Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
4-6
Drexel
6-5
Cold First Half Dooms Bison in 65-53 Loss at Drexel
12/22/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2007
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. - Bucknell could not climb all the way back from a 19-point first-half deficit and fell 65-53 at Drexel on Saturday evening. Philadelphia native John Griffin scored 11 points, all in the second half, and G.W. Boon had 10 for the Bison, who fell to 4-6 heading into a short break for Christmas.
Scott Rodgers scored a season-high 18 points and Frank Elegar had 16, all after halftime, to lead Drexel (6-5). The Dragons shot 44.7 percent from the floor and made 15 of 17 free throws after coming into the game shooting just 56.9 percent as a team from the line.
After managing only six first-half field goals en route to a 34-15 halftime deficit, the Bison were much stronger at both ends of the floor in the second half. They produced a number of defensive stops early in the second half, and they quickly whittled the margin down to 10 at 40-30 by the 11:13 mark.
Todd O'Brien's free throws with 9:25 left made it 44-36, but despite several good chances to draw closer, Bucknell could not get the margin under eight. Elegar, who scored his 1,000th career point later in the half, converted a 3-point play and drew O'Brien's fifth foul with 9:13 left, then after a Josh Linthicum bucket, Tramayne Hawthorne hit a 3-pointer for his only points of the night.
Griffin was fouled shooting a 3-pointer and made all three from the line to make it a 53-44 game with 6:35 left, and Bucknell then missed five straight shots still trailing by nine. Griffin came up short on an open look from behind the arc, then the Bison had three chances on one possession but Linthicum was stripped underneath trying for a follow. After another defensive stop, Boon had a 3-pointer from the top of the key rim in and out.
Kenny Tribbett then scored inside to push Drexel's lead back to double figures. Bucknell made three more field goals, including an impressive fastbreak layup by Linthicum just after he had blocked a shot at the other end, but the Dragons answered each basket. The dagger was a Rodgers trey with 1:09 left that upped Drexel's lead to 12 at 62-50.
Rodgers was just 5-for-20 from 3-point distance this season entering the game, but he made 4 of 7 in this one. Drexel also got a big second-half 3-pointer from Randy Oveneke, who was just 1-for-6 coming in.
Nothing went right for the Bison in the first half, as they shot only 20.7 percent from the floor (6-29), 14.3 percent from the 3-point arc (2-14) and went 1-for-7 from the free-throw line, including three straight misses on front ends of 1-and-1s in the final five minutes of the half.
This just three days after a 47-point first half in an 88-75 home victory over Cornell. Neither team's leading scorer managed a point in the first half, with Bucknell's Griffin and Drexel's Elegar both held scoreless.
It was just a six-point game at 19-13 after Castleberry's 3-pointer at the 9:03 mark, but Drexel finished the half on a 15-2 run and went to the locker room with a commanding 34-15 lead. The surge started with back-to-back 3-pointers from Rodgers, one from the left corner and one from the right corner.
After a Linthicum layup, Drexel scored nine straight to finish the half, keyed by a third 3-pointer from Rodgers.
Bucknell's first-half frustrations were punctuated by three baskets that were waved off in the final few minutes. Linthicum had a reverse layup negated by a traveling call, a moving pick on O'Brien wiped out a Castleberry 3-pointer, and Boon had a put-back whistled off when he was called for a push while grabbing the rebound.
Linthicum continued his recent strong play with eight points, seven rebounds and two blocks. O'Brien had seven points, five rebounds and a block despite being limited to 14 minutes due to foul trouble. Patrick Behan also had eight points and Castleberry had seven for the Bison, who shot 50.0 percent in the second half and 34.0 percent overall.
Both teams grabbed 34 rebounds, and the Bison had a season-low 11 turnovers.
Bucknell returns to action next Friday against North Dakota State in the first round of the Golden Bear Classic in Berkeley, Calif.
