Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
Navy
Bison Men Fall to Navy, 71-58
2/3/2001 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2001
LEWISBURG, PA - Senior forward Chris Williams scored 20 points and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds to lead Navy to a 71-58 victory over Bucknell in Davis Gymnasium Saturday afternoon. It was the fourth straight win in the series for the Mids (14-7, 6-1 PL).
Bucknell (10-11, 2-5 PL) jumped out to an early 21-12 lead when junior point guard Bryan Bailey (Hempstead, N.Y./South Side) scored 14 points in the first 9:34 of action. But the Midshipmen turned the tide with a 14-0 run to grab a 26-21 lead with 6:13 to go before the break. Francis Ebong had five points in the Navy outburst. After the teams traded buckets for the next four-plus minutes, Bucknell's Jake Ramage (Moorestown, N.J./Moorestown) connected on a three-pointer with 1:21 to go and Bailey added a free throw with 0:38 to play to send the teams into the locker room tied at 32-32.
Navy's defense took control of the game to open the second half, holding the Bison scoreless for just over six minutes. Center Michael Cunningham triggered the offense with four points in an 11-0 run that gave Navy a 43-32 lead. Bucknell finally broke through on a conventional three-point play from sophomore forward Boakai Lalugba (East Orange, N.J./Bishop Francis Essex Catholic) with 13:49 to play in the game. Lalugba added a second layup on Bucknell's next possession to cut the margin to six, but that's as close as the Bison would get the rest of the way.
The Mids outscored Bucknell 16-8 over the next six-and-a-half minutes to push out to their biggest margin at 59-45 with 7:01 to play. The Bison, who outrebounded the Midshipmen 40-38, had several chances to slice further into Navy's lead, but managed to make just 16-of-28 free throws in the half. Bucknell missed 20 free throws in the contest (22-42) and had 21 turnovers, while Navy made 71.8% of its attempts at the line (28-39) and had just 13 turnovers.
Bailey led all scorers in the game with 28 points on eight-of-12 shooting from the floor, while Lalugba added 16 points and six rebounds. Sophomore forward Brian Werner (Rockville Centre, N.Y./Chaminade) paced the Bison on the boards with eight rebounds. In addition to Williams, Navy placed two players in double-figures - Francis Ebong and Kyle Barker, each of whom had 11 points off the bench. Navy's bench outscored the Bison's bench, 31-3.
Bucknell will be back in action on Wednesday when it hosts Lafayette in a Patriot League contest. Tip-off in Davis Gymnasium is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. Navy will play at Richmond in a non-league affair on Monday.
