Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Visits Saint Joseph's Sunday Afternoon
11/18/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 18, 2006
WHAT: Bucknell (0-2) vs. Saint Joseph's (2-0)
WHERE: Alumni Memorial Fieldhouse, Philadelphia, Pa.
WHEN: Sunday, November 19, 2006, 2 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES
Two of Pennsylvania's most successful teams over the last few years meet Sunday afternoon on Hawk Hill when Bucknell visits Saint Joseph's. The Bison are still looking for their first victory of the season after narrow losses to defending America East champion Albany and Wake Forest. Bucknell led throughout the majority of both those games, but could not quite pull it out in the end. The Hawks are off to a 2-0 start with victories over Fairfield and Lafayette. Saint Joseph's is led by Ahmad Nivins, who has scored 20 and 19 points in the two games thus far and is 15-for-22 (.682) from the field. Rob Ferguson (16.5), Pat Calathes (11.5) and Jawan Carter (10.0) are also scoring in double figures.
with a victory over saint joseph's, bucknell would ...
-- ... enter the win column for the first time in 2006-07.
-- ... avoid its first three-game losing streak since January 2004.
-- ... defeat the Hawks for the third straight season and improve to 4-16 all-time against them.
a family affair
Bucknell sophomore guard John Griffin and his family have direct ties to the St. Joseph's program. Griffin starred at St. Joseph's Prep before coming to Bucknell. His father, John, played at St. Joseph's from 1975-78, and he served as head coach of the Hawks for five seasons (1990-95), immediately preceding Phil Martelli, who had also served as an assistant under Griffin.
a family affair, part ii
Jack Flannery, the father of Bucknell head coach Pat Flannery, played at St. Joseph's in the 1940s and led the Hawks in scoring at 12.2 ppg in 1943-44.
last year vs. saint joseph's
Kevin Bettencourt scored 17 points and Bucknell used a suffocating defensive effort to turn back visiting Saint Joseph's 63-51 before a standing-room-only crowd at Sojka Pavilion. The victory sent the Bison home for the holidays with an 8-1 record, their best start since 1956-57. Charles Lee added 14 points and five assists, Chris McNaughton had 12 points and John Griffin filled in nicely for foul-laden point guard Abe Badmus, finishing with 10 points, three assists and two steals. Bucknell entered the contest as the only team in the nation ranked in the top 20 in both field-goal percentage and field-goal percentage defense. Saint Joseph's entered the contest shooting 46.7 percent from the floor and 43.2 percent from 3-point range (No. 7 nationally), but the Bison held the Hawks to 36.2 percent shooting overall, and 22.7 percent (5-22) from long range. Much of Bucknell's defensive effort focused on Chet Stachitas, the Hawks' leading scorer at 18.0 points per game and the nation's leading 3-point shooter at 63.0 percent (17-27). Bucknell forced the senior into a 2-for-11 night from 3-point distance and 3-for-14 overall.
last time out
In front of a standing-room-only crowd at Sojka Pavilion, Wake Forest rallied for an 86-83 overtime decision over the Bison. The Demon Deacons, who became the first ACC team ever to play basketball at Bucknell, got 26 points from Kyle Visser and 20 from Harvey Hale. The Bison had six players in double figures, led by 16 points each from Abe Badmus and Rob Thomas.
a rare sight
The Bison were 20-1 last season and had been 51-6 over the last three years when leading at the half, but already this season they have lost twice when ahead at intermission.
junior achievement
Tuesday's game against Wake Forest was a stellar night for Bucknell's junior class, particularly for two players who have been out of the spotlight in their first two seasons.
-- Rob Thomas came into the game with 36 points in 36 career games, but he exploded for 16 against Wake Forest on 6-for-9 shooting (3-3 3FG).
-- Andrew Morrison entered the contest with 11 points in 31 career games, but he pocketed 10 points and five rebounds in 21 minutes off the bench. Morrison had four career field goals coming in, but he went 4-for-7 from the field against Wake. Morrison played only 33 minutes all of last season, but he has already played 34 in two games this season.
-- Darren Mastropaolo has been a starter for about a season and a half, but like Thomas and Morrison had never scored in double figures until Tuesday. Mastropaolo scored a career-high 10 points on 4-for-4 shooting. He also had two steals and drew three charging calls.
-- John Griffin had an off shooting night (1-7 FG, 1-6 3FG), but still had a career-high six assists with only one turnover.
inside the wake forest boxscore
-- Bucknell drew five charging calls in the game, including three from Darren Mastropaolo.
-- The game lasted nearly three hours and featured 62 fouls and 80 free throws. Three Bison fouled out and three others finished with four fouls.
-- Bucknell outrebounded Wake Forest 34-30. Jason Vegotsky led all players with seven boards, a career high.
-- Wake's Kyle Visser set a Sojka Pavilion record with 18 free-throw attempts, but he made only eight.
-- The Bison had six players score in double figures. -- It was the first time Bucknell lost when scoring 80 or more points since Feb. 21, 1999 (93-84 at Lafayette).
milestone watch
-- Chris McNaughton ranks 18th on Bucknell's career scoring list (1168). He needs six points to catch Gerald Purnell (1174) for 17th and 15 to equal Joe Gallagher (1183) for 16th.
-- Abe Badmus ranks third on Bucknell's career steals list (171). He needs two thefts to equal Sekou Hamer (173) for second place and 115 to catch Mike Bright (286) for the school record.
bucknell vs. the A-10
Against the 14 teams that currently make up the Atlantic-10 Conference, Bucknell owns an all-time record of 31-85. That ledger is hampered by longtime struggles against the three Philadelphia teams -- Temple (5-29), Saint Joseph's (3-16) and La Salle (3-15). Later this season, the Bison will play another A-10 squad in Xavier.
Charles Lee's hoop dreams
Charles Lee, last year's Patriot League Player of the Year, continues to play basketball at a high level. After graduating from Bucknell with a degree in management, he was invited to play with the San Antonio Spurs' summer league team in Salt Lake City. He impressed the club enough to get an invitation to training camp, but after appearing in a handful of NBA preseason games, including a foreign tour of France, Lee was among the team's final cuts. Lee is now headed for Israel, where he will play for first-division club Hapoel Gilboa/Afula.
bison ink three early signees
Pat Flannery has announced the addition of three early signees who will join the Bison in 2007-08. G.W. Boon, a 6'4" wing player from Harvest, Ala. (Sparkman High School), Todd O'Brien, a 6'11" center from New Holland, Pa. (Garden Spot High School), and Darryl Shazier, a 6'0" point guard from Newport News, Va. (Menchville High School) will give the Bison a wide variety of basketball talent at three different positions.
who's got next?
Bucknell's difficult schedule continues on Tuesday at Penn State at 7:30 p.m. It will be the first meeting between the two Central Pennsylvania squads since 2004, and the Bison will be looking to snap a 10-game losing streak against the Nittany Lions. Penn State is 2-1 on the season after suffering a 59-51 upset loss to Stony Brook on Friday night. The Lions have wins over Morehead State and UNC Greensboro.
