Rutgers University
Lehigh
Hill's Double-Double Lifts Rutgers Past Lehigh 67-61
Dec 22 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. - Senior forward Adrian Hill (Canton, Ohio) recorded his first career double-double, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds, to lead the Rutgers men's basketball team to a 67-61 win over Lehigh University (5-9) on Friday night at the Louis Brown Athletic Center (RAC). The Scarlet Knights (6-5) extended their win streak to five games, the longest since the 2003-04 season.
"I reminded them (in the timeout after trailing by 10 with 8:03 to play) of the things this program stands for: toughness, togetherness, hard work, passion and pride," said first year head coach Fred Hill. " I wrote those on the board and said this is what we stand for and these are the five things that we have to do to be better. Certainly, they responded and in the last eight minutes I don't think that we could have played any better as a team."
Senior guard Marquis Webb (Paterson, N.J.) scored 14 points, including a 4-for-4 showing from the free throw line, while sophomore forward Jaron Griffin (Manchester, N.J.) added 13 points and six rebounds for Rutgers. Sophomore forward JR Inman (Pomona, N.Y.) scored 11 points and added seven boards.
Trailing 6-0 in the early going, Griffin hit a jumper from the baseline to get the Scarlet Knights on the board with 17:15 left in the first. After Jose Olivero hit a three-pointer for Lehigh, Griffin responded with a triple from the top of the key, making the score 8-5 in favor of the Mountain Hawks and Webb tied the contest at 8-8 with a trey of his own.
Two free throws from Greg Page and a lay-up from Zahir Carrington gave Lehigh an eight-point advantage (25-17), its largest lead of the first half, with 5:20 showing. On RU's next possession, Inman hit a shot from the right wing to cut the deficit to six (25-19). Following a timeout Farmer hit a three from the left wing, part of a 7-0 Rutgers run over two minutes to put the Scarlet Knights within three points (25-22).
Webb hit a three at the 3:00 mark, tied the game at 27-27 and a free throw from Inman gave the Scarlet Knights their first lead of the night, 25-24 with under two minutes to play. With just one second left in the half, Farmer drove, drawing the Lehigh defense and hit Griffin on the left wing for a triple to give the Scarlet Knights a 31-27 lead at the half.
After RU and Lehigh traded baskets to open the half, Kyle Neptune converted a lay-up with 17:12 to play, cutting the RU lead to one (34-33). Inman responded, pulling down an offensive rebound and making a put-back, giving the Scarlet Knights a 36-33 advantage. With 13:13 to play, Olivero scored off an assist from Page as Lehigh took a 39-38 lead, its first since the 3:41 mark in the first half.
The Mountain Hawks led 44-38 with 11:43 to play after a Bryan White dunk off a Marquis Hall assist during a four-minute Scarlet Knight scoring drought. Trailing 49-39, Ollie Bailey (Chicago, Ill.) gave RU a spark, converting an old-fashioned three-point play to cut the lead to 49-42 at the 7:47 mark. The three-point shift began a 12-3 Rutgers run.
The Scarlet Knights followed with back-to-back triples just under the seven-minute mark, the first coming from Farmer from the right wing and the second from Griffin on the wing. Following an Olivero charge, Griffin connected on yet another trey as the Scarlet Knights cut the deficit to 49-48.
Rutgers regained the lead for good with 4:47 to play when Nelson drove down the center of the lane and dumped the ball to Hill on the left block for the monster dunk. Farmer hit a jumper from the top of the key to give RU a three-point lead and Inman forced a turnover on the defensive end that led to another Scarlet Knight bucket.
Hill got another offensive board and connected on the put-back, his tenth rebound of the game, giving the Scarlet Knights a seven-point lead (58-51). After a Lehigh basket on the other end, Nelson nailed a triple, to push the home team to a 61-53 at the one-minute mark. Olivero hit a triple on the Mountain Hawks' next possession, but Rutgers went 6-of-6 from the charity stripe in the final 52 seconds to seal the victory.
Following the match-up, Rutgers will travel to Chapel Hill, N.C., on Dec. 28, to face-off against the No. 2/2 Tarheels at the Dean E. Smith Center. The game will be broadcast live on ESPN2 at 7:00 p.m.
"I feel much better about our team now and I think we have made strides, but again, we have a major challenge in front of us going down to North Carolina and playing them at their place," Hill said. "It's going to be a great experience and you love games like that. You just toss the ball up, go play and you see what happens. We will learn from it whether we can go down and pull off an upset, or whether we go down there and just learn a lot more about our team."
POSTGAME NOTES
EXTENDING THE STREAK
With the 67-61 win over Lehigh, the Scarlet Knights have now won five-straight games and improve to 6-5. The last time Rutgers won five-straight games came during the 2003-04 season.
A LENGTHY HISTORY
RU and Lehigh met for the 103rd time in the two teams' history, and with the win, RU improves to 68-35 all-time against the Mountain Hawks, including winning the last 18 match-ups. The Mountain Hawks have not won on the road since defeating Army on Feb. 11, 2006. Rutgers also got its 200th win against Patriot League teams, and now holds a 200-141 all-time record against the conference.
FANTASTIC FOUR
Four Scarlet Knights scored in double-figures for the fourth time this season. Senior guard Marquis Webb led with 14 points, followed by sophomore forward Jaron Griffin with 13. Sophomore JR Inman chipped in 11 points while senior forward Adrian Hill added 10.
CAREER NIGHT FOR HILL
Senior forward Adrian Hill recorded the first double-double of his career with 10 points and10 rebounds. The 10 rebounds are a career-high, surpassing his previous mark of nine, which he had reached on three occasions.
DOMINANT IN DECEMBER
The Scarlet Knights recorded the team's 100th win at the RAC in the month of December. Rutgers is now 100-48 (.676) all-time in the month of December in the confines of the RAC.
WEBB CRACKS TOP 50
With his rebound at the 12:56 minute mark in the first half, senior guard Marquis Webb broke into the top 50 of RU's career rebound list. Webb, who finished with four rebounds against Lehigh, now has 328 career rebounds.
