Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
4-5
Cornell
4-5
Another Second-Half Response Lifts Bucknell Men's Basketball Past Cornell, 70-66
12/16/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 16, 2006
ITHACA, N.Y. -- For the second time this season Bucknell rallied from a double-digit halftime deficit to win on the road, this time storming back to stun Cornell 70-66 Saturday afternoon at Newman Arena. The Bison trailed by as many as 17 points after the Big Red shocked them with a 21-0 first-half run, and they still trailed by 13 at halftime before outscoring Cornell 40-23 in the second half.
Pat Flannery's 299th career coaching victory was the fourth win in the last five games for the Bison, who are now 4-5 overall. Cornell, also 4-5, has dropped four of its last five despite holding big leads in all four losses.
Donald Brown led Bucknell with 14 points, including two big buckets and the clinching free throw in the final minute, and Jason Vegotsky finished with 12 points after hitting the go-ahead 3-pointer with 46 seconds left. John Griffin also finished with 12 points, while Justin Castleberry (11) and Rob Thomas (9) combined for 20 big points off the bench.
Freshman point guard Louis Dale had a magnificent day, scoring 23 points to go with seven rebounds and six assists. He went 5-for-8 from the field and 11-for-12 from the free throw line. Ryan Wittman hit three first-half 3-pointers and scored 11 points, while Andrew Naeve finished with 10.
Thomas hit all nine of his points in the second half, including a baseline jumper with Bucknell trailing 66-58 with 4:12 left. That bucket started a game-ending 12-0 run that sent the Bison to their sixth straight win over Ivy League competition and their third straight over Cornell.
After Bucknell's usually stingy defense allowed an unusual 43 points in the first half, 21 of them coming in succession in a little under five minutes, the Bison made a number of runs in the second stanza. The first came to start the half, when they scored seven straight points to close within six. Chris McNaughton scored his first points of the game two minutes into the half, then he finished a 3-point play one possession later to make it 43-37.
As he did for much of the night, Dale came up big when Cornell needed a basket. He drew a foul and made both free throws, then hit a pull-up 3-pointer. Pete Reynolds' layup pushed the lead back to 13 at 50-37 with 14:11 left.
It was still a 13-point deficit for the Bison when they made yet another comeback attempt as Thomas' 3-pointer sparked a 14-4 run. After another Thomas jumper with a foot on the arc, Vegotsky was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and made all three from the line, then Griffin hit a left-wing trey to make it 58-54. Bucknell pulled within three at 58-55 when Griffin made 1 of 3 from the line after another foul behind the arc.
Leading 60-57, Cornell scored six of the next seven points, starting with two layups from Naeve around a Brown free throw. Dale's slashing layup pushed the Big Red's lead back to eight at 66-58 with 4:45 left, but Cornell never scored again.
Thomas' jumper from the right baseline started what would ultimately become the winning rally. McNaughton followed with two free throws and Brown hung in the air for a layup to make it a two-point game with 2:33 to play.
Bucknell's defense, which allowed only seven second-half field goals after Cornell shot 58.3 percent (14-24) in the first half, forced a shot-clock violation on the next possession. With 1:42 left, Abe Badmus penetrated and found Brown on the right baseline for a 10-foot jumper, tying the game for the first time since 18-all.
At the other end Dale forced a 3-pointer with just over a minute left and Griffin tracked down the rebound. Moving the ball well against a Cornell zone, Griffin faked a jumper on the left side, moved around his defender and passed back to a wide-open Vegotsky in the left corner. The Bison sophomore had been 0-for-3 from long range to that point, but he buried the 3-pointer with 46 seconds left to give Bucknell a 69-66 lead, eliciting a roar from the strong Orange and Blue contingent in the stands.
Cornell still had a shot to tie, and after calling timeout Dale tried to penetrate and kick a pass back to the top of the key, but Vegotsky was there to tip it away and Badmus corralled the loose ball. The Bison worked about seven seconds off the clock before Brown was finally fouled with 8.5 seconds left. Shooting two, he missed the first but made the second to seal the victory.
The come-from-behind win was reminiscent of the team's 60-56 win at Saint Francis (Pa.) on Nov. 29. In that one, Bucknell trailed by as many as 15 in the first half and by 10 at the break before outscoring the Red Flash 38-24 in the second period.
Bucknell had taken an 18-14 lead with a 9-0 run midway through the first half, the last seven points of the surge coming from Castleberry, who continues to be a spark off the bench. But the Big Red turned the game around in a flash. A jumper from Naeve and two long 3-pointers from Wittman ignited the 21-0 explosion that lasted not quite five minutes.
When the run ended with Graham Dow's fastbreak layup at the 5:39 mark, Cornell had a commanding 35-18 lead. The Big Red went 7-for-7 from the field with four 3-pointers during that stretch, while the Bison were 0-for-8 after starting the game 7-for-9.
Five straight points from Griffin ended the run. In the final 30 seconds of the half freshman Patrick Behan hit his first career 3-pointer and Vegotsky tipped in a Behan miss at the buzzer to make it 43-20.
Bucknell will be on the road again this Wednesday, taking on Xavier in Cincinnati at 7 p.m.
