Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
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Michigan State
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Bison Throw Major Scare into No. 3 Michigan State but Fall 64-52
11/21/2003 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 21, 2003
EAST LANSING, Mich. - Led by a career-high 21 points from Kevin Bettencourt, Bucknell nearly pulled off its biggest upset in program history, but a late charge lifted third-ranked Michigan State to a 64-52 victory before 14,759 fans in both teams' season openers at the Breslin Center Friday night.
Bucknell, which had never before faced a team ranked as high as the Spartans, trailed just 33-32 at the half, but quickly jumped ahead in the second period on the fourth of Bettencourt's five 3-pointers. Back-to-back 3-pointers by Chris Niesz at the 16-minute mark gave the Bison a 43-39 lead, and Bucknell still led as late as the 5:14 mark when Shannon Brown's layup gave the Spartans a 51-50 advantage.
That basket ignited a 15-2 Michigan State run to close the game. After Chris Hill's 3-pointer made it 54-50 with 4:15 to play, Antario Glover scored inside to make it a two-point game with 3:52 left, but that would be Bucknell's final points of the night.
A Paul Davis free throw and a big trey from Kelvin Torbert made it 58-52, and a jumper from Alan Anderson and a dunk by Davis stretched the lead to double digits 62-52 with 57 seconds remaining.
Bucknell was hindered by a rough night at the free throw line. The Bison made just 1 of 17 free-throw attempts, including 0-for-8 during the final nine minutes of the see-saw second half.
"I thought we were ready to play and maybe they weren't prepared for us," said head coach Pat Flannery. "We knew they had talked a lot about trying to get up-tempo and really wanting to run, so we tried to work hard in transition. We made some shots and didn't get some bounces. Either way, not making free throws changes the flow of the game. Michigan State made the plays when they had to. I was very impressed with them. It's going to be neat to watch them this year."
Michigan State led by as many as eight in the first half, but Bucknell closed the half on a 12-5 run, with Bettencourt pocketing seven of those points.
Paul Davis scored 21 points for the Spartans. He made 9 of 13 shots from the floor but the rest of the team made only 15 of 47. Michigan State shot just 40.0 percent from the floor, compared to Bucknell's 41.5 percent. The Spartans held a 42-39 rebounding edge.
Davorin Skornik led all players with 11 rebounds. All four of Bucknell's freshmen played in the contest, with Donald Brown leading the way with three points and five rebounds in 20 minutes.
Bucknell next faces Yale in its home opener on Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion. Tipoff is slated for 7 p.m.
