Bucknell University Athletics
Sizzling Bison Cagers Host Army Saturday Night at Sojka Pavilion
1/14/2005 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 14, 2005
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Sizzling Bucknell tries to extend its winning streak to nine games Saturday night when Army visits Sojka Pavilion for the first of two meetings between the teams this season. Ranked 22nd in this week's CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll, Bucknell won its fifth straight road game on Wednesday night at Colgate, although the 71-69 win was not without its tense moments. Colgate whittled a 21-point deficit to as little as two in the closing minutes, but Charles Lee, who scored a team-high 19 points, saved the day with a key rebound and four clinching free throws in the final 30 seconds. A victory over the Black Knights would give the Bison their longest winning streak in Pat Flannery's 11-year tenure. Army has struggled in 2004-05 and comes to Lewisburg attempting to shake a six-game losing streak. Last weekend the Cadets nearly surprised Colgate on the road but fell 60-56. Wednesday Holy Cross held them to just nine field goals in a 66-29 victory. Army is led by sophomore guard Matt Bell, whose 14.1 ppg scoring average ranks third in the Patriot League, one spot ahead of Bucknell's Kevin Bettencourt. Army is typically a good shooting team. The Black Knights shoot 38.6% from the 3-point arc and a league-best 80.3% from the free-throw line. Bucknell has defeated Army seven straight times to increase its series lead to 29-14. The Black Knights' last win over the Bison came at West Point in 2001, and their last win in Lewisburg was in 1997. Bucknell won last year's games by scores of 56-23 and 75-25, and the Bison have outscored the Cadets by an average of 63-46 during the current seven-game series winning streak.
about the bison
Bucknell's wins over Holy Cross and Colgate to start the Patriot League schedule came on the heels of one of the best stretches of non-conference play in school history. The Bison take an eight-game winning streak into Saturday's tilt against Army, 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.
• Jan. 12 at Colgate: After Colgate sliced Bucknell's 21-point lead to just two, Charles Lee scored the team's last six points, including four clutch free-throws in the final 30 seconds, to preserve the victory.
with a victory over army, bucknell would ...
• ... improve to 12-4, matching its best 16-game start since 1992-93.
• ... capture its ninth straight victory, marking the team's longest winning streak under Pat Flannery.
• ... improve to 5-1 at home this season.
• ... win its ninth straight Patriot League home game.
• ... go to 3-0 in Patriot League play for the first time since 1994-95 and only the third time ever.
• ... win its eighth game in a row against the Black Knights.
last time out
Charles Lee scored 19 points, including four big free-throws in the final 30 seconds of the game, to lead Bucknell to a tense 71-69 victory at Colgate on Wednesday. The Bison used a 13-0 run to build a 37-23 halftime lead, then they stretched the advantage to 21 points at 48-27 after Chris McNaughton's free throw with 15:30 to play in the game. But Colgate came storming back thanks to some deadly 3-point shooting and inspired play from Andrew Zidar and Alvin Reed. Zidar's inside bucket with 4:37 left capped a 10-0 run and brought the Raiders within 63-59. Kyle Roemer's fifth 3-pointer of the night made it 67-65 with 1:55 left, and after a Bison miss Colgate had a chance to take the lead but Zidar's 3-pointer from the top of the arc was off the mark. Lee corralled the rebound and made two free throws to make it 69-65 with 29.4 seconds left. Dan Gentile scored on a put-back with 5.6 seconds left, but Lee hit two more huge charity tosses to ice the game.
inside the boxscore
For the second straight game, Bucknell never trailed ... complementing Charles Lee's 19 points were Chris McNaughton with 15 (5-6 FG) and Kevin Bettencourt with 13 ... the Bison shot 56.8% from the field, despite making only 6 of 19 from 3-point range ... Colgate's 46 points in the second half were the most allowed in a half by the Bison this season ... Abe Badmus led all players with four steals ... Bucknell finished with 13 assists and 13 turnovers, marking the fifth time in the last seven games that it has been even or better ... Bucknell's bench outscored Colgate's 17-8.
last season vs. army
• Jan. 23 at Christl Arena: A record-setting defensive perfomance and a terrific game from then-freshman guard Abe Badmus helped Bucknell to a 56-23 win over Army. Badmus had 13 points, nine rebounds, four steals and two assists without a turnover. Meanwhile the Bison defense held Army to only seven field goals all night and just two in the second half. It was the fewest points allowed by the Bison since 1941-42.
