Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Takes Six-Game Winning Streak to Nation's Capital for Tuesday Tilt at American
2/5/2007 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2007
WHAT: Bucknell (14-8, 8-1) vs. American (11-12, 3-6)
WHERE: Bender Arena, Washington, D.C.
WHEN: Tuesday, February 6, 2007, 8 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
SATELLITE RADIO: Sirius 152
LIVE ONLINE VIDEO: Patriot League All-Access
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES
Red-hot Bucknell wraps up a three-game road swing Tuesday night at American. The Bison have won six games in a row, nine of their last 10 and 14 of their last 18. On Friday night Bucknell played for the first time without leading scorer and rebounder Donald Brown, who is out indefinitely with a hand injury, and the Bison hardly skipped a beat. They scored more points than in any non-overtime game this season (78) and held a 40-22 rebounding edge in a 15-point win at Navy. Veterans Chris McNaughton and Darren Mastropaolo compensated for Brown's absence by combining for 25 points and 19 rebounds. McNaughton is averaging 11.6 points and 7.0 rebounds in Patriot League play. Bucknell remains one game behind first-place Holy Cross in the Patriot League standings. The Crusaders play at Army on Tuesday. American (11-12, 3-6) is tied with Colgate for fifth place, a half game behind Army. The Eagles dropped their second straight game on Saturday, falling 56-54 to Lehigh on a pair of Jose Olivero free throws with four seconds remaining. Senior Andre Ingram leads American in scoring (14.4), while Arvydas Eitutavicius (12.0) also scores in double figures. American commits the fewest turnovers in the Patriot League (14.1 per game) and leads the league in assist-to-turnover ratio.
with a victory over american, bucknell would ...
-- ... win its season-high seventh game in a row.
-- ... win its 15th game in 19 outings since the 0-4 start.
-- ... sweep the season series from the Eagles for the second straight year, and the second time as PL rivals.
-- ... win its 7th straight game against the Midshipmen.
-- ... win its 2nd straight game at Bender Arena after starting 0-4 there in PL games.
-- ... improve to 34-4 in Patriot League play since the start of the 2004-05 season.
bucknell vs. american all-time
Bucknell has an overall 23-17 lead in an all-time series with American that includes some historic dates. The very first meeting on Jan. 14, 1939 also happened to be the first game ever played in Davis Gym (AU won 38-33). Coincidentally, American was also the opponent for the very last game ever played in Davis Gym on Jan. 11, 2003 (a 63-52 Bison win). Bucknell is 10-12 against AU in Washington. As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell leads 8-5, and its current six-game winning streak includes victories in each of the last two PL Tournament semifinals.
bucknell vs. american earlier this season
Chris McNaughton scored a season-high 16 points, including back-to-back decisive buckets in the closing minutes, to lead Bucknell to a 66-60 win over American at Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 9. Donald Brown added 14 points and eight rebounds, Darren Mastropaolo had 11 points and John Griffin 10 for the Bison, who moved over .500 for the first time all season at 8-7. Bucknell fought back from an early seven-point deficit to lead 28-27 at the half, and two Jason Vegotsky 3-pointers sparked a 9-0 run to start the second period, giving the Bison a 10-point lead. The Eagles stayed close by hitting seven second-half 3-pointers, but McNaughton's shots and Griffin's free-throw shooting (10-for-10) helped win it for Bucknell.
bucknell vs. american last season
The Bison swept three games from the Eagles a year ago, two during the regular season and one in the Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
-- On Jan. 11, Bucknell won at Bender Arena for the first time since American joined the Patriot League in 2001-02, 58-50. Kevin Bettencourt scored 14 points, while Chris McNaughton added 13 for the Bison, who trailed by four at the half before rallying.
-- On Feb. 8 at Sojka Pavilion, McNaughton led the way with 16 points in a 74-57 Bison win. Bucknell shot 69% from the field in the second half and 58% overall, including an 8-for-13 showing from 3-point range, and outrebounded AU 28-16.
-- On March 5 at Sojka Pavilion, the Bison advanced to the PL title game with a 64-50 win, paced by 16 points each from McNaughton and Bettencourt.
last time out
Bucknell overcame a flurry of 3-point shots from Navy and ran past the Midshipmen 78-63 on Friday night behind 15 points from John Griffin and big nights from Chris McNaughton and Darren Mastropaolo in the low post. Navy hit six 3-pointers in the first 10:18 of the game and built an early eight-point lead, but the Bison fought back to take a 39-37 halftime lead. The second stanza was all Bucknell. The Orange & Blue outscored Navy 23-9 over the first 10 minutes of the half, with the Midshipmen's only points over that span coming on three Chris Harris 3-pointers. The Bison led by as many as 20 and had a double-digit lead for the final 14:21.
inside the navy boxscore
-- The two teams combined for 24 3-pointers, 13 from Navy and a season-high-tying 11 from Bucknell (in 22 attempts). Navy tried 32 shots from behind the arc, compared to only 21 inside.
-- Chris McNaughton posted his second double-double of the year with 13 points and a career-high 12 rebounds.
