Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Back in Action Saturday at Yale
11/22/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 22, 2006
WHAT: Bucknell (0-4) vs.Yale (1-2)
WHERE: Lee Amphitheater, New Haven, Conn.
WHEN: Saturday, November 25, 2006, 2 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES
with a victory over yale, bucknell would ...
-- ... enter the win column for the first time in 2006-07.
-- ... defeat the Bulldogs for the third straight year.
-- ... win its fifth straight against the Ivy League.
-- ... avoid its first six-game losing streak in three years.
about the game
Bucknell continues its victory search in New Haven, Conn., on Saturday afternoon against Yale. The Bison dropped another heartbreaker on Tuesday, falling at Penn State 63-60 in overtime on Mike Walker's 3-pointer at the buzzer. The tough loss dropped them to 0-4 on the season. Yale routed Allegheny 98-55 in its season opener, but last week the Bulldogs lost on the road at Ohio (73-65) and at Dayton (73-62) to fall to 1-2.
running afoul
Both Bucknell and Yale have struggled with fouls in the early going. The Bison have committed 21 more fouls than their opponents and have been outscored 80-60 at the free throw line. Yale has been whistled for 23 more fouls and has been outscored 59-30 from the stripe. The Bison had only nine players foul out in 32 games all of last season, but they have already had six disqualifications in four games thus far.
bucknell vs. yale
The Bison and Elis have met five times dating back to the 1988-89 campaign. Bucknell has won three of the five meetings, including two in the last two seasons, one in New Haven and last year in Lewisburg. The Bison also won in Davis Gym in 1990-91, while the Elis won the series opener in 1988-89 and spoiled Bucknell's Sojka Pavilion opener on a buzzer-beater (63-62) in 2003-04.
the last bucknell-yale meeting (nov. 26, 2005)
Kevin Bettencourt scored 17 points and dished eight assists to lead Bucknell to its third straight victory to start the 2005-06 season, an 87-60 rout of Yale in the home opener at Sojka Pavilion. Chris McNaughton had 15 points on 7-for-7 shooting from the field and Abe Badmus and Charles Lee scored 12 each for the Bison, who won their 12th straight home game. This one had the makings of a mismatch right from the start, as Bucknell sprinted to a 16-2 lead over the first seven minutes. But Yale stormed back with a 15-0 run over a span of only 3:31. The Elis led 19-18, but McNaughton hit a baseline jumper on Bucknell's next possession to give the Bison the lead for good. Later in the half Bettencourt's jumper ignited a 16-3 run that boosted the home team's cushion back to double digits, where it would stay for the rest of the night.
the last trip to new haven
Bucknell last visited Yale two seasons ago in early December, and the game proved to be a turning point in the team's season. The Bison came into that game with a 3-4 record and they trailed Yale by six points with 45 seconds remaining. But they fought back to tie it on Charles Lee's 3-pointer late in regulation and went on to win in overtime 73-65. The emotional victory launched an 11-game winning streak, and Bucknell went on to finish 24-9, claim the Patriot League title and upset Kansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
last time out
Mike Walker's 3-pointer at the final buzzer of overtime lifted Penn State to a 63-60 victory over Bucknell on Tuesday at the Bryce Jordan Center (see p. 26 for complete recap and boxscore). Bucknell trailed 50-38 with 8:35 to play but scored 13 straight points to take the lead. Penn State tied it on two Ben Luber free throws with 8.4 seconds left and survived Andrew Morrison's missed jumper at the final horn of regulation. Abe Badmus' free throw tied the game at 60 with 14.5 seconds left in overtime, but Penn State's David Jackson skipped a pass to Walker on the right wing, and the lefty buried the winning 22-footer as time expired. Darren Mastropaolo and Jason Vegotsky had 12 points to lead Bucknell, while Danny Morrissey fit five 3-pointers and paced Penn State with 21 points.
inside the penn state boxscore
-- The contest was the 99th between the two Central Pennsylvania rivals. The Nittany Lions won their 11th straight in the series.
-- Jason Vegotsky scored all 12 of his points in the second half, including nine in Bucknell's 13-0 run.
-- Darren Mastropaolo tied his career high with nine rebounds.
-- Bucknell went 0-for-11 from 3-point range in the first half but 5-for-8 in the second. The Bison went 5-for-21 from the arc on the night, with all the attempts coming from Vegotsky (3-8), John Griffin (1-8) and Abe Badmus (1-5).
-- Penn State made 24 of 28 free-throw attempts, and they need every one of them. The Nittany Lions did not make a field goal from the 10:28 mark of the second half until Walker's winning shot at the end of overtime. In between, they went 16-for-18 from the stripe.
a rare losing streak
Having lost only five games all of last season and only 14 over the last two years, losing streaks have certainly been rare at Bucknell in recent times. The Bison had not lost more than two games in a row since January 2004, when they lost five straight before winning 11 of 15 to finish the year.
november pain
Despite being 0-4, the Bison have played very well in some stretches but have fallen short against a tough early season schedule. Thus far Bucknell has lost overtime games to teams from the ACC (Wake Forest) and Big Ten (Penn State), and the other two setbacks were close losses on the road in sold-out gyms (Albany and Saint Joseph's).
overtime reversal
When the Bison won in overtime at Yale in 2004-05, they went to 9-1 in OT games under head coach Pat Flannery. Since then, however, they have dropped three straight in extra time, including the Wake Forest and Penn State games this season. This is the first time Bucknell has lost more than one overtime contest in the same season since 1993-94, when the team played an amazing five overtime contests in a span of eight games and lost four of them.
player and coach on equal ground
With his 11-point showing against Penn State on Tuesday, Chris McNaughton reached 1,193 career points, the same total recorded by 2000 graduate and current assistant coach Dan Bowen. The two are tied for 15th on Bucknell's career scoring list.
milestone watch
-- Chris McNaughton needs seven points for 1,200 in his career, which would equal Joe Steiner for 14th on Bucknell's all-time list. He needs 15 points to catch Lorry Hathaway for 13th place.
-- Abe Badmus now ranks second on Bucknell's career steals list (175). He needs 111 thefts to catch Mike Bright (286) for the school record. Badmus needs five steals for 300 in his career.
-- Pat Flannery needs five victories for 300 in his career.
-- John Griffin needs 15 points for 400 in his career.
-- McNaughton needs 26 rebounds for 500 in his career, which would make him the 16th Bucknell player with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
bucknell vs. the ivy league
Bucknell is 36-39 all-time against the Ivy League. The bulk of those contests have come against Cornell, against which the Bison are 21-21 all-time. They are also 3-1 against Brown, 1-1 against Columbia, 1-0 against Dartmouth, 1-1 against harvard, 3-4 against Penn, 3-9 against Princeton and 3-2 against Yale.
who's got next?
The Bison wrap up a four-game road swing on Wednesday at Saint Francis (Pa.). The Bison are 13-9 all-time against the Red Flash, who defeated St. Bonaventure on Monday to go to 2-0 on the season. That is already half of Saint Francis' 2005-06 win total. The team went 4-24 a year ago.
