Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men Look for Eighth Straight Win Wednesday at Colgate
1/11/2005 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 11, 2005
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Bucknell, the Patriot League's hottest team, brings a seven-game winning streak to Cotterell Court on Wednesday night for a conference showdown against Colgate. Both teams jumped to the front of the pack in the Patriot League standings with victories on PL Opening Day this past Saturday. The Bison used suffocating defense and good foul shooting to pull away from Holy Cross, 59-43, at Sojka Pavilion. Colgate got 17 points from Jon Simon and held off Army 60-56 in Hamilton. While the Bison have won seven contests in a row -- the last four coming against Eastern powers Niagara, St. Joseph's, Pittsburgh and Holy Cross -- Colgate comes in on a modest two-game winning streak. The Raiders topped Florida Atlantic 81-75 on Dec. 30, prior to the Army game. Simon leads the team and ranks third in the Patriot League in scoring at 14.2 ppg. He shoots a solid 44.8% from 3-point range and 85.2% from the free-throw line. Also averaging in double digits are Andrew Zidar (13.5), who led the league in rebounding last season, and Alvin Reed (12.1), who will oppose Abe Badmus in what should be a very good battle at the point guard position. Colgate also has one of the league's highest-scoring freshmen in sharpshooter Kyle Roemer (9.6 ppg). The Raiders are third in the PL in scoring at 68.5 ppg, but sixth in scoring defense at 69.9. This is the 82nd all-time meeting between the two teams, with Bucknell holding a 43-38 series lead. Since the start of Patriot League play in 1990-91, the Bison have won 20 of 30 meetings with the Raiders, including a 7-7 mark at Cotterell Court.
about the bison
Bucknell's 59-43 win over Holy Cross Saturday came on the heels of one of the best stretches of non-conference play in school history. The Bison take a seven-game winning streak into Wednesday's tilt at Colgate, with dramatic moments abound and each win seemingly bigger and better than the next. A summary of the team's winning streak:
• Dec. 4 at Yale: Trailing by six with 44 seconds left in regulation, John Clark and Charles Lee hit 3-pointers, the last with 15 seconds left, to send the game into overtime. In OT, the Bison scored eight of the first 11 points and went on to win 73-65.
• Dec. 7 vs. Robert Morris: Leading by just a point at the half, the Bison outscored the Colonials 40-26 after the break en route to a 60-45 win. • Dec. 18 at Cornell: In a virtual repeat of the Robert Morris game, Bucknell snapped a 26-all halftime tie and blew away the Big Red 59-44 with a huge second half.
• Dec. 22 vs. Niagara: The Purple Eagles came to Lewisburg as the nation's highest-scoring team at just under 90 points per game, but the Bison held them well below that figure in a dramatic 76-74 win made possible by Charles Lee's jumper with nine-tenths of a second to play.
• Dec. 28 at St. Joseph's: Bucknell was 1-16 all-time against St. Joseph's but stunned the SRO crowd at Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse an epic shooting display in a 69-62 victory. The Bison shot 10-for-15 from 3-point range, including 7-for-8 in the second half, and beat the Hawks for the first time since 1979. It was St. Joe's first loss at the fieldhouse in two seasons.
• Jan. 2 at No. 7 Pittsburgh: In the biggest upset in school and Patriot League history, Bucknell knocked off the seventh-ranked Panthers 69-66, giving Pitt just its second home loss in three seasons at Petersen Events Center. Kevin Bettencourt's free throws with 23 seconds left proved to be the winning points.
• Jan. 8 vs. Holy Cross: In front of the largest home crowd in school history (3,897), Bucknell held the Crusaders to 28.0% shooting and won 59-43 before a CSTV audience.
with a victory over colgate, bucknell would ...
• ... improve to 11-4, matching its best 15-game start since 1992-93.
• ... capture its eighth straight victory, matching the team's longest winning streak under Pat Flannery.
• ... win its fifth straight road game and improve to 5-2 on the road this season.
• ... go to 2-0 in Patriot League play for the first time since 1994-95.
last time out
Kevin Bettencourt scored 17 points to lead Bucknell to a 59-43 win over Holy Cross on Saturday before a national television audience and the largest crowd ever to see a game at Bucknell (3,897). The Bison built a 30-18 halftime lead before Holy Cross rallied within a point at 38-37 with 11:14 to play. But Bucknell pulled away by scoring the next 11 points, nine coming at the free-throw line. The Bison used terrific defense to hold Holy Cross to 28.0% shooting from the field and force 19 turnovers. Charles Lee added 12 points for Bucknell, while Kevin Hamilton led Holy Cross with 17 (click here for boxscore).
inside the boxscore
Bucknell never trailed in the game ... despite being held scoreless in the first half, Chris McNaughton finished with nine points and seven rebounds ... freshman Darren Mastropaolo scored a career-high six points ... Kevin Bettencourt had a career-high six steals, accounting for half of Bucknell's total ... the Bison shot 41.2% from the floor and 45.5% from 3-point distance ... Bucknell was 26-for-37 from the foul line, while the Crusaders were 10-for-12.
first and ten
Bucknell improved to 10-4 on the season with Saturday's win over Holy Cross. The Bison reached the 10-win plateau on the earliest date in school history.
pittsburgh flashback
Bucknell achieved several significant milestones last Sunday's monumental win at then-No. 7 Pittsburgh:
• Pitt was the highest-ranked opponent Bucknell has ever beaten.
