Bucknell University
23-10
Wisconsin (NCAA Second Round)
24-8
Bucknell Falls to No. 20 Wisconsin 71-62
3/20/2005 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 20, 2005
OKLAHOMA CITY - Bucknell, the Cindarella of the 2005 NCAA Tournament, fell victim to a late Wisconsin run and saw its fairy tale season come to an end with a 71-62 loss to the sixth-seeded Badgers in the second round of the NCAA Tournament on Sunday night before a pro-Bison crowd of 18,567 at the Ford Center.
Chris McNaughton scored a career-high 23 points for the 14th-seeded Bison, who led 47-46 with 9:07 to play before Wisconsin took over with an 18-5 run. Bucknell pulled off the upset of the tournament with its 64-63 win over third-seeded Kansas on Friday. The Bison finish the season with a 23-10 record, falling one win shy of the school record.
Mike Wilkinson scored 23 points and Alando Tucker scored 15 of his 17 from the foul line for the Badgers, who advance to the Sweet Sixteen to face North Carolina State on Friday in Syracuse, N.Y.
McNaughton was the offensive star of the night for the Bison. He made 10 of 14 shots from the field and 3 of 4 from the line. In two NCAA Tournament games he scored 37 points on 16 of 21 shooting, and including Bucknell's Patriot League championship win over Holy Cross, he scored 54 points on 23 of 29 shooting over his last three contests.
Wisconsin threatened to make this one a rout in the opening minutes. Led by two 3-pointers each from Zach Morley and Clayton Hanson, the Badgers parlayed a 15-2 run into a 23-10 lead just 8:25 into the contest.
Freshman John Griffin got the Bison right back in it with two straight treys, one from each corner. Chris Niesz followed with a 3-point play and Abe Badmus swished two free throws to complete an 11-0 run that pulled Bucknell within 23-21.
Wisconsin went back up by eight on Sharif Chambliss' 3-pointer, but two straight backdoor plays from Kevin Bettencourt (game-high six assists) to McNaughton helped the Bison draw within 35-29 at halftime.
Bettencourt's lone field goal of the game, a right-wing trifecta, pulled Bucknell within 38-34, and McNaughton's layup off another Bettencourt feed made it a one-point contest at 43-42. After Wilkinson missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Bison took their first lead since 4-2 on Donald Brown's slashing layup with 10:08 to play.
Kammron Taylor quickly answered with a 3-pointer to put Wisconsin back ahead 46-44, but Bucknell regained the lead on a McNaughton free throw and Charles Lee's baseline jumper. Many of the orange-clad Oklahoma State fans, who earlier in the day had cheered their Cowboys on to victory against Southern Illinois, smelled another upset and roared their approval as the Bison surged back ahead.
But the veteran Badgers (24-8) quickly grabbed control. Morley's tip-in put them back ahead 48-47, Wilkinson followed with a short hook shot and Tucker made four straight from the line for a 54-47 lead. Abe Badmus stopped Wisconsin's momentum momentarily with a 3-pointer, but Wilkinson scored seven straight points in a 10-2 run to give the Badgers a 64-52 lead with 1:39 left.
A McNaughton layup followed by a steal and layup by Lee made it 64-56 with 47 seconds to play. Hanson made 1 of 2 from the line then Griffin was fouled shooting a three and made all the free throws to make it 65-59 with 36.7 seconds left. Tucker went 5-for-6 from the line to cancel a late Rob Thomas 3-poiner and ice it for Wisconsin.
The Badgers received 55 of their 71 points and 24 of their 30 rebounds from the trio of Wilkinson, Tucker and Morley. Bucknell's bench outscored Wisconsin's 23-3, led by nine points from Griffin, six from Brown and five from Chris Niesz, the team's lone senior who played in his final collegiate game.
Bucknell made 23 field goals to Wisconsin's 21 but was outscored 22-11 from the free-throw line. The Bison, who had only nine turnovers in the win over Kansas, finished with only 10 against Wisconsin. Bucknell shot 46 percent from the floor and became the first team in eight games to score 60 points against the Badgers.
The Bison were trying to become only the third No. 14 seed in history to reach the Sweet Sixteen. Instead they will be remembered as the first Bucknell team and first Patriot League team to win an NCAA Tournament game.
