Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Hosts Lehigh on Tuesday in Battle of 4-1 Patriot League Teams
1/22/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 22, 2007
WHAT: Bucknell (10-8, 4-1) vs. Lehigh (9-12, 4-1)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Tuesday, January 23, 2007, 7 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
TV: The CW (WSWB-TV Scranton/Wilkes-Barre); WFMZ-TV in Lehigh Valley
LIVE ONLINE VIDEO: Patriot League All-Access
TICKETS: Limited tickets available at the Sojka Pavilion ticket office beginning Tuesday at 5 p.m., or all day online via the Bucknell ticket office Web site
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES
Two teams tied for second place in the Patriot League with 4-1 records collide on Tuesday night at Sojka Pavilion when Bucknell hosts Lehigh. The Bison have won two straight and 10 of their last 14 following Saturday's stifling 50-36 win over Colgate. As has been the case throughout league play, Bucknell was fueled by its post players, as Chris McNaughton, Donald Brown and Darren Mastropaolo combined for 32 points and 17 rebounds. Brown continues to lead the squad in most statistical categories, including scoring (11.9), rebounding (6.5), steals (1.6) and field-goal percentage (.604). Lehigh comes in at 9-12 overall after winning four of its last five. The Mountain Hawks are 8-1 at home but 1-11 away from Stabler Arena. Lehigh features one of the league's best guards in senior Jose Olivero, whose 16.4 ppg average includes a 32-point showing at Notre Dame in November. Point guard Marquis Hall has been the league's most productive freshman, averaging 10.0 ppg and 4.4 apg. Hall had 24 points in Lehigh's 77-69 win over Lafayette on Saturday night.
with a victory over lehigh, bucknell would ...
-- ... earn its 11th win of the year and move three games over .500 for the first time this season.
-- ... win its fifth straight game against the Mountain Hawks.
-- ... win its fourth straight home game against the Mountain Hawks.
-- ... win its 30th straight home game against Patriot League opponents.
-- ... improve to 43-9 all-time at Sojka Pavilion.
-- ... break a second-place tie with the Mountain Hawks in the Patriot League standings.
bucknell vs. lehigh
Bucknell has played more games (144) and won more games (88) against Lehigh than any other school. The Bison have an 88-56 lead in a series that originated in 1902. Since the start of Patriot League play in 1990-91, Bucknell holds a 29-9 advantage, including a 15-2 mark at home. One of those two home losses, however, came on Jan. 15, 2003 in the very first game played at Sojka Pavilion.
bucknell vs. lehigh last season
The Bison swept the season series from Lehigh a year ago, winning a pair of close games.
-- On Jan. 25 at Stabler Arena, Kevin Bettencourt scored 16 points, including three big 3-pointers in the second half, to help Bucknell to a come-from-behind 59-54 victory in a battle of two teams that came in with 5-0 Patriot League records. Abe Badmus scored 10 points, including a clinching 3-pointer late in the game, and Donald Brown finished with eight points and 10 rebounds for the Bison. Joe Knight (21) and Jose Olivero (19) combined for 40 of Lehigh's 54 points.
-- On Feb. 22 at Sojka Pavilion, the league's top two defensive teams played a surprisingly high-scoring game, as the Bison prevailed 81-70 behind a career-high 17-point showing from Badmus. Charles Lee added 16 for the Bison, who improved to 13-0 in PL play with the win. Olivero had 21 and Knight 15 for the Mountain Hawks.
badmus comes up big against lehigh
Bison point guard Abe Badmus has not been a prolific scorer throughout his career, but he has saved some his best offensive performances for Lehigh. He has scored 15 or more points three times in his career, and two of the three have come against the Mountain Hawks. At Sojka Pavilion last season he pocketed a career-high 17 points in an 81-70 win over Lehigh. In 2004-05 he hit the game-winning 3-pointer with six seconds left in a 65-63 win, and he scored a then-career-high 15 points in the other matchup with Lehigh that season. Badmus has a career scoring average of 7.6 ppg against the Mountain Hawks, his best against any Patriot League team.
last time out
Bucknell turned in its best defensive effort of the season in Saturday's 50-36 victory over Colgate at Sojka Pavilion (see p. 33 for complete recap and boxscore). For the second straight game the Bison got off to a slow start, going scoreless for the first 4:56 of the day. But a couple of 3-pointers from Jason Vegotsky late in the first half sent them on their way. Meanwhile, Bucknell held Colgate to 26.7% shooting from the field, including an 0-for-14 ledger from 3-point range. Bucknell's lead was 31-28 with 14:57 to play, but the Bison held the Raiders to only one more field goal the rest of the way and pulled away behind big baskets from Chris McNaughton and Donald Brown.
inside the colgate boxscore
-- Chris McNaughton led all players with 12 points and seven rebounds. His back-to-back power moves with lefty finishes midway through the second half restored a double-figure lead for the Bison and effectively sealed the verdict.
-- Donald Brown shook off a slow start and finished with 11 points, six rebounds, five assists and two steals. His acrobatic tip-in on an alley-oop pass from Abe Badmus was the play of the day.
-- It was the lowest-scoring game in Sojka Pavilion history, and Bucknell's lowest-scoring game 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 a year ago.