• The defending Big East regular-season champs entered the game 43-1 all-time at Petersen Events Center. Syracuse was the only other team to win there. (Note: Georgetown also won at Pitt last Wednesday).
• The Panthers entered the game 10-0 on the season and had won 48 straight non-conference home games (25 straight overall in the regular season).
• The Bison defeated Pitt for the first time since Jan. 11, 1975, when Jim Valvano coached Bucknell. That was also the last time Bucknell defeated any current member of the Big East.
poll watching
For the second straight week, Bucknell is ranked in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll. The Bison are ranked 22nd this week, up two spots after debuting at No. 24. Bucknell also received a vote in the Associated Press Poll, giving it an unofficial ranking of No. 40 (tie).
honors
Bison junior co-captain Kevin Bettencourt picked up a pair of honors on Monday when he was named the Patriot League Player of the Week and the Lewisburg Hotel Bison Athlete of the Week. Bettencourt, who earned the PL weekly honor for the second time this season, led the team with 17 points in Saturday's 16-point win over Holy Cross. He made 3 of 5 shots from 3-point range and helped lead the team's suffocating defensive effort with a career-high six steals.
streaking
Bucknell's current seven-game winning streak is tied for the second-longest streak in Pat Flannery's 11-year tenure as head coach. The longest run under Flannery's watch was an 8-game streak in 1995-96.
Longest Bucknell Winning Streaks Under Pat Flannery (Since 1994-95):
8 - 1/13/96 - 2/7/96
7 - 1/30/04 - 2/22/04
7 - 12/4/04 - pres.
5 - 1/11/97 - 1/25/97
5 - 1/9/99 - 1/23/99
5 - 1/31/99 - 2/17/99
5 - 1/15/00 - 1/26/00
5 - 2/9/00 - 2/23/00
streaking, part ii
The Bison are one of only 18 Division I teams that have active winning streaks of at least seven games (through Monday's games). Of those, nine are ranked in the Top 25 by the Associated Press.
Longest Active Winning Streaks: #1 Illinois 16, #3 North Carolina 13, #13 Boston College 13, #2 Kansas 11, #5 Duke 11, Minnesota 9, #7 Syracuse 9, Texas-El Paso 9, #4 Wake Forest 8, #11 Mississippi State 8, St. Mary's (Calif.) 8, Utah 7, Bucknell 7, #15 Michigan State 7, Vanderbilt 7, Nevada 7, Charlotte 7, Portland State 7.
streaking, part iii
Bucknell also had a seven-game winning streak late last season, marking the first time since 1918-19 and 1919-20 that the team has pieced together winning streaks of at least seven games in back-to-back years.
last season vs. colgate
• Jan. 30 at Sojka Pavilion: Charles Lee recorded his first career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds and Kevin Bettencourt matched his scoring total in Bucknell's 61-53 victory. Bucknell raced to an early 21-8 lead, fell behind for one possession in the second half, but pulled back ahead with clutch defense and foul shooting down the stretch.
• Feb. 29 at Cotterell Court: Mark Linebaugh scored 15 points and Colgate erased a 10-point deficit with 10 minutes to play in a 60-57 win. With head coach Pat Flannery at home with an illness, the Bison got 19 points from Chris McNaughton, but the the Raiders used a barrage of 3-pointers in a tide-turning 20-2 run.
dee-fense
Bucknell's strong start has been keyed by its defense, which is yielding a meager 57.9 points per game and is holding opposing shooters to 38.9% from the floor. On. Dec. 28 the Bison held Niagara, the nation's highest scoring team at the time (89.7 ppg on the season and 96.2 ppg in its six games prior to Bucknell), to 74 points, including just one field goal in the last 6:36 of the contest. The Bison have not allowed more than 74 all season, and only two teams have reached the 70-point mark. Bucknell leads the Patriot League and ranks 20th nationally in scoring defense.
In Bucknell's last 100 games, it has allowed ...
• ... 90 points once.
• ... 80-89 points 3 times.
• ... 70-79 points 19 times.
• ... 60-69 points 36 times.
• ... 50-59 points 25 times.
• ... 40-49 points 12 times.
• ... 30-39 points 2 times.
• ... 20-29 points 2 times.
free points
In recent years Bucknell has struggled at times with its free-throw shooting, but that area has become a strength for the Bison. Led by outstanding free-throw shooters Kevin Bettencourt (94.3%) and Charles Lee (73.2%), as well as the much-improved shooting of Chris McNaughton (68.4%, up from 59.5% last season), Bucknell is shooting 70.5% as a team. Even more impressive, the Bison are knocking them down at crunch time, connecting on 78.6% (55-70) in the final five minutes of games (including overtime). They were 7-for-7 down the stretch and 14-for-16 overall in the win over Pittsburgh.
free points, part ii
Kevin Bettencourt was 8-for-8 from the line against Holy Cross on Saturday and is now 50-for-53 (.943) on the season. As of Tuesday, Bettencourt LED THE NATION in free-throw percentage, just ahead of Duke's J.J. Redick who was 63-for-67 (.940). The Bucknell single-season record is .929 by Mike Joseph in 1989-90.
next up
The Bison begin a three-game homestand on Saturday, when Army visits for a 7 p.m. start. The Bison roughed up the Black Knights twice last season, winning 56-23 at West Point and 75-25 in Lewisburg. Those two victories accounted for two of the top four defensive performances of the shot clock era.
