Bucknell University
6-1
Cornell
3-6
Bucknell Men's Basketball Comes out of Break Strong, Routs Cornell 83-39
12/17/2005 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2005
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Freshman Jason Vegostky scored a career-high 12 points, all coming in Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion-record 51-point first half, leading the Bison to an 83-39 rout of Cornell on Saturday afternoon. Bucknell, playing for the first time in 11 days after a break for final exams, placed 12 players in the scoring column and improved to 6-1 on the season.
Chris McNaughton also scored 12 points, including 10 in the first half, on 6-for-7 shooting. Abe Badmus and Kevin Bettencourt finished with 11 points each.
Lenny Collins led Cornell (3-6) with 12 points, while Ryan Rourke and Adam Gore scored nine each for the Big Red, who were also coming off an extended layoff.
Bucknell made 20 of 29 shots from the floor (69.0 percent) en route to a 51-17 halftime lead. The game was tied at 10-10 before the Bison outscored Cornell 41-7 over the final 13 minutes. That stretch included a 20-0 run that began with a short McNaughton jumper at the 13:17 mark and ended with a Charles Lee 3-pointer about six minutes later.
Vegotsky did not miss a shot in the half, scoring his 12 points on three 3-pointers and a traditional 3-point play. In all, 10 different Bucknell players scored in the opening 20 minutes.
Bucknell opened up the bench in the second half, as only forward Darren Mastropaolo played more than 24 minutes. The Bison opened a 41-point lead at 64-23 on Mastropaolo's tip-in of his own missed shot with 12:12 left. They made it 72-27 on Bettencourt's free throws at the 7:41 mark, and Bucknell took its largest lead of 47 points (83-36) on Josh Linthicum's free throws with 1:40 remaining.
The Bison finished the night shooting 61.7 percent from the field (29-47), the fourth time in six games they have shot over 50 percent and the second time over 60 percent. They also finished 7-for-12 from beyond the 3-point arc and outrebounded Cornell 36-29. Bucknell had 21 assists on 29 field goals, including six from Badmus and five from Bettencourt.
Cornell shot just 26.5 percent from the field (13-49), 24.0 percent from 3-point range (6-25) and 43.8 percent from the free-throw line (7-16).
The 44-point final margin was the largest ever in a series that dates back to the turn of the century. It was Bucknell's largest margin of victory since a 75-25 win over Army in 2003-04, and it was Cornell's worst loss since a 100-46 setback at Kansas in 1995-96.
The Bison have now won three straight from Cornell to even the all-time series at 21 games apiece. Bucknell has now won four straight against Ivy League foes, including two this season by a combined 71 points.
Bucknell's four-game homestand continues on Monday night against Haverford at 7 p.m.
