Bucknell University
10-4, 1-0
Holy Cross
8-5, 0-1
Record Crowd Sees Bucknell Men Defeat Holy Cross in PL Opener, 59-43
1/8/2005 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 8, 2005
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Kevin Bettencourt scored 17 points to lead Bucknell to a 59-43 victory over Holy Cross Saturday afternoon in front of a Sojka Pavilion-record crowd of 3,897. In the Patriot League opener featuring the teams with the two-best non-conference records, the Bison won their seventh straight overall and improved to 10-4 on the season, while Holy Cross fell to 8-5.
Charles Lee scored 12 points and Chris McNaughton added nine points, all in the second half, and seven rebounds. Bucknell held Holy Cross to 28.0 percent shooting and validated last week's road upsets of St. Joseph's and then-seventh-ranked Pittsburgh.
Kevin Hamilton was the only Crusader in double digits with 17 points. Keith Simmons added seven points off the bench and Nate Lufkin scored six, despite being limited to 16 minutes due to foul trouble.
Bucknell reached the 10-win plateau on the earliest date in school history and matched its best 14-game start since 1992-93. It was Bucknell's eighth straight Patriot League home victory.
After taking a 30-18 lead at the end of an intense, physical first half, the Bison were only 6-for-14 from the field in the second half but went to the free-throw line 24 times and made 16. Bucknell was 26-for-37 from the line in the game, while Holy Cross was 10-for-12.
The contest lived up to its billing as a defensive struggle. Both teams came in yielding under 60 points per game, and the two rivals forced numerous turnovers in the game's opening minutes. Bucknell did not make it's first field goal until Darren Mastropaolo's layup at the 14:03 mark, but that gave the Bison a 6-4 lead because they harassed Holy Cross into five turnovers during that span.
The Bison finally opened some breathing room with an 11-0 run that turned a 6-6 tie into a 17-6 lead. Lee sparked the run with a 3-pointer, then a traditional 3-point play on a fastbreak. Bettencourt followed with a three and Mastropaolo scored inside to complete the run.
Treys by Hamilton and Pat Doherty kept the Crusaders close, but Chris Niesz's 3-pointer with 1:29 left in the half gave the Bison their first 12-point lead at 28-16.
 Bucknell's Donald Brown battles John Hurley as a record crowd looks on.  |
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Holy Cross made its first big run in the second half, scoring 10 straight points to pull within one point. Bettencourt hit a 3-pointer to give the Bison a 38-27 lead with 14:07 to play, but Torey Thomas hit two free throws to start the spurt. Kevin Hyland's short jumper made it 38-34, then off a steal in the backcourt Hamilton hit a three to make it 38-37 with 11:14 to play.
But the Bison defense stiffened, allowing only one more field goal the rest of the way, that coming at the 1:36 mark. Bucknell slowly inched its lead back up thanks to solid free-throw shooting. McNaughton made 4 of 6 and Bettencourt hit a pair to make it 44-37, and Donald Brown's put-back with 5:23 left ended an eight-minute field goal drought, pushing the lead back to nine at 46-37.
Two free throws by Brown pushed the lead back into double figures, and it grew to 15 on free throws by Lee and Bettencourt inside two minutes to play. Keith Simmons broke the Holy Cross field-goal drought with a 3-pointer with 1:36 to play, but layups by Abe Badmus and Lee put the finishing touches on Bucknell's 20th all-time win against Holy Cross.
Coupled with its seven-game winning streak late last season, the Bison have now had seven-game runs in back-to-back years for the first time since 1918-19 and 1919-20.
Bettencourt entered the game ranked tied for second nationally in free-throw percentage at 93.3 percent, and he made 8 of 8 to improve to 50-for-53 on the season. He also had a career-high six steals and made 3 of 5 3-point attempts.
Holy Cross grabbed 14 offensive rebounds and held a slim 31-30 edge on the boards.
Bucknell returns to action on Wednesday at Colgate at 7 p.m.
