Bucknell University
2-2
Saint Francis University
2-0
Bison Men's Basketball Falls to Saint Francis (Pa.), 70-65
11/22/2004 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2004
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Joey Goodson and Rahsaan Benton scored 20 points each and Goodson hit two crucial 3-pointers in the final 2:19 to lead Saint Francis (Pa.) to a 70-65 victory over Bucknell on Monday at Sojka Pavilion.
Chris McNaughton scored 17 to lead Bucknell, which fell to 2-2 on the season and saw its 10-game home winning streak snapped. The Red Flash won in Lewisburg for the first time since 1994-95 and improved to 2-0 on the year.
Bucknell jumped out to an early 20-7 lead before Saint Francis stormed back with a 21-6 run. Goodson's 3-pointer just before the halftime buzzer gave the Red Flash a 31-30 lead at the break.
Neither team led by more than three points for the first 18:58 of a tense second half that featured eight ties and eight lead changes. McNaughton's follow of Charles Lee's missed 3-pointer with 3:32 to play gave Bucknell a 59-56 lead. Benton's two free throws pulled the Red Flash within one with 3:03 left, then Goodson canned back-to-back devastating 3-pointers that finally gave one team some breathing room.
One of Saint Francis' 14 offensive rebounds led to Goodson's trey from the left wing with 2:19 to play that gave the Red Flash a 61-59 lead. After two misses and a turnover from both sides, Goodson hit another 3-pointer, this one with a hand in his face as the shot clock was set to expire, and Saint Francis had a 64-59 cushion with 1:02 to play.
Saint Francis made 6 of 10 free throws in the final 41 seconds and 20 of 25 on the night to salt the game away.
Bucknell held Saint Francis to just three field goals over the first 10:13 of the contest and used an array of transition points to streak to the 13-point lead. Kevin Bettencourt's 3-pointer and consecutive layups from Lee, John Clark and John Griffin capped a 16-3 run and made it 20-7 at the 11:03 mark.
But Benton drained four of his five 3-pointers in the half, the last giving Saint Francis its first lead of the night at 28-26 with 1:39 left, and the see-saw battle continued until the final minutes.
Lee added 14 points for the Bison, who shot 45.5 percent from the field but missed their last five 3-pointers of the night after starting 5-for-10. Bettencourt, who scored 42 points against Saint Francis last season, was held to seven.
Darshan Luckey, the Red Flash's leading scorer who poured in 28 against Bucknell in a Saint Francis win last season, was 1-for-8 from the field and scored four points. Jason Osborne had 14 points and eight rebounds (six offensive), while Chris Jones came off the bench for six points and 13 rebounds (6 offensive).
Benton, Goodson and Osborne combined for 17 of Saint Francis' 21 field goals in the game.
Bucknell returns to action on Friday against Stephen F. Austin at Iowa State's Cyclone Challenge. Tipoff is 6:30 p.m. Eastern.
