Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Hoops Back on Road at Lafayette, Lehigh
2/3/2005 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2005
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Bucknell kicks off the second round of Patriot League play this weekend with a trip to the Lehigh Valley. In a bit of a scheduling quirk, the Bison will be playing both Lafayette and Lehigh for the second time in two weeks. In trying for season sweeps of both the Leopards and Mountain Hawks, the Orange & Blue will also look to shake off last weekend's losses at American and Navy that abruptly ended an 11-game winning streak, one of the longest in school history. Two Fridays ago at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell defeated Lafayette 71-54 behind 17 points from Chris McNaughton, and two days later Abe Badmus hit a game-winning 3-pointer with six seconds left in a 65-63 victory over Lehigh. The two Eastern Pennsylvania schools are Bucknell's two most commonly played opponents. The Bison trail the all-time series with Lafayette 82-51, including a 27-34 record in Easton. Last season Bucknell lost 81-72 at Kirby Sports Center. Bucknell has an 86-55 series edge against the Mountain Hawks, despite four straight losses in Bethlehem. Last weekend Lafayette and Lehigh both split a home series, defeating Army while losing to Holy Cross. The Leopards dropped a 74-57 decision to the Crusaders on Friday before bouncing back for a 66-49 win over Army. Lehigh started the weekend with a 63-45 topping of the Black Knights, but came up just short in a 58-56 setback to Holy Cross on Sunday. Bucknell's losses and Holy Cross' two victories allowed the Crusaders to take over the Patriot League lead with a 6-1 record at the halfway point. Bucknell and American are a game back at 5-2, followed by Lehigh (4-3), Colgate (3-4), Lafayette (2-5), Navy (2-5) and Army (1-6).
summing up the streak
They went 59 days between losses and equaled the program's longest winning streak -- 11 games -- since 1919, but that run finally came to an end last weekend when the Bison dropped a pair of road contests at American and Navy. The streak featured some of the biggest wins in school history, including back-to-back road wins over St. Joseph's and Pittsburgh. 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.
• Jan. 21 vs. Lafayette: Bucknell broke open a close game with a 42-point second half, winning 71-54. The Bison benefitted from 33 bench points and a staunch defense that held the Leopards to 32.1% shooting.
• Jan. 23 vs. Lehigh: Abe Badmus canned a 3-pointer with 0:06 left in Bucknell's 65-63 win. The Bison led 62-55 with just over a minute to play before Lehigh rallied with eight straight points. But Badmus answered with the go-ahead trey and BU survived a last-second shot that fell off the rim.
with a victory over lafayette, bucknell would ...
• ... snap only its second two-game losing streak of the season.
• ... clinch a winning regular season record.
• ... surpass its entire victory total from last season.
• ... improve to 6-4 on the road this season.
• ... go to 6-2 in Patriot League play and maintain at least a share of second place.
• ... sweep the season series from Lafayette for the second time in three years and seventh time as members of the Patriot League.
last time out
Kevin Bettencourt scored a season-high 27 points for the Bison, but it wasn't quite enough as Navy upset Bucknell 66-62 at Alumni Hall last Sunday afternoon. Bucknell led by as many as nine points early in the second half, but the Midshipmen rallied behind the hot shooting of freshman Greg Sprink (17 points) and two go-ahead free throws from fellow plebe Corey Johnson with 22 seconds to play in the game. Bettencourt drained six 3-pointers to go with five rebounds and four assists, but Chris McNaughton with 11 points was the only other Bison in double digits. Bucknell shot just 36.4% from the field, was outrebounded 41-32 and committed 19 turnovers. (See complete boxscore and recap on page 27.)
inside the boxscore
Navy's eight blocked shots were the most against Bucknell this season ... Navy outscored the Bison from the free-throw line 24-14 ... Charles Lee led Bucknell with eight rebounds ... Tarik Viaer-McClymont scored a season-high five points ... Chris McNaughton had a career-high three steals ... the Bison lost for the 14th time in 15 games on Navy's home floor.
at the turn
Bucknell reached the halfway point of Patriot League play with a 5-2 record, its best since 1995-96. Since the league's inception in 1990-91, the Bison are a combined 60-31 (.659) during the second half of the PL schedule. That ledger includes a perfect 7-0 second-half record in 1993. Last season Bucknell was 5-2 in the second half.
friday night lights
Since the Patriot League went to a Friday-Sunday format for part of its schedule two seasons ago, Bucknell is 7-3 on the Friday leg. Five times the Bison have 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.
last season vs. lehigh
• Jan. 14 at Stabler Arena: Donald Brown and Charles Lee both registered their first career 20-point games and Bucknell nearly erased all of a 16-point second-half deficit, but Lehigh made 7 of 10 free-throws in the final minute to hold off the Bison 75-70. Brown went a school-record 10-for-10 from the floor and scored 22 points, while Lee added 23. Kevin Bettencourt was held to 10 points but had a career-high nine assists. Jose Olivero scored 20 and Austen Rowland had 18 points and nine assists for Lehigh, which took control late in a well-played first half that featured nine lead changes, including seven in a span of eight possessions.
• Feb. 10 at Sojka Pavilion: Lee and Bettencourt combined for three go-ahead free throws in the final nine seconds and Bucknell survived a wild finish in a 64-63 victory. The Bison trailed 63-61 in the waning seconds when Bettencourt missed a long 3-pointer. Lee grabbed the rebound, however, and was fouled intentionally under the basket. With 9.9 seconds left Lee made both free throws to tie the score. Just after the ensuing inbounds Bettencourt was fouled driving to the basket and converted 1 of 2 from the line with 7.6 seconds left. Lehigh had a final shot to win it as point guard Ra Tiah penetrated down the lane, but his shot was contested by Bison center Chris McNaughton and fell off the mark. Lee recorded a double-double with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Bettencourt finished with 15 and McNaughton 14. Jason Mgebroff led Lehigh with 15 points.
• March 7 at Show Place Arena: Kevin Tempest and Olivero scored 12 points each and top-seeded Lehigh parlayed an early 23-2 run into a 60-45 victory over No. 4 Bucknell in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals. Lee and Bettencourt scored 10 points each to lead Bucknell. Bettencourt hit consecutive 3-pointers to stake the Bison to a quick 6-0 lead, but Lehigh stunned them by scoring 23 of the game's next 25 points over a span of 9:12.
bettencourt reaches 1,000
Junior guard Kevin Bettencourt became the 30th member of Bucknell's exclusive 1,000-point club with a first-half free throw against Navy. Now with 1,020 career points, Bettencourt has moved into a tie for 27th place on Bucknell's career scoring list. In recognition of that achievement, Bettencourt was named the Lewisburg Hotel Bison Athlete of the Week on Monday.
milestone watch
Kevin Bettencourt, just a junior, needs only 25 3-pointers to break Mike Bright's Bucknell career record ... Bettencourt tied the school record with 72 last season, and last Sunday he moved past J.R. Holden into third place on the BU career chart (181) ... he needs just two more to catch Mike Joseph for second place ... Chris McNaughton recently became eligible for Bucknell's career field-goal percentage list, and he jumped right into the No. 1 position (he's now at 62.8%).
next up
Bucknell returns home next weekend looking for a little payback against American and Navy, two teams that defeated the Bison just last week. Friday is "Mardi Gras Night" at Sojka Pavilion, when Bucknell and American meet in a game televised by College Sports Television. Please note the time change to 5 p.m. for that contest. On Sunday at 2 p.m. the Bison and Midshipmen will tangle. Bucknell defeated both American and Navy at home last season.
