Bucknell University
4-4
Yale
2-4
Charles Lee's Career Day Lifts Bucknell Men's Hoops Past Yale in Overtime, 73-65
12/4/2004 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 4, 2004
NEW HAVEN, Conn. - Charles Lee scored 22 points, including a game-tying 3-pointer with 15 seconds left in regulation, and grabbed a career-high 18 rebounds to lead Bucknell to a 73-65 overtime victory over Yale on Saturday afternoon at John J. Lee Amphitheater.
Bucknell (4-4) rallied from a 6-point deficit in the final minute, then scored eight of the first 11 points of the extra session. Chris McNaughton also had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, and John Clark added a season-high 11 points in his first start of the year.
Clark's 3-pointer with 44 seconds left in regulation trimmed Bucknell's deficit to 57-54. Bucknell chose to foul Yale center Dominick Martin, a sub-50 percent free-throw shooter on the season but who had been 8-for-10 from the stripe to that point. Martin missed both, however, and Lee got open on the left baseline and buried a 3-pointer to knot the game at 57.
Yale (2-4) had a chance to win at the end of regulation, but Edwin Draughan's 15-footer fell away and Lee snared the rebound at the buzzer.
Kevin Bettencourt, Bucknell's leading scorer who had been held scoreless for the first 37 minutes of the game, opened the overtime session by burying an open 3-pointer. After Draughan hit one of two from the line, Lee followed with a 3-point play.
Bucknell led 67-62 after Lee made 2 of 3 from the line after getting fouled on a 3-point attempt. Yale was not done, however, as Sam Kaplan answered with a 3-point play. Abe Badmus missed a floater in the paint, but Yale never got a tying shot off. Draughan fumbled the ball into Bettencourt's hands with 20 seconds remaining and Bettencourt made two free throws to make it 69-65. Badmus took a key charge and picked Gamboa's pocket to help ice the game.
The Bison made four more free throws in the closing seconds to finish 9-for-10 from the line in overtime.
Bucknell led 26-21 at halftime but Yale used a 16-6 run to take a 37-32 lead at the 12:35 mark of the second half. Caleb Holmes' 3-pointer with 6:53 to play made it 48-41, but two big jump shots by Clark, a key steal by Badmus and 3-pointers from Bettecourt and Lee brought the Bison back.
After falling behind 7-2 in the early moments, Bucknell used a 10-0 run midway through the first half to take the lead for the first time. John Griffin began that run with a jumper from the left wing and Charles Lee and Chris McNaughton followed with four points each. McNaughton's hook shot in the lane gave the Bison a 19-12 lead at the 7:06 mark, before Alex Gamboa ended Yale's nearly seven-minute scoring drought with a 3-pointer.
The Bulldogs pulled within 23-20 on Edwin Draughan's breakaway dunk, but Lee's 3-pointer helped give Bucknell a 26-21 halftime cushion.
Lee had seven points and nine rebounds in the first half, while McNaughton had six points and six boards. Yale played only the first three minutes of the opening half with its leading scorer Dominick Martin, who picked up two quick fouls. The Bulldogs shot made only 6 of 23 field-goal attempts in the first half.
Draughan led Yale with 21 points, while Casey Hughes added 10 points and eight rebounds. Martin had 12 points, all in the second half.
Bucknell improved to 10-1 in overtime games under Pat Flannery.
Bucknell returns home on Tuesday night to take on Robert Morris at 7:30 p.m.
