Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
12-8, 6-1PL
Army
13-9, 3-4PL
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 15 | 34 | 49 |
| Bucknell | 43 | 31 | 74 |
Bucknell Men's Basketball Outruns Army 74-49 for Fourth Straight Win
1/27/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 27, 2007
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell wrapped up the first half of Patriot League play on a high note, riding a terrific first half to a 74-49 rout of Army Saturday night at sold-out Sojka Pavilion. The Bison (12-8, 6-1 Patriot League) won their fourth straight and seventh in their last eight, and they stand one game behind Holy Cross in the league standings heading into a three-game road trip.
Donald Brown led a balanced effort with 12 points, eight rebounds and four steals. Jason Vegotsky added 12 points, while Chris McNaughton and Abe Badmus pitched in 11 apiece. No Bison played more than 27 minutes, and 10 different players scored a point.
Jarell Brown led Army (13-9, 3-4) with 14 points, 11 coming in the second half, while Matt Bell added 11 points.
The story in this one was Bucknell's first-half performance, which was perhaps its finest of the season. The Bison shot 65.2 percent from the floor, buoyed by a 7-for-10 showing from 3-point distance, en route to a 43-15 halftime lead. Badmus was the catalyst, connecting on all three of his 3-point tries while dishing out four assists in the opening period.
Bucknell had assists on 11 of their 15 first-half baskets. Two of the four that did not came when Brown jumped passing lanes and finished with a pair of loud breakaway dunks. Even though the Bison posted a season high for points in a half, no player attempted more than five shots along the way.
Just as impressive as the crisp offensive display in the first half was the stifling defensive effort. Bucknell forced nine turnovers, a number of shot clock violations or situations where Army had to force a shot at the end of the clock, and held the Black Knights to 26.1 percent shooting. Three of Army's six first-half field goals were 3-pointers, one coming on a 28-foot bank shot as the shot clock expired and another in a 5-on-4 situation when John Griffin was momentarily staggered by an inadvertent blow to the face. Bucknell kept the Black Knights off the free throw line the entire half and nearly doubled them on the boards, 18-10.
Army scored first on a Kenny Brewer inside bucket, but the Bison took control with an 18-2 run that included 12 straight points during one stretch. Badmus, Griffin and Justin Castleberry all connected on threes in that span, and Brown made it 18-4 with a crowd-pleasing jam after leaping high for a steal on a cross-court pass.
Bell ended Army's 5:39 scoreless drought with a short bank shot, but Badmus answered with consecutive 3-pointers. Freshman Stephen Tyree, who played a strong 14 minutes off the bench, then hit two free throws to make it 26-6.
Another freshman, Patrick Behan, had an impressive sequence a few minutes later. At the 6:02 mark he went high to stuff in a missed shot, then he canned his second 3-pointer of the season about 90 seconds later to make it 36-12. Brown's second open-floor jam with 26 seconds left made it 43-15 at the half.
The lead quickly swelled to 32 as McNaughton and Vegotsky hit back-to-back buckets to start the second half before things got a bit ragged. Bucknell committed 14 second-half turnovers and cooled off from the field (47.4 percent), but the game was well in hand by that point.
Bucknell went more than five minutes without a field goal, and at the 12:44 mark - 27:16 into the game - Army garnered its first back-to-back points of the night when Brown made three free throws and Marcus Nelson scored on a put-back.
Bucknell had one final big run later in the half, outscoring Army 10-1 over a three-minute span. Badmus highlighted that stretch with the shot of the night, a twisting reverse layup in transition. Darren Mastropaolo's tip-in with 4:11 left gave the Bison their largest lead of the night and of the season, 36 points at 69-33.
The victory was Bucknell's 13th in a row over Army and its 31st straight home win over a Patriot League opponent.
Bucknell shot 57.1 percent from the field and 52.9 percent (9-17) from 3-point range on the night. The bench combined for 25 points, led by seven from Castleberry and five each from Behan and Rob Thomas.
McNaughton moved into eighth place on Bucknell's all-time scoring list with 1,362 career points, and he is now the second-highest scoring center in school history, trailing only Bob Barry, who scored 1,809 points from 1976-80.
Badmus finished with three steals, making him only the second player in school history to reach 200 career thefts.
The Bison played the game with heavy hearts. Their thoughts were with head coach Pat Flannery, who was not with the team after attending morning funeral services for his late father, Jack, who passed away earlier this week.
Bucknell will be back in action on Tuesday night at Colgate. It will be the second meeting between the Bison and Raiders in 10 days. Bucknell won 50-36 on Jan. 20 at Sojka Pavilion.
