WASHINGTON, Pa. –
Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) scored a season-high 21 points to lead the Washington & Jefferson men's basketball team to a thrilling 74-72 win over Presidents' Athletic Conference foe Chatham at Henry Gymnasium on Saturday, Jan. 6.
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The Presidents jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead over the Cougars before both teams split the next 12 total points. A
Sven Zepic (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) three-pointer then extended the W&J lead to 13-6, tying the largest lead for either side in the first half. After Chatham fought to tie the game at 20-20, the Cougars offense found its stride, scoring each of the next five points.
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A layup from Zepic and a three-point shot from
Nicholas Campalong (Sewickley, Pa./Ambridge) tied the game once at against at 25-25 before Luptak banked in a layup with 39 seconds left in the period to give the Presidents a 27-25 lead heading into halftime.
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The Cougars opened the second half on a 12-9 run to take a three-point lead with 14:53 left to play. Luptak then hit a layup with 14:26 to put the Presidents ahead, 38-37, in what was the final lead change of the game. For the rest of the second half, the Presidents managed to outscore the Cougars by a 38-35 margin and opened up a lead as wide as eight points and led by seven points in six other occurrences during that span.
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Luptak's 21 points came on an efficient 8-of-11 from the floor and 5-for-6 at the free throw line as the freshman added three rebounds and three assists to his line. Campalong tallied 15 points on 4-for-8 shooting from the field and hit on all six of his free throws. Defensively, Campalong swatted four Chatham shots, including three in the second half to help maintain momentum for W&J throughout the final frame.
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Brian Lindquist (Narvon, Pa./Pequea Valley) and
Matt Kanan (New Paltz, N.Y./New Paltz) both added nine points for the Presidents. Lindquist made three of his five shot attempts to go along with three rebounds, three assists, two blocks and a steal while Kanan's nine points came on three shots from long range (five attempts).
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W&J's team defense limited Chatham to 37.5 percent shooting for the game and did not allow the Cougars to shoot better than 39 percent in either half. Offensively, the Presidents shot 56.8 percent from the field for the game and hit on 73.7 percent of their shots in the second half.
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The Presidents will return to the hardwood on Wednesday, Jan. 10, when they travel to face Bethany in PAC action tipping off at 7:30 p.m.
Highlights:
Brian Graytok (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) cuts through the defense for a layup
Campalong nails a long range jumper
Luptak hits this tough layup on a fastbreak following a Chatham score
One of three Kanan three-pointers
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