Bucknell University
14-3, 5-0PL
Colgate
7-12, 1-4PL
Bucknell Men's Basketball Gets to 5-0 in Patriot League with 62-43 Win over Colgate
1/21/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 21, 2006
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Chris McNaughton scored 16 points and Donald Brown came off the bench to post 14 points and eight rebounds, leading Bucknell to a 62-43 win over Colgate and its fifth straight victory, all in Patriot League play. Charles Lee added nine points and nine rebounds for the Bison, who drew a standing-room-only crowd (4,157) at Sojka Pavilion for the fourth time in eight home games this season.
Bucknell (14-3, 5-0) came into the game allowing a meager 44.0 points per game in conference play, and they lowered that average on Saturday by limiting Colgate (7-12, 1-4) to 34.0 percent shooting and only two field goals over the last 10:18 of the game.
Alvin Reed and Kyle Roemer scored 11 points each to lead the Raiders, who also had 17 turnovers and shot only 26.9 percent in the second half.
With the victory, Bucknell remained in a first-place tie with Lehigh atop the Patriot League standings. The two frontrunners will clash head-to-head on Wednesday night in Bethlehem, Pa.
After trailing by as many as five points early, Bucknell took the lead for good in this one with a 12-0 run in the latter stages of the first half, but the Raiders stayed right on the Bisons' heels until the 10-minute mark of the second stanza.
Leading by just four at 39-35 after the second of two consecutive Reed 3-pointers, Bucknell took over with a 15-0 run that was comprised of an array of jumpers and inside buckets. Jason Vegotsky began the decisive surge with a short baseline jumper - his only basket of the night - and Brown followed with an acrobatic tip-in of Vegotsky's missed fastbreak layup.
Kevin Bettencourt, who was held to six points on the night, hit back-to-back jumpers just inside the arc to stretch the lead into double figures for the first time, and Abe Badmus made it 50-35 with his first 3-pointer since Dec. 28 with 7:27 to play.
The run ended with a four-point possession, as Brown hung in the air for a layup and foul. He missed the free throw, but Lee hustled down the rebound, and later McNaughton was fouled and made both shots for a commanding 54-35 lead.
Roemer ended Colgate's 4:44 scoring drought with a 3-pointer with 5:34 left, but the damage had been done. The Raiders' only other basket the rest of the way was Roemer's layup with 20 seconds to go in the game.
Brown, who made all six of his field-goal attempts and scored eight of his season-high 14 points in the second half, was clutch for the Bison in crunch time. He punctuated his best performance of the season with a jumper in the lane and a spinning reverse layup on consecutive possessions in the final three minutes. The latter gave Bucknell its largest lead of the night, 21 points at 62-41.
Brown was also right in the middle of Bucknell's first-half run, scoring four points and feeding Darren Mastropaolo for a layup in the 12-0 spurt. The Bison managed only 10 points in the first 12:32 of the game and trailed 15-10, but then they scored a dozen straight in a span of only 2:21. Lee's steal and coast-to-coast finish put the Bison ahead 22-15.
Colgate rallied within 24-22 after Kyle Chones' 3-pointer, but Badmus drove for a layup and McNaughton scored at the buzzer after rebounding Bettencourt's miss for a 28-22 Bucknell lead at the half.
In five Patriot League games, the Bison have allowed 52, 50, 42, 32 and 43 points, for an average scoring defense of 43.8. League opponents are now shooting 29.9 percent from the field. It was the 36th time in Pat Flannery's 12-year coaching career at Bucknell that the Bison have allowed 49 points or less in a game.
Bucknell entered the game ranked fifth nationally in scoring defense and lowered their overall mark to 55.8.
The Bison, who have now won 19 straight home games against Patriot League opponents, held a 33-23 rebounding edge and finished with 18 assists on 24 baskets, compared with 16 turnovers.
McNaughton's 16 points give him 995 for his career, leaving him five shy of becoming the 31st 1,000-point scorer in Bucknell history. Lee moved into the top 10 on Bucknell's career steals list. He is now tied for ninth with 127.
