Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Travels to American on Wednesday
1/10/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 10, 2006
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Bucknell caps a five-game road trip Wednesday night against Patriot League-rival American in Washington, D.C. The Bison improved to 10-3 on the season -- reaching double digits on the earliest date in school history -- with a 74-52 win at Navy in Saturday's Patriot League opener. Bucknell won in Annapolis for only the fifth time in 31 tries and now the Bison will try to produce a victory in another unfriendly venue. The Orange & Blue are 0-4 in Bender Arena since American joined the Patriot League and they have fallen there in each of the last five years. Bucknell's last victory at AU came in 1983-84 (67-54). Despite the struggles in the nation's capital, Bucknell won 2 of 3 from the Eagles last season, including a 53-35 victory in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals at Sojka Pavilion. American lost at home to Lehigh (70-59) on Saturday, then dropped a non-league game to Yale (71-59) on Monday at Bender Arena. The Eagles are led by all-conference guard Andre Ingram, who averages a team-best 11.9 points per game. Junior guard Arvydas Eitutavicius is enjoying a breakout season. He is scoring at an 11.6 ppg clip after collecting a career-high 25 points off the bench Monday against Yale, and he leads the Patriot League in free-throw shooting at 91.1%. Brayden Billbe (8.9 ppg), Derrick Mercer (5.9 ppg), Linas Lekavicius (5.8 ppg) and recently eligible South Carolina transfer Paulius Joneliunas (3.0 ppg) will likely join Ingram in the Eagles starting lineup.
with a victory over american, bucknell would ...
• ... go to 11-3 for the first time since 1983-84.
• ... win at American for the first time since 1983-84.
• ... defeat the Eagles for the third straight time.
• ... improve to 7-2 in road/neutral games this season.
• ... improve to 2-0 in Patriot League play for the second straight year and for the fourth time in 16 years in the conference.
last time out: bison open pl play with win at navy
Backed by 41 points from its bench, including a career-high 19 from freshman Jason Vegotsky, Bucknell began Patriot League play with an impressive 74-52 win at Navy on Saturday. Donald Brown had 12 points and seven rebounds, and John Griffin added 10 points and a career-high eight rebounds for the reserve unit, which outscored Navy's bench 41-13. The bench was much-needed, as leading scorer Chris McNaughton picked up two fouls in the first 2:22 of the contest and sat for most of the first half. Trailing 23-19 late in the half, Bucknell ripped off a 20-3 run to take control. Vegotsky and Griffin hit a pair of 3-pointers apiece during the decisive surge. (For complete recap and boxscore, see p. 26.)
inside the boxscore
Chris McNaughton was limited to 19 minutes due to foul trouble, but he still managed 11 points (2-3 FG, 7-8 FT) ... Jason Vegotsky canned 5 of 8 3-point attempts and 7 of 11 from the field overall ... guards John Griffin and Kevin Bettencourt both set career-highs with eight rebounds ... Bucknell held a 47-30 rebounding edge ... Griffin blocked his first two career shots ... Bucknell shot only 43.1% from the field, but held Navy to 29.1% shooting ... the Bison held Greg Sprink, Navy's leading scorer, to three points on 1-for-7 shooting.
vegotsky honored ... again
Freshman guard Jason Vegotsky was named the Anaconda Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Monday after his 19-point showing against Navy. That total was the highest scoring output by a Bison frosh since Donald Brown hit for 22 at Lehigh two seasons ago. It was Vegotsky's second rookie citation of the season.
bison keep ingram in check
American junior Andre Ingram has been one of the league's best players over the last three seasons. He was the Patriot League Rookie of the Year in 2003-04 and a first-team all-conference pick last season, but Bucknell has done an outstanding job defending Ingram. In five career games against the Bison, he has averaged 8.4 ppg, made 15 of 68 field-goal attempts (.221) and 6 of 26 3-point tries (.231), and has a 3-to-13 assist-to-turnover ratio. In three games against AU last season the Bison held Ingram to a total of only 13 points on 5 of 37 shooting (.135).
flannery closing in on patriot league record
Saturday's win at Navy was the 92nd Patriot League coaching victory for Pat Flannery, which leaves him one shy of Don DeVoe's league record. DeVoe won 93 league games as head coach at Navy from 1993-2004.
Pat Flannery wins hugh durham award
Bucknell's Pat Flannery was an overwhelming choice for the Hugh Durham Award as the top "mid-major" coach of the first half of the season, CollegeInsider.com announced last Thursday. Flannery collected 52 points, including six first-place votes, from the 20-member panel. Sam Houston State's Bob Marlin finished second in the voting with 29 votes (three first-place votes). The Hugh Durham Award panel will select the Mid-Major Coach of the Year, which will be announced at the Final Four in Indianapolis. Last season, Pacific's Bob Thomason became the first-ever recipient of the award after leading the Tigers to a 27-4 campaign. Previously known simply as the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Coach of the Year Award, it was renamed in March 2005 to recognize the legendary Hugh Durham, who retired from the profession.
league leaders
Bucknell leads the Patriot League in a number of statistical categories, including scoring defense (60.1), scoring margin (+7.4), 3-point defense (.284), field-goal percentage (.482), fewest rebounds allowed (30.5), assists (15.69) and assist-to-turnover ratio (0.99). The Bison also rank a close second in field-goal percentage defense (.390) and 3-point percentage (.378).
Individually, Jason Vegotsky leads the league in 3-point accuracy (.607), Chris McNaughton leads in field-goal percentage (.611) and Kevin Bettencourt leads in both 3-pointers made (2.4) and assist-to-turnover ratio (2.00).
