Bucknell University
3-6
Norfolk State
1-8
Bucknell Men Advance to C of C Shootout Championship Game with 68-52 win over Norfolk State
12/29/2003 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 29, 2003
CHARLESTON, S.C. - Kevin Bettencourt scored a game-high 29 points and Bucknell used a stiff defense to turn back Norfolk State 68-52 Monday night at the Saturn of North Charleston Shootout.
The Bison advance to Tuesday night's tournament championship game against the College of Charleston, an 86-59 winner over Long Island. Tipoff will be at 7:30 p.m.
Bucknell (3-6) sprinted to a quick 11-0 lead and never looked back en route to its second straight win. The Bison held Norfolk State (1-8) without a field goal for the first 7:07 of the contest and limited the Spartans to only five first-half field goals in 23 attempts.
Bettencourt's free throws with less than a second left in the half gave Bucknell a 38-22 cushion.
Bucknell extended the lead to 18 points at 40-22 after Antario Glover's leaning bank shot, but Norfolk State rallied with its best stretch of the night to get right back in the game. Chakowby Hicks, who accounted for more than half of the Spartans' scoring with 27 points on the night, bookended a 12-1 run with a pair of 3-pointers, drawing NSU within seven at 41-34 with 15:55 remaining.
But the Bison sprung out of a timeout on a 10-3 run, with Bettencourt's trey restoring their double-digit advantage. Matt Quinn's free throws capped the momentum-changing surge and made it 52-37 with 12:55 left.
Hicks' 3-pointer with 14:56 to play would be the Spartans' last field goal until the 5:08 mark. Bucknell put the game out of reach with an 8-0 run over a 90-second span, with 3-pointers from Chris Niesz and Bettencourt sandwiching a Donald Brown layup.
Chris McNaughton's tip-in with 27 seconds left gave the Bison their largest lead of the night, 21 points at 68-47.
Bettencourt made 8 of 18 shots from the field, 4 of 11 from 3-point range and a career-high 9 of 9 from the foul line. Brown just missed a double-double with eight points and a career-high nine rebounds.
The Bison held a 39-29 rebounding edge and limited Norfolk State to 29.8 percent shooting on the night. The Bison shot 46.0 percent from the field and made 15 of 22 free throws.
Hicks made 5 of 8 from 3-point range, but the rest of the team went 0 for 7 from long range.
