Bucknell University Athletics
First-Place Bison Men Travel to Colgate on Saturday
2/3/2006 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 3, 2006
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Bucknell puts a number of streaks on the line Saturday when it travels to Hamilton, N.Y., to face Colgate. The Bison have won eight straight overall, four straight on the road and 12 straight against Patriot League foes. Last time out, Bucknell won a hard-fought, 67-54 decision at Army. That victory helped the Orange & Blue equal the best 20-game start in school history, and it upped their Patriot League record to 8-0 for the first time. Entering play this weekend, Bucknell owns a one-game lead over Lehigh, which hosts American on Saturday night. In sixth place at 2-5 in league play sits homestanding Colgate. The Raiders have had a week's rest since beating Army 60-41 at Cotterell Court, and they will be looking to avenge a 62-43 loss to Bucknell in the first meeting of the season between the two teams on Jan. 21 in Lewisburg. The Bison have had pretty good success in Hamilton recently, winning five of their last seven games there, including a 71-69 triumph last year. Bucknell is 8-7 at Cotterell Court since the two teams joined the Patriot League in 1990-91. This season Colgate is 5-3 at home but only 1-9 on the road. The Raiders' victory over Army last weekend snapped a five-game losing streak. Sophomore guard Kyle Roemer leads the team in scoring at 11.4 ppg. Most of Roemer's damage (44 of 80 field goals) has come from 3-point range. Guard Alvin Reed (9.6 ppg) has had some big games against Bucknell in past years, although he sat out Colgate's most recent game with an injury.
with a victory over colgate, bucknell would ...
• ... go to 18-3, which would equal the best 21-game start in school history (1983-84).
• ... go to 9-0 in the Patriot League for the first time ever.
• ... win its 13th straight game against Patriot League foes (including PL Tournament).
• ... remain in sole possession of first place in the Patriot League.
• ... give head coach Pat Flannery his 100th Patriot League win.
last time out: bison outlast pesky black knights
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 Wednesday 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.
inside the boxscore
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 ... freshman Jason Vegotsky made both his 3-point attempts, upping his league-leading 3FG% to .605 ... Abe Badmus scored 10 points, giving him three straight double-digit scoring efforts for the first time in his career.
charles in charge
When the Bison found themselves down 10 in the first half at Army on Wednesday, it was senior co-captain Charles Lee who put the team on his shoulders. In a three-minute stretch late in the half, Lee logged five points, three steals and three assists. Bucknell pieced together a 12-2 run to tie the game, with Lee either scoring or assisting on all 12 points. In the second half Lee hit a big 3-pointer to put Bucknell up six, and he made two big game-icing free throws with a minute to play.
the first bucknell-colgate meeting
• Jan. 21, 2006 at Sojka Pavilion: Chris McNaughton scored 16 points and Donald Brown came off the bench to post 14 points and eight rebounds, leading Bucknell to a 62-43 win over Colgate. It was another strong defensive showing for the Bison, who held Colgate to 34.0% shooting and only two field goals over the last 10:18 of the game. Bucknell led by only four at 39-35 in the second half before breaking it open with a 15-0 run. Alvin Reed and Kyle Roemer scored 11 points each for Colgate.
bucknell to play northern iowa in espn bracketbusters
ESPN on Monday announced the TV pairings for the Feb. 18 "BracketBusters presented by eBay" showcase, and Bucknell has been paired with No. 24 Northern Iowa. Game times and ESPN network assignments will be announced on Feb. 7. The Bison and Panthers nearly met in the second round of the NCAA Tournament last season. Just prior to Bucknell's upset of Kansas, UNI lost a down-to-the-wire 57-52 decision to Wisconsin.
"BracketBusters presented by eBay" Television Matchups
• Bucknell at Northern Iowa
• George Mason at Wichita State
• Missouri State at Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Louisiana Tech at Southern Illinois
• Buffalo at Iona
• Fresno State at Creighton
• Akron at Nevada
• Butler at Kent State
• Marist at Old Dominion
• Northwestern State at Utah State
• Samford at Ohio
• Albany at Virginia Commonwealth
• Northern Arizona at Western Kentucky
hot starts
Bucknell has become only the third Patriot League team to start a season 8-0.
Best Starts in Patriot League play Fordham, 1990-91 Started 11-0 Finished 11-1 Navy, 1997-98 Started 9-0 Finished 10-2 Bucknell, 2005-06 Started 8-0 Finished ?-? Holy Cross, 1992-93 Started 7-0 Finished 12-2 Bucknell, 1994-95 Started 7-0 Finished 11-3 Lafayette, 2003-04 Started 7-0 Finished 9-5
century men
With a jumper with 15:45 to play in the Jan. 25 win at Lehigh, junior center Chris McNaughton became the 31st 1,000-point scorer in Bucknell basketball history. McNaughton joins teammate Kevin Bettencourt (1,408) on that list, while senior Charles Lee (954) could soon be joining them. If Lee makes it to 1,000, it would be the first time since 1992 that three Bison teammates had all reached the century mark. That year, seniors Patrick King and Bill Courtney, along with junior Mike Bright, had all reached the milestone.
patriot league foes find points hard to come by
In eight Patriot League games thus far in 2006, Bucknell has allowed only 46.8 ppg and has held teams to 33.2% shooting. That continues a trend of stellar defense dating back to last season, when the Bison allowed 34, 35 and 57 points in three Patriot League Tournament wins. In their last 11 games against PL foes, the Bison have allowed an average of only 45.5 ppg. Bucknell has allowed less than 70 points in each of its last 28 games against league competition and less than 60 points in each of its last 12.
bison now rank fourth in nation in scoring defense ...
Through Thursday's games, Bucknell ranks fourth nationally in scoring defense, allowing only 55.2 points per game.
National Leaders, Scoring Defense: 1. Air Force 53.2 2. Richmond 54.0 3. Southern Illinois 54.5 4. Bucknell 55.2 5. Princeton 56.0 6. Illinois 56.2 7. Washington State 57.5 8. Boston University 57.6 9. Delaware State 58.2 10.George Mason 58.2
... and third in field-goal percentage defense
National Leaders, FG% Defense (through Monday's games): 1. Kansas .358 2. Texas .367 3. Bucknell .367 4. Connecticut .367 5. Iowa .372 6. Memphis .376 7. George Mason .378 8. St. John's .378 9. Kansas State .381 10.Xavier .384
