.7 points, while Kyle Leufroy and Austin Price are tied for third with 11.6 points per outing. Kempton also leads the Mountain Hawks on the boards with a mark of 10.2 rebounds per contest. That number is first in the league and 28th in the country as well. Ross is leading the league with his 5.8 assists per game, while Pat Abdree's .513 shooting percentage from behind-the-arc has him tops in the conference.

LAST TIME OUT
    Army closed out its non-league action with a 71-60 victory over Binghamton. The Black Knights have now strung together four-straight wins in Christl Arena for the first time since the 2012-13 season. It was a two-point Army lead with 7:29 remaining after Binghamton's Timmy Rose converted on a layup to pull the visitors to within 55-53. The Black Knights, however, would use a 16-4 run over a five-minute span to ultimately seal their sixth win of the season. The Bearcats added one final 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining but the deficit proved too large as the Cadets held on for the 11-point victory.

    Leading the way for the Black Knights was rookie Matt Wilson, who recorded 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Closing out Army's double-digit scoring was Luke Morrison with his 13 points. The junior finished 5-of-11 from the floor, 2-of-7 from 3-point range and 1-of-2 from the charity stripe. Senior Mac Hoffman posted an impressive career-best 12 rebounds, including six on the offensive glass to lead all players. Also recording a career best was Jordan Fox with six rebounds and 10 assists.

    Lehigh ended the first half on a 17-4 run to open a 24-point halftime lead and wouldn't look back as the Mountain Hawks downed Cabrini, 93-72. Five Lehigh players posted double-figure points, led by a game-high 18 points from senior Austin Price. Freshman Pat Andree also recorded his first-career double-double with 14 points and a career-high 15 rebounds.

    The Mountain Hawks have now scored 90 or more points in each of their last three games, averaging 94.3 points in that span. Price finished the evening 4-of-6 from three-point range while adding five rebounds. Leufroy was 7-of-11 from the field, including 3-of-6 from three-point range. Freshman Jordan Cohen also had 15 points and a career-high seven rebounds, sophomore Brandon Alston recorded 12 points, four rebounds and four assists while senior Tim Kempton had eight points and eight rebounds. Junior Kahron Ross dished 10 assists while turning the ball over just once in only 22 minutes.

TWIN FIGURES
    Sophomore Jordan Fox had his five-game double-figure scoring streak snapped during Army's last outing with Binghamton. In that span though Fox led the Black Knights in scoring on three different occasions. The Jackson County, Ky., native has posted double figures in eight of Army's 12 contests so far this season. John Emezie and Matt Wilson also recorded a five-game twin figure scoring streak so far on the season dating from 11/20-12/3.

A WIN OVER LEHIGH WOULD...
    Hand Army its seventh win of the season and make it five-straight victories for the Black Knights at Christl Arena this season. It would also mark the second-straight season the Cadets opened up conference play with a win over Lehigh.

ARMY VS. PATRIOT LEAGUE TEAMS
    The Black Knights are 263-375 all-time against current members of the Patriot League. Of the nine other schools in the league, Army has faced Navy (125 times), Colgate (119 times) and Lehigh (104 times) the most. Army leads three series against Patriot League schools in Colgate (61-58), Lehigh (63-41), and Loyola (4-3). The Cadets have also competed against American (10-26), Boston University (8-14), Bucknell (21-51), Holy Cross (21-62), Lafayette (27-43) and Navy (48-77).

SHARP SHOOTIN'
    Rookie Matt Wilson is currently leading the Black Knights with his .655 field goal percentage. The first-year has converted on 57 of his 87 attempts from the floor. Mac Hoffman is also having a solid senior campaign, holding a .519 field goal percentage to go along with his .714 mark (25-of-35) at the charity stripe.

SOPHOMORE SWAG
    Jordan Fox has really emerged as a leader for the Black Knights. He currently leads Army and is 13th in the Patriot League averaging 12.8 points per game. What's more impressive though is how he's scoring. The sophomore has converted on 58 of his 118 attempts from the floor. That's good enough for .492 percent shooting, which has him fourth in the league. Things don't stop there, as Fox is second in the conference with a .431 mark from behind-the-arc. He is averaging 2.1 treys per outing, which is seventh in the league as well. Lastly, the Jackson County, Ky., native is tops in the conference with a 2.8 assists-to-turnover ratio, recording 55 assists to just a league-low 20 turnovers.

KENTUCKY BOYS
    Rookie Matt Wilson and sophomore Jordan Fox have both been recognized by the Patriot League numerous times this season. Wilson was most recently tabbed The Rock Patriot League Men's Basketball Rookie of the Week on Tuesday, handing the first-year his third honor this season. Fellow Kentucky native Fox has also been acknowledged for his impressive second year with the Black and Gold, earning player of the week honorable mention nods on two different occasions so far this season.

NEXT UP
    Army has a quick turnaround as it travels to Bucknell on Jan. 2 for a 7 p.m. tip with the Bison in Sojka Pavilion. The Bison are currently tops in the league with a mark of 8-5 heading into Friday's contest at Navy.

Army West Point Athletics

Army Kicks Off League Play Hosting Lehigh

Players Mentioned

John Emezie

Jordan Fox

Mac Hoffman

Luke Morrison

Matt Wilson

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