Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
0-2
Providence
2-0
Providence Needs Late Rush to Outlast Bucknell, 76-65
11/14/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 14, 2009
PROVIDENCE, R.I. - For the second straight night the Bison men's basketball squad put forth a superb effort, only to fall a little short at the end against a quality team. Saturday night it was Big East foe Providence, the host of the World Vision Invitational, pulling away late for a closer-than-the-score-appears 76-65 victory before a crowd of 7,163 at the Dunkin' Donuts Center.
Bucknell led throughout virtually the entire first half and held the lead or was tied for 25:21 out of the 40 minutes. Facing full-court pressure from start to finish, the Bison turned the ball over only 11 times, not once against the press. Bryan Cohen scored a team-high 18 points, Darryl Shazier added 12 and freshman Joe Willman 11 for the Bison, who now face Bryant on short rest at noon on Sunday.
Sharaud Curry scored 17 points to lead four Friars in double figures. Marshon Brooks added 15 points and Brian McKenzie and Vincent Council had 10 each.
Providence, coming off 96-53 walk-over against Bryant a night earlier, had a much tougher time in this one, but in the end it was the Friars' length on the offensive glass that was the difference. Providence grabbed 24 of its 46 rebounds at the offensive end and second-, third-, and fourth-chanced their way to a 19-6 scoring edge on the glass.
Bucknell hit 11 3-pointers in an opening-night 89-80 loss to Mercer, but they cooled off from long range in this one, making just 4 of 19 from the arc. Cohen had all four of those in seven attempts, but the rest of the team was 0-for-12.
That may be good news for the Bison down the road, however, as they produced plenty of good looks in the lane on a night when the 3-point shots were not falling. Bucknell outscored Providence 36-30 in the paint, and it might have been more if not for some layups that rolled off the rim. All five of Shazier's baskets came at the rim, Willman had three put-backs of his own, Cohen drove the ball effectively, and G.W. Boon went to the glass aggressively, resulting in one layup and four trips to the line, where he made 7 of 8.
Perhaps the biggest exchange of the night came just after Shazier fed Stephen Tyree on a 2-on-1 fastbreak to tie the game at 53 with 7:25 left. The Friars quickly pushed the ball up the floor, and only eight seconds after the Tyree bucket McKenzie swished a long three from the left wing.
After another fastbreak layup, this one from Cohen at the seven-minute mark, Providence scored five straight points to take a lead bigger than three points for the first time all night.
It was a 65-61 game after two free throws by Boon with 2:36 to play. After a timeout the Bison went to a trap, but the Friars found Jamine Peterson in the lane for a layup. Bucknell turned the ball over on its next possession, and Curry answered with a dagger of a 3-pointer from the right wing, making it 70-61 with 1:32 to play. Curry, who scored the Friars' final nine points of the game, went 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final minute to ice the game.
Providence led 4-1 early, but Cohen tied it with a 3-pointer and the Bison never trailed again the rest of the first half. Patrick Behan's driving layup at the 15:59 mark made it 10-6, with five different Bison scoring points at that juncture.
Coming out of a media timeout Cohen canned another 3-pointer to cap a 12-2 run, and the Bison led 13-6.
Back-to-back threes by Kyle Wright and Brooks helped the Friars tie it at 17, but Bucknell immediately got five points right back, with Shazier's layup making it 22-17. A corner jumper by Behan and another breakaway layup for Shazier gave Bucknell its seven-point lead back at 26-19 with 6:16 left.
The Bison missed a chance to go up by nine when Willman's layup rolled off the rim, and instead Providence rushed to the other end and pulled within four on a 3-pointer by McKenzie. Later, Council's fadeaway jumper in the lane capped a 10-4 run and tied the game at 32.
It was 34-all when Bucknell played for the last shot of the half, and Shazier beat three men to the bucket to score with just over a second left on the clock, giving the Bison a well-deserved 34-32 lead at intermission.
Curry and Cohen traded 3-pointers to start the second half, and the Bison led by four twice more on yet another driving layup by Shazier and follow by Willman.
Duke Mondy gave Providence the lead back by hitting 3-pointers on consecutive possessions, the first on an offensive rebound tip-out and the second in transition after a Bucknell miss. That put the Friars ahead 48-45, but the Bison came back with a bucket when Mike Muscala faked out a defender on the baseline and slipped a pretty bounce pass to Tyree for a layup.
Bucknell tied it at 49 on another Willman put-back, and again at 51 on Cohen's drive to the basket. Midway through the second half the Bison held the Friars without a field goal for more than six minutes, but Bucknell missed two contested layups and G.W. Boon had an open 3-point try from the right corner go in and out.
Then McKenzie's trey with 7:19 remaining put Providence ahead for good.
The Friars attempted 32 of their 65 shots from 3-point range, making 10 of them. Overall they shot 38.5 percent from the floor and 76.2 percent (16-21) from the free-throw line.
Despite the rebound disparity - although Bucknell did grab 13 offensive boards of its own - the Bison attempted only five fewer field goals than Providence. Bucknell shot 40.0 percent from the floor and hit 13 of 16 free throws.
Willman and Shazier led the Bison with six rebounds apiece, while Cohen had four. Five of Willman's boards came at the offensive end. Boon finished with nine points off the bench, while Tyree finished with seven points and Behan six.
It was the first-ever meeting between Bucknell and Providence.
Bucknell wraps up play at the World Vision Invitational on Sunday, taking on Bryant at noon. It will be the team's third tip-off in a span of just 43 hours.
