Bucknell University Athletics
Bison Men's Hoops Preps for Key Friday-Sunday Set with Lafayette, Lehigh
1/20/2005 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2005
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The first of four straight Friday-Sunday series takes place this weekend, with red-hot Bucknell bringing a nine-game winning streak into home games with longtime rivals Lafayette and Lehigh. At 3-0 in Patriot League play, the Bison enter the weekend tied for first place with Lehigh, one game ahead of American and Holy Cross. Should Bucknell and Lehigh both win on Friday night (the Mountain Hawks play at Colgate), Sunday's contest would become a battle for sole possession of first place. Bucknell, which has not lost a game since Dec. 1, has had six days of rest following Saturday's 63-46 home victory over Army. The win gave the Bison their longest winning streak of the Pat Flannery era, and the 10th-longest streak in school history. Lafayette brings a 5-11 overall record (1-2 PL) into Friday night's tilt. The Leopards began Patriot League play with a win over Navy, but have since suffered losses to Lehigh and American, as well as a non-league setback to Penn on Tuesday. Reserve forward Sean Knitter is the only Leopard scoring in double-figures (10.5 ppg), but the league's second-highest scoring team (68.7 ppg) features eight players averaging at least 5.0 ppg. Lehigh enters the weekend having won three straight and 5 of 6. The Mountain Hawks have beaten American, Lafayette and Navy in PL play and boast one of the league's stingiest defenses (59.0 ppg). Junior transfer Joe Knight leads the team in scoring at 12.5 ppg, while sophomore Jose Olivero nearly matches him at 12.4 ppg. Bucknell has played Lafayette and Lehigh a total of 272 times over the last century. The Bison lead the all-time series with Lehigh 85-55, but trail Lafayette, 81-51.
about the bison
Bucknell's wins over Holy Cross, Colgate and Army 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 a nine-game winning streak into this weekend's games with Lafayette and Lehigh, 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 71-69 victory.
• Jan 15 vs. Army: The Bison led just 21-19 at the half after shooting just 23.3% from the field, but heated up to 50.0% in the second half and won going away, 63-46.
with a victory over lafayette, bucknell would ...
• ... maintain at least a share of first place in the Patriot League.
• ... improve to 13-4, its best 17-game start since 1983-84.
• ... capture its 10th straight victory, extending the team's longest
winning streak under Pat Flannery and matching the eighth-longest streak in school history.
• ... improve to 6-1 at home this season.
• ... win its 10th straight Patriot League home game.
• ... go to 4-0 in Patriot League play for the first time since 1994-95 and only the third time ever.
• ... defeat Lafayette at home for the fourth straight season.
last time out
Charles Lee registered game highs with 15 points and nine rebounds and Bucknell overcame a poor-shooting first half to defeat Army 63-46 at Sojka Pavilion. Chris McNaughton added 12 points and seven rebounds and Abe Badmus had 11 points and eight boards -- both season highs. The Bison made only three of their first 19 shots from the field were 7-for-30 as they nursed a 21-19 halftime lead. But a 17-6 run early in the second half sent them on their way. Bucknell doubled its first-half output with a 42-point second half, helped by 50.0% shooting from the field. (see complete boxscore and recap on page 24).
inside the boxscore
Bucknell trailed by as many as five points early in the contest, marking the first time it trailed in three games ... Bucknell outrebounded Army 42-32 ... Abe Badmus had five offensive rebounds, all in the first half ... Badmus was also 3-for-4 from the field and had three steals ... Bucknell blocked a season-high seven shots, paced by a career-high three rejections from John Clark ... Donald Brown missed the game with a strained calf muscle ... the Bison defense forced 16 turnovers and held the Black Knights to 34.0% shooting from the field.
Pat Flannery back on the sideline
Bucknell head coach Pat Flannery missed the Army game while attending to an unexpected family matter. After a scheduled off-day for the team on Sunday, Flannery was back at practice on Monday and will be on the bench for the games this weekend.
friday night lights
Since the Patriot League went to a Friday-Sunday format for part of its schedule two seasons ago, Bucknell is 6-2 on the Friday leg. Four times the Bison parlayed the Friday victory into a weekend sweep.
last season vs. lafayette
• Jan. 25 at Kirby Sports Center: Marcus Harley scored 14 points off the bench to help Lafayette improve to 5-0 in PL play with an 81-72 win. Chris McNaughton led the Bison with 16 points and 10 rebounds, despite foul trouble. Bucknell was just 7 of 15 from the foul line, while Lafayette was 23 of 27. Two FT misses by Charles Lee prevented Bucknell from closing within two points with two minutes to play, and Sean Knitter's 3-point play at the other end resulted in a key five-point swing.
• Feb. 20 at Sojka Pavilion: McNaughton overcame early foul trouble to score 20 points in 17 minutes and three teammates joined him in double figures as Bucknell knocked Lafayette out of first place with a 79-61 win. The Bison outscored the Leopards 42-27 in the second half. Kevin Bettencourt hit five 3-pointers and finished with 17 points, while Lee added 15 and Abe Badmus 12. Winston Davis led Lafayette with 18 points, but the Bison held leading scorer Justin DeBerry to only six points on 2-for-12 shooting.
streaking
Bucknell's current nine-game winning streak is the longest in Pat Flannery's 11-year tenure as head coach. The Bison 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):
9 - 12/4/04 - present
8 - 1/13/96 - 2/7/96
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)
9 - 12/4/2004 - present
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)
streaking, part ii
The Bison are one of only eight Division I teams that have active winning streaks of at least nine games (through Wednesday's games). Of those, five are ranked in the Top 10 by the Associated Press.
Longest Division I Active Winning Streaks: #1 Illinois 18, #9 Boston College 15, #2 Kansas 14, #4 Duke 14, #7 Syracuse 11, Utah 10, Bucknell 9, Vermont 9.
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.
three-headed monster
The last time Bucknell had three players average 12 points or more per game was in 1991-92, and it's something that has happened only 15 times in school history. But the Bison have a "triple dozen" going this season with Kevin Bettencourt (13.5), Chris McNaughton (13.1) and Charles Lee (12.5) leading the offense. Each member of that trio was a Preseason All-Patriot League pick, and currently only 16 points separate the three of them. Bettencourt, McNaughton and Lee are accounting for 61.6% of Bucknell's points this season.
next up
The Bison take to the road for the Patriot League's southern trip next weekend. Bucknell visits American on Friday at 7 p.m., then faces Navy on Sunday at 2 p.m. at Alumni Hall. The Bison have not won in American's Bender Arena since the Eagles joined the Patriot League in 2001-02. Last season's 54-52 victory at Navy snapped a 13-game losing streak to the Midshipmen in Annapolis.
