Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
10-8, 4-1PL
Colgate
6-12, 1-4PL
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Colgate | 16 | 20 | 36 |
| Bucknell | 25 | 25 | 50 |
Bucknell Men Win Defensive Struggle, 50-36 over Colgate
1/20/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2007
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell's 29th straight home victory over a Patriot League team was a hard-fought defensive struggle, as the Bison held Colgate to 26.7 percent shooting in a 50-36 victory Saturday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. Chris McNaughton led all players with 12 points and seven rebounds to help Bucknell improve to 10-8 overall, 4-1 in the Patriot League.
The Bison also received 11 points, six rebounds and five assists from Donald Brown, but it was their best defensive showing of the season that propelled them to victory. Bucknell held Colgate (6-12, 1-4) to only one field goal in the last 14:57 of the game, and the Raiders went 0-for-14 from 3-point range. Bucknell also finished with a commanding 35-21 rebounding edge.
No Colgate player reached double figures in the scoring column, with Kendall Chones leading the way with nine points. Leading scorer Jon Simon, who was coming off a career-high 28-point showing against Lehigh when he made 8 of 11 from 3-point range, was held to eight points on 2-for-11 shooting, 0-for-5 from the arc.
Bucknell got off to a slow start, going the first 4:56 without a field goal while committing six turnovers during that span. Colgate pocketed the first six points of the game, but McNaughton's layup sparked an 8-0 run to give the Bison their first lead 9:43 into the contest.
Bucknell hit only three 3-pointers in nine attempts all day, but those three bombs came in succession late in the first half to give the hosts a lead they would never relinquish. Trailing 12-10 with 4:20 left, Abe Badmus canned a 3-pointer from the right wing, then Badmus penetrated and dished to Jason Vegotsky for a trey. After two Simon free throws, Vegotsky hit another 3-pointer to make it 19-14.
Freshman Stephen Tyree, who played a career-high 14 minutes in this one, followed with an acrobatic tip-in, and four straight points from Darren Mastropaolo helped the Bison close the half on a 15-4 run and take a 25-16 lead to the locker room.
McNaughton's layup to open the second half gave Bucknell its first double-figure lead of the day at 27-16, but Colgate fought back by outscoring the Bison 14-4 over the next five minutes. Simon had his only two field goals during that surge, and Chones' short jumper made it 31-28 with 14:57 to play.
Colgate would make only one more field goal the rest of the way, however, that coming 9:04 later. By that time, Bucknell had scored 10 of the next 11 points en route to a decisive 14-3 run that blew the game open.
Brown ended Bucknell's four-minute field-goal drought with a slashing layup, then made a nice high-low feed to Mastropaolo to push the lead back to seven at 35-28. After a Todd Checovich free throw, McNaughton scored on back-to-back spin moves to the basket, then Brown and Mastropaolo both made 1 of 2 from the line to make it 41-29 with 6:13 to play.
Chones temporarily stopped the bleeding for the Raiders with a layup, but Mastropaolo scored off another Brown assist, then Brown brought the crowd to its feet with the play of the day. First he stole a pass, then he leaped high to tap in an alley-oop pass from Badmus on the fastbreak. That gave the Bison a commanding 45-31 lead, and the Raiders only managed a handful of free throws after that.
Bucknell shot 47.2 percent from the floor and scored 26 of its 50 points in the paint. It was the lowest-scoring game in Sojka Pavilion history, and Bucknell's lowest-scoring outing anywhere since a 56-23 win over Army at West Point in 2003-04. It was the team's fewest points allowed since a 62-32 win over Lafayette at home on Jan. 18, 2006, and it was Colgate's lowest offensive output since falling at Arizona State 52-36 in December.
It was also the first time in Sojka Pavilion history that a team failed to make a 3-pointer.
Colgate had been the last team to defeat Bucknell at Sojka Pavilion, that coming on March 2, 2003. Since then the Bison have won 29 straight against league teams at home, and they are now 42-9 all-time at Sojka.
Bucknell, which is now two games over .500 for the first time this season, will play at home again on Tuesday against Lehigh at 7 p.m. That contest will be televised locally on The CW.