-- Darren Mastropaolo had one of the best games of his career in his return to the starting lineup. Mastropaolo scored 12 points on 5-for-5 shooting, grabbed seven rebounds, dished two assists, drew a charge, had three tap-outs on the offensive glass to keep possessions alive and played solid post defense.
-- The Bison had a season-high 40 rebounds, compared to 22 for Navy. During its current six-game winning streak, Bucknell has outrebounded its opponents 216-143 (+73).
-- John Griffin hit four 3-pointers and led the team with 15 points and six assists. In two games against Navy this season, Griffin totaled 26 points and 14 assists with only one turnover in 63 minutes.
-- Bucknell defeated Navy for the fifth straight time overall and third time in four meetings at Alumni Hall.
-- Jason Vegotsky connected on three 3-pointers, giving him multiple trifectas in eight straight games.
-- Stephen Tyree enjoyed his best game yet, finishing with seven points, five rebounds and three assists in a career-high 18 minutes. Fellow rookie Patrick Behan was also a big contributor with five points and two assists in a career-high 17 minutres. For the second straight game, Behan scored the points that gave Bucknell the lead for good, this time coming on a 3-pointer just before halftime.
streaking
Bucknell has now pieced together a winning streak of six games or longer in four straight seasons. Its current six-game streak is tied for the 13th-longest active streak in the nation (through Sunday).
Team Streak Florida 13 Holy Cross 11 Memphis 11 South Alabama 10 East Tennessee State 9 Winthrop 9 Akron 8 Butler 8 Central Connecticut State 8 Kansas State 7 Marquette 7 Ohio State 7 BUCKNELL 6 5 others 6
righting the ship
Bucknell got off to a frustrating 0-4 start this season, with two of the losses coming in overtime to Wake Forest and Penn State. Since then, however, the Bison are 13-4, with three of those setbacks coming to teams (Northern Iowa, Texas Tech, Holy Cross) with a combined 49-21 record. Since the 0-4 start, Bucknell has quality non-league wins over Xavier and George Mason. Four times they have come back from double-digit deficits to win on the road (Saint Francis, Cornell, Lafayette, Colgate), and six times they have won by 14 or more points, including four of the last five.
bison to host towson in bracketbusters matchup
Bucknell will take on former conference rival Towson in a non-televised game as part of the O'Reilly's ESPNU BracketBusters event. The contest will be played Saturday, Feb. 17 at Sojka Pavilion at 2 p.m. From 1982-83 until 1989-90, Bucknell and Towson were rivals in the now-defunct East Coast Conference. Twenty years ago this March, the two teams met in the ECC Championship game at the Towson Center, with the Bison prevailing 86-74 to secure the first NCAA Tournament bid in school history. The two teams have not met on the hardwood since the 1991-92 campaign, and Bucknell holds a 15-8 series lead.
keeping them down
Since the start of the 2002-03 season, Bucknell has held an opponent to 39 points or less nine times and 49 points or less 30 times. Bucknell has played 45 straight Patriot League games (including tournament) without allowing more than 70 points.
dee-fense!
The Bison recently had three of their best defensive showings of the season in consecutive wins over Colgate, Lehigh and Army. In those three games Bucknell yielded a total of 129 points on 45-for-146 (.308) shooting from the floor and 13-for-56 (.232) shooting from 3-point range. The Bison have now retaken the Patriot League lead and rank 15th nationally in scoring defense, allowing 58.6 ppg.
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 150-68 (.688) conference ledger and have clinched their 15th winning or even conference record in 17 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 31 straight wins at home against conference opponents, with their last home league loss coming on March 2, 2003 against Colgate.
patriot league all-access is here ...
The eight Patriot League institutions and College Sports Television Online is airing more than 100 men's and women's basketball games live on the Internet as part of the new Patriot League All-Access package. Nearly every intraleague contest, including Bucknell's men's and women's games, are available through video streaming on www.PatriotLeague.com or www.BucknellBison.com. The Patriot League All-Access package is available for $6.95 per month. The monthly fee allows a subscriber to watch any Patriot League basketball games that are part of the package.
... so is sirius satellite radio
This season SIRIUS Satellite Radio is featuring a Patriot League "Game of the Week." The package consists of 10 regular-season games, seven of which include Bucknell, and all seven Patriot League Tournament games. Remaining games featuring Bucknell are Feb. 6 at American, Feb. 9 vs. Holy Cross and Feb. 21 at Lehigh.
milestone watch
-- Chris McNaughton how has 1,387 points, and he has moved into eighth place on Bucknell's all-time scoring list. He is 112 points behind Bill Courtney for the No. 7 spot.
-- Abe Badmus just became only the second player in Bucknell history to record 200 career steals. He is 84 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 349 career assists. He needs 50 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 115, which is eighth-most in school history).
who's got next?
After playing three straight games on the road, the Bison now return home for three in a row, beginning Friday with a showdown with league-leading Holy Cross. Bucknell defeated the Crusaders in each of the last two Patriot League championship games, but Holy Cross won 65-60 at the Hart Center on Jan. 12, handing the Bison their only league loss thus far. The Crusaders have won 11 games in a row heading into Tuesday's game at Army. Bucknell then hosts Lafayette on Valentine's Day and Towson in a non-conference BracketBusters game on Feb. 17.