-- Colgate's 0-for-14 showing from the arc marked the first time in Sojka Pavilion history that a team failed to make at least one 3-pointer.
-- John Griffin was held without a field goal for only the second time this season and without an assist for only the second time.
-- Bucknell went 3-for-9 from 3-point distance, with all three triples coming in a span of 1:44 late in the first half.
-- The Bison finished with a commanding 35-21 rebounding edge. Colgate had more offensive (11) than defensive (10) rebounds. Over the last two games, Bucknell has outrebounded its opponents 74-44.
roarin' 30's
Since the start of the 2002-03 season, Bucknell has now held an opponent to 39 points or less nine times and 49 points or less 28 times.
controlling the key
Bucknell has outscored its opponents 124-68 in the paint through five Patriot League games, with most of the damage coming from the post trio of Chris McNaughton, Donald Brown and Darren Mastropaolo.
PL Opponent BU Paint Opp. Paint Navy 30 8 American 20 10 Holy Cross 22 22 Lafayette 26 16 Colgate 26 12 Total 124 68
tyree's time
Freshman guard Stephen Tyree is beginning to make an impact after playing in only five of the first 16 games of the season. With the Bison off to slow starts in each of the last two games against Lafayette and Colgate, Tyree was inserted to give them an energy boost, and he did just that both times. Against Lafayette he played seven minutes, grabbed three offensive rebounds and dished an assist. His court time doubled to 14 minutes against Colgate, and Tyree responded with his first career field goal on an acrobatic tip-in as well as four rebounds, two assists and a steal.
success when getting to the line
Bucknell has shot more free throws than its opponent nine times this season and is 8-1 in those games. In Patriot League play, the Bison have outscored their four opponents 80-53 from the stripe.
defending the arc
One area of concern for the Bison had been defending the 3-point line, but they had one of their all-time great efforts in that department in Saturday's win over Colgate, when the Raiders went 0-for-14 from the stripe. Prior to that game, Bucknell's Patriot League opponents had made 34 treys in four games and were shooting 40.0% from the arc. On the season the Bison have been outscored 351-300 from 3-point distance. Lehigh has also struggled in that area, having been outscored 507-357 from long range in 21 games.
making amends
Early in the season Bucknell lost two games in which it had double-digit leads, first on opening night at Albany and then at home against Wake Forest. The Bison atoned for those two lost chances by overcoming big deficits against Saint Francis (Pa.), Cornell and Lafayette. On Nov. 29, the Bison trailed the Red Flash by 15 in the first half, by 10 at halftime and by eight with 2:55 left. At Cornell on Dec. 16, Bucknell trailed by 17 in the first half, by 13 at halftime and by eight with 4:45 left. At Lafayette last Wednesday, the Bison fell behind 13-3 and trailed by as many as eight in the second half before winning 67-61.
protecting the rock
The Bison had been doing an outstanding job taking care of the basketball in recent games, but struggled in that department in each of the last two games. Bucknell had gone 44 straight games without a single-digit turnover total before doing so in three recent games in a row, including a season-low six turnovers against Navy on Jan. 6. That was Bucknell's lowest total in 418 games,when it had six miscues in an 88-64 win over North Texas at the KYLT Industries Classic at Montana on Dec. 5, 1992. Prior to Navy, the Bison committed a then-season-low nine turnovers against Central Arkansas on Dec. 29, and one night later Bucknell lowered that total to eight miscues in the win over Northern Illinois. Prior to those three games, the last time Bucknell committed fewer than 10 turnovers was in the historic NCAA Tournament win over Kansas in 2005, when it had nine. The Bison had a positive assist-to-turnover ratio (15-12) for the fourth straight game at Holy Cross, but then committed 20 errors against both Lafayette and Colgate in the last two outings.
patriot league success
No Patriot League team has won more regular-season conference games than Bucknell since the start of league play in 1990-91. The Bison carry an impressive 147-68 (.684) conference ledger and have posted 14 winning or even conference records in 16 years. The Bison won a league-record 23 straight contests against conference foes from Feb. 23, 2005 to Jan. 12, 2007. Bucknell has an active streak of 29 straight wins at home against conference opponents, with their last home league loss coming on March 2, 2003 against Colgate.
milestone watch
-- Chris McNaughton how has 1,336 points, and he moved into 10th place on Bucknell's all-time scoring list with 12 points Saturday against Colgate. McNaughton needs 10 more points to catch Jim Wherry for ninth place and 19 more to equal Mike Butts for eighth.
-- Abe Badmus now ranks second on Bucknell's career steals list (196). He is 90 thefts shy of the school record set by Mike Bright (286) from 1989-93. Badmus has also moved into fifth place on the school chart with 338 career assists. He needs 61 more to catch Cal Puriefoy for fourth place.
-- Against Texas Tech, John Griffin became the 12th player in school history to record 100 career 3-pointers (he now has 108, which is 10th-most in school history).
-- Donald Brown needs two steals for 100 in his career and 29 to crack the top 10 on Bucknell's career list.
who's got next?
Bucknell's three-game homestand concludes on Saturday night when much-improved Army visits Sojka Pavilion for a 7 p.m. start. The Black Knights defeated arch-rival Navy on Sunday to improve to 13-7 overall and 3-2 in Patriot League play. Bucknell will look to extend a 12-game winning streak against Army.
