Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
5-19, 2-8PL
American
16-7, 8-1PL
Bucknell Men Drop Another Close One, 52-50 to American
2/11/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 11, 2009
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| Bucknell-American Highlights
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Another chapter in Bucknell's season of frustration was written on Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion, as the Bison dropped a 52-50 decision to first-place American. Bucknell battled back from a 10-point second-half deficit but could not get the lead, and Darryl Shazier's potential game-winning 3-pointer caromed off the front iron as time expired.
Bryan Cohen and Patrick Behan scored 13 points apiece and Justin Castleberry added 12 for the Bison, who dropped their fifth in a row and fell to 5-19 overall, 2-8 in the Patriot League. American (16-7, 8-1), which remained in a first-place tie with Holy Cross atop the league standings, received 17 points from point guard Derrick Mercer, including the basket that put the Eagles ahead to stay with 4:31 remaining.
With the exception of one stretch at the end of the first half, Bucknell was strong defensively all night. The Bison forced the Patriot League's most accurate 3-point shooting team into a 4-for-18 night at the arc, and with the freshman Cohen matched up on sharpshooter Garrison Carr, Bucknell held him to 13 points (more than four below his average) on 6-for-15 shooting, 1-for-6 from 3-point range.
The Bison could not take advantage of its good defense, however, as it shot only 30.0 percent from the floor on the night, with many of the misses coming on mid-range open looks. Particularly early in the game, Bucknell was aggressive driving the ball, resulting in a number of free-throw opportunities. The Bison shot twice as many free throws as American and finished 14-for-18 from the line.
Bucknell led for about 14 straight minutes in the first half, but American closed the half on a 10-0 run to go up 28-23, then scored the first four of the second stanza to take a nine-point lead.
Jordan Nichols, who went 4-for-4 from the field and scored eight points, made a layup off an inbounds pass to give American a 36-26 edge with 16:29 to play.
But the Bison began to heat up some, and back-to-back 3-pointers from Shazier and Cohen and a short jumper from Jason Vegotsky accounted for an 8-0 run that made it a 36-34. American went back up by six points on four different occasions, the last coming at the 8:22 mark when Carr banked in his only 3-pointer of the night with a defender blanketing him.
Bucknell shut out the Eagles for the next four minutes and tied the game with six straight points, four coming from Behan, who had nine in the second half. His spinning shot in the lane made it 48-all with 5:21 left. The Bison got another stop and had a possession to take the lead, but Cohen's entry pass was intercepted by Nichols, leading to Mercer's go-ahead layup at the other end.
The teams alternated empty possessions for the next three minutes, until Mercer landed awkwardly while being fouled on a drive to the basket with 1:43 left. Mercer, a 59-percent free-throw shooter, hobbled off the court and was replaced at the line by Frank Borden, a 73-percent free-throw shooter. Borden sank both to give American a 52-48 lead.
Two free throws by Cohen on the next possession made it a two-point game again. Carr missed a 3-pointer, but Behan could not connect on a baseline jumper with a minute to play. At the other end Brian Gilmore missed with the shot clock running down, and Shazier rebounded.
Bucknell called timeout with 22 seconds left and went to Boon, but his runner along the left side of the lane was blocked by Nichols. Carr rebounded and was fouled with seven seconds left, but it was only Bucknell's sixth team foul. The Bison did a good job defending Carr on the inbounds, and instead the ball ended up in the hands of Nichols, a 56-percent foul shooter. Nichols missed the front end of the 1-and-1, giving the Bison hope.
After calling consecutive timeouts with 3.4 seconds left, Bucknell inbounded to Behan, who passed to Shazier on the left wing. Shazier, who beat Colgate with a 3-pointer in the final seconds on Jan. 24, dribbled to the top of the key and let go a 3-pointer that was on line, but came up just short.
Bucknell's largest first-half lead was seven points at 19-12 after Cohen canned a 3-pointer off a Shazier kick-out. Castleberry's transition layup after a Probese Leo steal gave Bucknell a 23-18 lead with 4:24 left, but those would be the team's final points of the half. Mercer canned two 3-pointers and scored eight of American's points in the 10-0 run to end the period.
Behan had a team-high seven rebounds as Bucknell played American even on the glass, 34-34.
The win was American's first over Bucknell at Sojka Pavilion, and it was the Eagles' first victory over the Bison in Lewisburg since 2002.
Three of Bucknell's five losses in the current losing streak have been two-point decisions.
Bucknell returns to action on Saturday at Holy Cross at 3:30 p.m.
