Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Hosts Saint Francis (Pa.) on Monday
11/22/2004 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2004
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Bucknell plays its fourth of a school-record seven November contests Monday night as in-state rival Saint Francis makes its Sojka Pavilion debut. The Bison are coming off a crisp 19-point victory over Rider on Friday, extending their home-court winning streak to 10. In that contest Bucknell shot 55.6% from the field and used suffocating defense, particularly from the guards, to hold the Broncs to 27.5% shooting. Saint Francis opened its season on Friday against another Bison squad, defeating Howard 74-63 in Loretto. High-scoring guard Darshan Luckey scored 22 points in that contest, while widebody Jason Osborne had 19. The Red Flash return three starters from a team that finished 10-8 in the Northeast Conference (13-15 overall) a year ago. One of their non-confernce victories was an 84-79 shootout win over the Bison at DeGol Arena. Kevin Bettencourt had a night to remember for Bucknell, pouring in a career-high 42 points, the second-most in a game in school history. His 11 3-pointers shattered school and Patriot League records. Luckey scored 28 for Saint Francis. The Bison lead the all-time series 13-8, with the home team winning each of the last four meetings. The last time Saint Francis visited Lewisburg, the Bison pulled out a 57-54 decision in the fourth-to-last game ever played in Davis Gym.
about the bison
Bucknell's challenging early season schedule continues with the second of back-to-back home games Monday night against Saint Francis (Pa.). Point guard Abe Badmus returned from a hip flexor injury in Friday's win over Rider, albeit in limited minutes off the bench. But his return gives Bucknell a potentially outstanding three-guard rotation along with high-scoring co-captain Kevin Bettencourt and freshman phenom John Griffin. Starters Chris McNaughton (13 points, 10 rebounds), Charles Lee (12 points) and Donald Brown (6 points) all had their best games of the year against Rider and combined to make 11 of 18 shots from the field.
last time out
Kevin Bettencourt scored 19 points and Bucknell used a relentless defense to turn back a good Rider team 69-50 on Friday at Sojka Pavilion (see boxscore, Page 16). The Bison shot 59.1% in the first half and took a 13-point halftime lead, which they built to as many as 21 in the second stanza. The frustrated Broncs managed only 14 field goals in 51 attempts (.275), 21 of which came from 3-point range. Three-time All-MAAC selection Jerry Johnson, a candidate for conference player of the year honors, was held to just six points on 1-for-13 shooting.
getting defensive
Pat Flannery's teams have long been known for their defensive prowess, and this year's edition appears to be just as stingy. Through three games the Bison are allowing only 55.0 ppg and opponents are shooting only 38.5% from the field. In its last 100 games, Bucknell has allowed 70 points only 25 times, 80 points only six times and 90 points just once.
sojka streak
Bucknell puts a 10-game home winning streak on the line against Saint Francis. A year ago the Bison dropped two of their first three home games, falling to Yale and Penn, but they did not lose in Sojka Pavilion after Dec. 20. Bucknell was 7-0 at home in Patriot League play. This is Bucknell's longest home-court winning streak since a 15-game run from January 1995 to February 1996. The school record is a 24-game streak in 1986-87.
the last time against the red flash
Kevin Bettencourt put on an epic shooting display, making a school and Patriot League record 11 3-pointers en route to a 42-point night, but it came in a loss as Saint Francis rallied late for an 84-79 victory at DeGol Arena. Darshan Luckey scored 28 for the Red Flash, including a 3-pointer with 1:28 to play that gave them the lead for good. Bettencourt scored 24 of his points in the second half and finished 11-for-16 from beyond the arc. The 42 points were tied for second-most in school history (Al Leslie had 45 against American in 1980 and Jim Wherry had 42 against Penn State in 1967) and the most ever on the road. Charles Lee scored 13 points and Chris McNaughton had 12 despite foul trouble for the Bison.
griffin makes big splash
John Griffin received plenty of attention after leading St. Joseph's Prep to the Philadelphia Catholic League championship a year ago, and the Bison rookie has lived up to the billing in his first three career outings. Griffin has started all three games at point guard (he played mostly shooting guard in high school), scored 43 points on 13-for-14 shooting from the floor and committed only five turnovers in 99 minutes of action.
more on griffin
John Griffin's 18 points against Princeton was tied for the third-highest scoring total by a freshman on opening night, and the most since Mike Bright scored 20 against Susquehanna in 1989. Bob Barry, a classmate of Pat Flannery, scored a record 28 points in his collegiate debut against Bloomsburg in 1976. Jeff Werner also scored 18 points against South Carolina in 1974. Griffin is the first Bucknell player since at least 1970 to make the first 10 shots of his career. He extended that streak to 11 straight field goals before missing an off-balance heave just before the halftime buzzer against Rider.
Pat Flannery now dean of patriot league coaches
Now in his 11th season as head coach at Bucknell, Pat Flannery became the longest-tenured head coach in the Patriot League when Navy's Don DeVoe retired at the end of last season. Flannery notched his 150th career win on Nov. 12 against Northern Colorado and now has 151 victories, a total that ranks second in school annals, trailing only the legendary Charlie Woollum, who won 318 games from 1975-94. Woollum notched many of those wins with Flannery as his point guard in the late-1970s.
national respect
This week's issue of Sports Illustrated, the annual college basketball preview issue, picked Bucknell to win the Patriot League title. The preview cited Kevin Bettencourt and Chris McNaughton as players to watch. Athlon and Lindy's magazines also picked Bucknell as preseason favorites, while Street & Smith has the Bison ranked second behind defending champion Lehigh.
long-distance connections
One area the Bison hope to improve this season is their 3-point shooting. Bucknell shot a Patriot League-low 29.0% from 3-point range last season, despite ranking second in the league in overall field-goal percentage at 46.1%. Bucknell was 2-for-13 against Princeton in the season opener, but then bounced back to shoot 13-for-28 from long range (.464) in the last two contests.
cleaning the glass
Bucknell led the Patriot League in rebound margin a year ago at +4.6 per game, and the Bison return their top five rebounders from last season. In 2003-04 Bucknell was 13-4 when outrebounding its opponent but 1-11 when losing the battle on the glass. The Bison have outrebounded all three opponents this season and are +10.3 overall on the glass.
patriot league powers
No Patriot League team has won more regular-season conference games than Bucknell since the start of league play in 1990-91. The Bison carry an impressive 118-64 (.656) conference ledger and have posted 12 winning or even conference records in 14 years.
bison briefs
With four field goals in six attempts against Rider, Chris McNaughton became eligible for Bucknell's career field-goal percentage list, and he jumped right into the No. 1 position at 65.1% ... Kevin Bettencourt, only a junior, needs only 64 3-pointers to break Mike Bright's Bucknell career record ... Bettencourt tied the school record with 72 last season, and he needs 12 treys to catch Gordon Mboya for fourth on the BU career chart ... Bettencourt also needs 200 points to become Bucknell's 30th 1,000-point scorer ... this time last year much was made of Bucknell's 1-for-17 showing from the free-throw line against Michigan State, but the Bison are off to a much better start from the charity stripe in 2004-05 ... they are shooting 71.6% from the line through three games.