• Feb. 22 at Sojka Pavilion: In a near-repeat of the first meeting, Bucknell limited Army to eight field goals in a 75-25 rout. The 50-point margin was the largest in Bucknell history. The Bison started their five seniors and were led by 13 points from Matt Quinn and nine from Jeremiah Bennett. Only two Travis Owsley 3-pointers in the final 52 seconds prevented Army from breaking the NCAA record for fewest points in a game during the shot-clock era.
two for the books
Bucknell held Army to a combined 48 points in two meetings last season, accounting for two of the top seven defensive performances in all of Division I since the introduction of the shot clock in 1986.
Fewest Points Allowed in a Game (Since 1986):
• 21, Coastal Carolina (61) vs. Georgia Southern, Jan. 2, 1997
• 22, Boston University (73) vs. Hartford, Jan. 6, 2005
• 23, Bucknell (56) vs. Army, Jan. 23, 2004
• 23, Dayton (60) vs. Miami (Ohio), Dec. 29, 2001
• 24, LSU (68) vs. Nicholls State, Nov. 22, 2002
• 24, Oklahoma (94) vs. Arkansas-Pine Bluff, Dec. 2, 2003
• 25, Bucknell (75) vs. Army, Feb. 22, 2004
• 25, N.C. State (75) vs. Texas-Pan American, Jan. 7, 1997
• 25, Wisconsin-Green Bay (69) vs. Valparaiso, Mar. 2, 1992
streaking
Bucknell's current eight-game winning streak is tied for the longest in Pat Flannery's 11-year tenure as head coach. The Bison also had an 8-game streak under Flannery's watch in 1995-96. The longest overall winning streak in school history is 17 games (1902-04), and the longest within a season is 12 games (1907-08).
Longest Bucknell Winning Streaks Under Pat Flannery (Since 1994-95):
8, 1/13/96 - 2/7/96
8, 12/4/04 - present
7, 1/30/04 - 2/22/04
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
Longest Winning Streaks in Bucknell History (broken up by)
17, 3/1/1902 - 2/19/1904 (vs. Allegheny)
15, 2/5/1901 - 2/11/1902 (at Princeton)
14, 1/10/1908 - 1/27/1909 (at State College)
13, 3/9/1906 - 3/9/1907 (at Harrisburg Collegians)
13, 2/15/1918 - 2/8/1919 (at Lehigh)
11, 2/6/1920 - 1/13/1921 (at Temple)
11, 2/1/1993 - 3/6/1993 (vs. Holy Cross)
10, 2/16/1919 - 12/20/1919 (at Syracuse)
10, 1/14/1983 - 2/8/1983 (at Lafayette)
9, 3/3/1956 - 12/28/1956 (vs. West Virginia Tech)
9, 2/19/1958 - 12/10/1958 (at Cornell)
9, 1/7/1974 - 1/25/1974 (Rutgers)
9, 1/21/1987 - 2/21/1987 (at Lafayette)
8, 2/26/1909 - 1/31/1910 (Allegheny)
8, 1/6/1988 - 1/25/1988 (at Delaware)
8, 1/13/1996 - 2/7/1996 (at St. Bonaventure)
8, 12/4/2004 - present
streaking, part II
The Bison are one of only 13 Division I teams that have active winning streaks of at least eight games (through Thursday's games). Of those, seven are ranked in the Top 25 by the Associated Press.
Longest Active Winning Streaks: #1 Illinois 17, #3 North Carolina 14, #13 Boston College 13, #2 Kansas 12, #5 Duke 12, Minnesota 10, Texas-El Paso 10, #7 Syracuse 9, #4 Wake Forest 9, St. Mary's (Calif.) 9, Utah 8, Bucknell 8, Charlotte 8.
streaking, part III
Bucknell had a seven-game winning streak late last season, making this 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.
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). See Page 5 for complete rankings.
next up
The Bison continue their three-game homestand on next weekend when Lafayette and Lehigh visit Lewisburg as the Friday-Sunday rotation of league games kicks in. Lafayette will be in on Friday for a 7 p.m. tip on "Hawaiian Night" at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell and Lehigh square off Sunday at 2 p.m.
