Bucknell University
22-4, 13-0PL
Lehigh
18-10, 11-2PL
Bucknell Men Clinch Patriot League Regular-Season Title with 81-70 Win over Lehigh
2/22/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 22, 2006
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Abe Badmus scored a career-high 17 points to help Bucknell defeat Lehigh 81-70 and clinch its first Patriot League regular-season title since 1995 on Wednesday night at sold-out Sojka Pavilion. Charles Lee added 16 points, Kevin Bettencourt had 13 and Chris McNaughton tallied 10 points and seven rebounds to help the Bison improve to 13-0 in conference play.
The Bison, now 22-4 overall for only the second time in school history, can become the first Patriot League team ever to complete an unbeaten league slate with a victory over Army in Saturday's regular-season finale at Sojka Pavilion.
Bucknell tied the Patriot League record with its 13th conference win while pulling within two victories of the school single-season record. Bucknell has now won 17 straight games against league foes and 23 PL games in a row at home.
It is Bucknell's fourth Patriot League regular season title. The Bison also captured regular-season crowns in 1992, 1993 and 1995.
Jose Olivero scored 21 points to lead Lehigh (18-10, 11-2), which is one game ahead of Holy Cross in the battle for second place. The Crusaders, who won at Colgate on Wednesday, host the Mountain Hawks on Sunday with home-court advantage for the first two rounds of the Patriot League Tournament up for grabs.
 Abe Badmus converts one of his four steals into a breakaway layup in the first half of Bucknell's win over Lehigh.  |
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This one was expected to be a low-scoring affair between two of the nation's top-ranked defensive squads. The Bison came in ranked second nationally in scoring defense, allowing 55.4 points per game, while Lehigh came in ranked 17th giving up 59.3 points per game. Instead, it was the highest-scoring Bucknell-Lehigh game since 2001, when the Bison won 82-78 in overtime.
Bucknell trailed for only 16 seconds all night, that at 5-4 after Mitch Gilfillan's early 3-pointer. Badmus, whose previous career high of 15 points also came against Lehigh, answered with a 3-pointer that ignited a 12-3 run and gave the Bison the lead for good.
Bucknell's bench provided a spark later in the half with the team experiencing some early foul difficulty. John Griffin hit a 3-pointer to give the Bison a nine-point lead at 21-12. Rob Thomas scored off a nice backdoor pass from Lee to make it a double-digit cushion for the first time at 24-14, and rookie sharpshooter Jason Vegotsky canned a trifecta to make it 29-18.
 Charles Lee scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half in the win over Lehigh. |
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In all, nine different Bison scored in the first half, and McNaughton's tip-in of his own missed layup at the halftime buzzer gave Bucknell a 36-26 lead.
Lehigh rallied behind some outstanding long-range shooting, especially from Joe Knight (15 points). Knight hit 3-pointers on consecutive possessions to bring Lehigh within four at 42-38 with 14:45 to play. Bucknell answered with a Donald Brown layup and a Badmus 3-pointer, but six minutes later the Mountain Hawks again whittled the deficit down to four at 59-55 on Olivero's 21-footer.
Again, Bucknell answered the charge, this time with an 11-2 run. Bettencourt, who moved into second place on the Patriot League's all-time 3-point field goal chart, answered the Olivero three by rattling in his 273rd career trey. Badmus drove to the rim for a layup, then Lee scored six straight Bucknell points to make it 70-57 with 3:05 to play.
Olivero scored eight points in the final 1:23 to keep things interesting, but Lehigh never got closer than nine. Bucknell went 11-for-17 from the free-throw line in the last two minutes to seal it.
The two teams had nearly identical shooting lines from the field - Lehigh went 24-for-52 (.462) while Bucknell went 24-for-51 (.471) - and both teams grabbed 29 rebounds. The statistical difference came at the free throw line, where Bucknell outscored Lehigh 26-14, and in the turnover department, where the Bison posted an outstanding 16-to-10 assists-to-turnover ratio compared to Lehigh's 9-to-18. Bucknell's wing combo of Lee and Donald Brown had a combined nine assists and no turnovers.
Badmus' career scoring high came on 6-for-10 shooting from the field, and he added four steals, three rebounds and two assists. Brown had a career-high five assists to go with seven points, while Darren Mastropaolo was one shy of a career high with eight points.
Coming into the game the Bison had gone 16 straight Patriot League games without allowing 60 points and 32 conference games in a row without allowing 70. The last league opponent to hit 70 on Bucknell was Holy Cross in a 72-61 win at the Hart Center on Feb. 27, 2004.
The Bison wrap up the 2005-06 regular-season on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Army. It will be Senior Night at Sojka Pavilion, as Kevin Bettencourt, Charles Lee, Holland Mack and Tarik Viaer-McClymont will be honored before the game.
