Bucknell University
21-4
Northern Iowa
22-6
No. 24 Bucknell Falls 65-61 in Double Overtime Heartbreaker at Northern Iowa
2/18/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 18, 2006
CEDAR FALLS, Iowa - In a classic, nationally televised BracketBusters game, Northern Iowa beat the buzzer at the end of both regulation and the first overtime, and the Panthers outlasted 24th-ranked Bucknell 65-61 on Saturday afternoon at the UNI Dome.
Charles Lee had 15 points and 11 rebounds for the Bison, who saw their 12-game winning streak come to an end. Now 21-4 on the season, Bucknell also saw its seven-game road winning streak come to an end. Abe Badmus finished with 12 points and four steals and Kevin Bettencourt finished with 11 points.
Northern Iowa, which spent two weeks in the top 25 earlier this month, improved to 22-6 on the season. The Panthers won their seventh straight home game against ranked foes. Eric Coleman, who hit the game-tying shot at the end of regulation, scored 15 points, 11 coming in the final 10:06 of the night. Ben Jacobson had 14 points and Erik Crawford had 12 for UNI, which overcame a nine-point second-half deficit behind some red-hot 3-point shooting.
Bucknell took a nine-point lead at 36-27 after Abe Badmus' fastbreak layup with 13:40 to play, but Northern Iowa countered with a barrage of 3-pointers. Seven straight Panther field goals were treys during one stretch, including three straight by freshman reserve Travis Brown.
Brown's 3-pointer with 7:37 left brought Northern Iowa with a point at 40-39, but the Bison answered with eight straight points to restore the nine-point cushion. Bettencourt was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and made all three from the line, then John Griffin canned his first 3-pointer of the night. Chris McNaughton's lefty jump hook in the lane at the 5:21 mark made it 48-39.
But the Bison went cold, and Jacobson hit a three and then two free throws, and after Lee rimmed out a short transition jumper with 1:52 to play, John Little hit a 3-pointer to cut Bucknell's lead to 48-47 with 1:20 left.
Bettencourt canned a 25-footer with the shot clock expiring to make it 51-47 with 44 seconds left, but the Panthers scored the final four points of regulation. Grant Stout made two free throws with 33 seconds left, then Coleman stole a long outlet pass after the inbounds.
After a timeout, Jacobson missed a runner, but Coleman put back the rebound with six seconds left. Lee's off-balance jumper from the left corner was offline at the buzzer.
In the first overtime, Donald Brown's put-back of a Badmus miss with 26 seconds left gave the Bison a 56-54 lead. Stout's possible go-ahead 3-pointer from the left wing was off target and McNaughton rebounded for the Bison with three seconds left.
Bucknell inbounded twice and UNI fouled, but the Panthers had only three team fouls at that point. On the third inbounds try, a long pass went out of bounds the length of the court, giving UNI possession under its basket with 2.8 seconds left. After a momentary scramble for a loose ball on the ensuing inbounds, Crawford picked it up and rattled in the tying shot with 0.8 left.
Coleman scored the first four points of the second overtime, and after a Badmus 3-pointer, Coleman scored inside again for a 62-59 UNI lead with 2:03 left. Bettencourt missed two straight threes, then Brooks McKowen made 1 of 2 free throws. The Panthers rebounded the second miss, but Jacobson shot an air ball with 30 seconds left.
Lee drove the lane for a layup to make it 63-61 with 13 seconds left, but Little iced it with two free throws with 11.8 seconds left, and when McKowen grabbed a rebound and the final buzzer the UNI student body rushed the floor.
Lee scored eight first-half points, including a 3-pointer with 14 seconds remaining that capped a 9-0 run to close out the first period.
Northern Iowa led 20-15 after Crawford's layup with 3:34 left, but that would be the Panthers' last bucket of the half. Badmus scored inside off a nice feed from Darren Mastropaolo, then Mastropaolo scored himself on a short jump hook. Griffin's steal and fastbreak finish off a nice back-and-forth passing sequence with Badmus put the Bison ahead 21-20, and Lee's top-of-the-key trey made it 24-20 at the half.
Bucknell made only 2 of 10 3-point tries in the first half but still shot 40 percent overall, and the Bison held the Panthers to 9-for-26 shooting and just a single free-throw attempt, which was a miss.
For the game the Bison shot 36.9 percent and made 8 of 24 3-pointers. Bucknell only got to the free-throw line five times, making them all. Northern Iowa shot 42.9 percent in the game, 42.9 percent from 3-point range and shot 8-for-11 from the line.
Behind Lee's second straight double-double, Bucknell matched UNI 38-38 in the rebounding department. Stout led all players with 13 rebounds.
Bucknell returns to Patriot League play on Wednesday against Lehigh at Sojka Pavilion at 7 p.m. The game is a clash between the league's top two teams, as Bucknell entered the weekend 12-0 in conference play, while Lehigh was 10-1.
