Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Going for Patriot League Perfection in Saturday's Regular-Season Finale vs. Army
2/24/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2006
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Their first goal was to earn home-court advantage for the first two rounds of the Patriot League Tournament. Check. Their second goal was to claim their first Patriot League regular-season title in 11 years. Check. Now the Bison can become the first PL squad to complete a perfect conference season with a victory Saturday night against Army. Bucknell is coming off an exciting 81-70 victory over Lehigh on Wednesday in a battle of the league's top two teams. The Bison used a balanced effort in the win, with nine players entering the scoring column by halftime. Abe Badmus posted a career-high 17 points in the surprisingly high-scoring affair. It was a solid bounce-back performance for the Bison, who suffered an excruciating double-overtime loss at Northern Iowa in a nationally televised BracketBusters game last Saturday. That loss cost the Orange & Blue their 12-game winning streak and No. 24 national ranking. The Army game comes on Senior Night, as Kevin Bettencourt, Charles Lee, Holland Mack and Tarik Viaer-McClymont will be honored prior to tip-off. All four are expected to start, which would mean the first career starts for Mack and Viaer-McClymont. Also being honored are Bucknell Hall of Famers Hal Danzig and Al Leslie, who are having their jerseys retired at haltime. Leslie is Bucknell's all-time leading scorer with 1,973 points from 1977-81, while Danzig is the school's career rebounds leader with 1,134 from 1956-59. Danzig, the father of former Bison assistant Carl Danzig, averaged a whopping 16.0 rebounds per game in his career. Leslie also holds the Bucknell single-game scoring record, 45 points against American in 1980.
with a victory over army, bucknell would ...
• ... go to 23-4, which would equal the best 27-game start in school history (1983-84).
• ... become the first team in Patriot League history to finish unbeaten in league play.
• ... win its 18th straight game against Patriot League foes (including PL Tournament).
• ... win its 10th straight home game.
• ... win its 24th straight home game against Patriot League foes (including PL Tournament).
• ... defeat the Black Knights for the 11th straight time.
last time out: bison clinch pl regular-season title with win over lehigh
Most pundits predicted a low-scoring affair between two of the nation's highest-ranked defensive teams, but Bucknell came away with an 81-70 victory at sold-out Sojka Pavilion on Wednesday in a battle of Patriot League powers. The Bison improved to 13-0 in Patriot League play and clinched the regular-season title and home-court advantage throughout the PL Tournament. Lehigh fell to 11-2 in league play, with both losses coming to Bucknell. The Bison trailed for only 16 seconds all night and extended to a 10-point halftime lead with nine different players entering the scoring column. Lehigh closed within four twice in the second half, but the Bison responded to both challenges. Leading 59-55 inside seven minutes to play, Kevin Bettencourt hit a 3-pointer that ignited an 11-2 run and put Bucknell in control for good.
inside the boxscore
Abe Badmus scored a career-high 17 points on 6-for-10 shooting ... Badmus' previous career high of 15 points also came against Lehigh ... Charles Lee scored 13 of his 16 points in the second half ... Kevin Bettencourt (13) and Chris McNaughton (10) also reached double figures for the Bison, who shot 47.1% from the field ... Darren Mastropaolo had a season-high eight points, one shy of his career best ... Lee and Donald Brown combined for nine assists and no turnovers ... Brown dealt a career-high five assists ... the Bison had gone 16 straight PL games without allowing 60 points and 32 straight without allowing 70 ... Bucknell tied a PL record with its 13th league win of the year ... the Bison swept the season series from Lehigh for the first time since 2000.
the last bucknell-army meeting
Facing one of Army's best efforts of the season, Bucknell dug out of an early 19-9 hole and rallied for a 67-54 victory on Feb. 1 at West Point. Charles Lee turned in one of the best performances of his career, tallying 19 points, five rebounds, five assists and a career-high-tying six steals. He keyed a 12-2 first-half run that erased the early deficit, and Chris McNaughton had a bucket and two assists in a key 9-0 second half run that gave Bucknell a 55-45 lead with 6:28 to play. Jarell Brown had a terrific game for Army, scoring a game-high 25 points.
more from bucknell-army, part 1
Army became only the fourth team this season to shoot 50% from the field against Bucknell (.512) ... it was the first time the Bison won while allowing a team to make at least half its shots ... led by Charles Lee's 8-for-8 showing, the Bison went 20-for-25 from the free-throw line ... Bucknell started the night 3-for-13 from the field and shot 38.5% in the first half, but it warmed to 61.1% in the second stanza ... the Bison had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio (14-12), while forcing 18 Army miscues ... Bucknell came up with 11 steals ... Abe Badmus scored 10 points, giving him three straight double-digit scoring efforts for the first time in his career.
seeking perfection
With a victory over Army on Saturday night, the Bison can become the first team in Patriot League history to run the table in league play. Six teams have finished with one loss -- Fordham (11-1) in 1991, Bucknell (13-1) in 1993, Lafayette (11-1) and Navy (11-1) in 2000, and Holy Cross (13-1) in 2003 and 2005. Additionally, Bucknell can become the 200th Division I team in NCAA history to go unbeaten in league play, and the 90th to do so with at least 14 wins.
lewisburg "pod" set
The pairings are set for the two Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal games to be played at Sojka Pavilion next Friday. Lafayette and American will play at 5:30 p.m., followed by Bucknell and Army at 8 p.m. The winner of Sunday's Lehigh-Holy Cross game will determine the other tourney host.
league unbeatens
Bucknell is one of only five remaining Division I teams that are unbeaten in their conference through Thursday's games.
Team Conference Record #1 Duke ACC 14-0 Bucknell Patriot League 13-0 #6 George Washington A-10 13-0 #5 Gonzaga WCC 12-0 #4 Memphis C-USA 11-0
