Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
7-12, 3-3PL
Colgate
10-9, 2-4PL
Lee's Double-Double Leads Bucknell Men Past Colgate, 61-53
1/30/2004 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 30, 2004
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Charles Lee recorded his first career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds and Kevin Bettencourt matched his point total to lead Bucknell to a 61-53 Patriot League victory over visiting Colgate on Friday evening.
Winners of four of its last five games, Bucknell improved to 7-12 overall and 3-3 in the Patriot League. Colgate fell to 10-9, 2-4. Holy Cross also entered the night in a three-way tie for fourth place with Bucknell and Colgate, but the Bison took over fourth by themselves thanks to Lehigh's 63-53 win over the Crusaders.
Bucknell sprinted to an early 21-8 lead, fell behind by a point for one possession early in the second half, then iced it with some clutch defense and free-throw shooting down the stretch.
Colgate's Kendall Chones led all scorers with 19 points. He made 8 of 14 shots from the field, but the rest of the team made only 9 of 34 and the Raiders finished at 35.4 percent for the game.
Chris McNaughton (10 points, 9 rebounds) made two free throws at the 10:30 mark of the first half to cap a 9-0 run and give the Bison their largest lead of the night at 21-8. Bettencourt hit a 3-pointer and Donald Brown had a thunderous fastbreak dunk to spur the run.
But the Bison went scoreless for 5:19 later in the half while Colgate went on an 11-2 run to claw back within 23-19. After baskets by Brown, Lee and Tarik Viaer-McClymont pushed the Bucknell lead back to eight Mark Linebaugh's 3-pointer in the final minute reduced the margin to 29-24 at halftime.
Back-to-back baskets by Chones sparked an 8-2 Raiders run to start the second half, with Andrew Zidar's elbow jumper giving them their first lead of the night at 32-31 at the 16:11 mark.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Lee made a free throw on the following possession and Bettencourt knocked down a short jumper to snap a 32-all tie. That's the time when Colgate, the Patriot League's top free-throw shooting team at 74.3 percent coming in, went ice cold from the charity stripe. The Raiders missed 9 of 11 from the line during one stretch and made only 6 of 16 in the second half.
Linebaugh, Jon Foss and Chones all missed both ends of two-shot fouls, allowing Bucknell to take control with a 10-3 run. With Bucknell clinging to a 38-36 lead, Jon Clark made a big 3-pointer from the right corner and Lee followed with a runner in the lane to make it 43-36.
After Alvin Reed's 3-point play cut it back to a four-point game, Lee made perhaps his biggest play of the night when he tipped in Abe Badmus' missed 3-pointer. After Chones missed a pair from the line, Brown turned a driving layup into a 3-point play to make it 48-39 with 3:58 left.
In the final 2:13, the Raiders got 3-pointers from Linebaugh, Jon Simon and Alvin Reed, and Linebaugh made three free-throws after being fouled on a shot from behind the arc, but the Bison countered each comeback attempt by making 12 of 15 from the line in the closing minutes.
Bucknell outrebounded Colgate 38-35 and shot an even 40.0 percent from the field. Brown and McNaughton tallied 10 points apiece as the Bison won despite shooting only 2 of 15 from 3-point range. Bucknell countered that by outscoring the Raiders 32-17 in the paint.
Colgate played without leading scorer Howard Blue, who missed his third straight game with a knee injury. Linebaugh finished with 12 points and Reed 11 for the Raiders, who visit Lehigh on Sunday.
The Bison host Holy Cross at 3:15 p.m. Sunday in Sojka Pavilion.
