BETHLEHEM, PA. - Despite a 20-point, nine-rebound effort from sophomore Travis Taylor, and double-digit outings from Will Campbell and James Hett, the Monmouth University men's basketball team fell at Lehigh, 86-74, on Monday night in Stabler Arena. Monmouth (1-3), which hit 43.6% from the floor, was paced by Taylor's near double-double, his 27th career double-digit point game.

Campbell's corner three-pointer off a kick-out from Taylor, gave the Hawks a 10-7 lead at 13:35, and Monmouth held a three-point edge, 12-9, on a Taylor jump shot with 12:20 left in the half. The Mountain Hawks responded by notching eight straight points, including back-to-back treys to take a 17-12 advantage with 10:41 remaining.

Trailing by six points, 20-14, a pair of Taylor free throws, a Taylor post-up basket and R.J. Rutledge's corner trifecta pulled the Hawks within 22-21 with 7:16 showing. Lehigh's Rob Keefer answered with consecutive jump shots to give the Mountain Hawks a 26-21 advantage with 5:35 on the board, before Justin Sofman's second three-pointer of the half trimmed the score to 28-26 at 2:51.

Lehigh ended the half on a 10-4 spurt, capped by Gabe Knutson's dunk in transition with two ticks left, to lift the Mountain Hawks to a 38-30 advantage at the break.

Four quick points out of the intermission gave the Mountain Hawks a 42-30 lead, and Lehigh held a 12-point edge with 18:09 left in the contest, before Whitney Coleman's wing three-pointer, Taylor's three-point play and Sofman's trifecta, pulled the Hawks within 46-41 with 15:32 on the clock.

After a three-pointer and a pair of foul shots inflated Lehigh's lead back to double-digits, 51-41, a trio of points from Ed Waite and a traditional three-point play from Campbell pulled Monmouth within 51-47, with 13:44 remaining.

Marquis Hall's second trey of the half put Lehigh ahead 54-47 at 12:31 and Zahir Carrington's lay-up pushed the Mountain Hawks in front 49-58 with 9:28 left.

Twenty seconds later, James Hett's straight away trey made the score 58-52, but Lehigh answered with a 12-4 spurt over the next four minutes of action to snare a 70-56 lead with 5:08 on the scoreboard.

Lehigh increased the lead to 77-61, with 3:23 on the clock on Carrington's three-point play, before the Hawks clawed within 80-69 behind Waite's three-point play and a pair of Taylor free throws.

Monmouth continued its run by scoring three straight to make the score 80-72 on a Mike Myers Keitt layup off a turnover with 1:03 remaining, but Lehigh free throws iced the game for the Mountain Hawks.

The Hawks, who were 17-for-27 from the free throw line received 13 points from Campbell and 10 more from Hett, while Sofman added three trifectas and four caroms, and Waite chipped in eight points and six rebounds off the bench.

Monmouth returns to action on Friday, when the Hawks take on the University of Wyoming in the World Vision Basketball Challenge in Laramie, Wyoming.

The naming rights to the tournament were donated to World Vision by Basketball Travelers, Inc. As a Christian humanitarian organization, World Vision aims to contribute to a 75 percent reduction in malaria cases, with the end goal of nearly zero preventable malaria deaths by 2015. World Vision works in 62 malaria-endemic countries, 23 of which are in sub-Saharan Africa.