Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
6-19, 3-8
Holy Cross
13-12, 8-2
Hot-Shooting Bison Earn 72-66 Win at Holy Cross
2/14/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 14, 2009
WORCESTER, Mass. - Patrick Behan led four Bucknell players in double figures with 23 points and eight rebounds, and the Bison knocked off Patriot League co-leader Holy Cross 72-66 on Saturday afternoon at the Hart Center. Darryl Shazier added 17 points, G.W. Boon had 16 and Bryan Cohen 11 for the Bison, who snapped a 14-game road losing streak dating back to last season.
The Bison came into the game riding a five-game losing streak, while Holy Cross had won five in a row, but Bucknell turned in a poised effort against a physical team in front of a near-sellout crowd on the road. With Shazier hitting five 3-pointers and Boon four, Bucknell made 9 of 18 treys and shot 45.8 percent overall.
The Bison (6-19, 3-8) were also terrific from the free-throw stripe, where they made 19 of 23. Behan was 9-for-9 at the line in the last six minutes of the game before missing two with three seconds left in the game.
Holy Cross (13-12, 8-2) was led by Andrew Beinert's 18 points, 11 of which came in the final three minutes of the game. Colin Cunningham and Andrew Keister had 13 each, with Keister adding 11 rebounds.
Down 32-30 at the half, Bucknell roared out of the locker room with 14 straight points to open the second stanza. The last dozen of those points came from the 3-point arc, where Shazier hit his fourth of the day and Boon stroked three in a row.
Holy Cross called timeout and went to a full-court trap that caused Bucknell some initial problems. Cunningham's 3-point play with 13:00 left capped a 9-0 run and pulled Holy Cross within 44-39. It was a six-point game inside seven minutes to play when Bucknell built itself the cushion it would need down the stretch.
Boon banked in a runner from the left side, Shazier hit a 3-pointer from the top of the arc, and after a tough defensive rebound in traffic from Behan, he finished a 3-point play at the other end to give the Bison a 14-point lead at 59-45 with 5:39 to play.
Devin Brown made it an eight-point game with two free throws with 3:13 left, then Bucknell turned the ball over on a backdoor pass attempt. Beinert's trey from the right wing cut Holy Cross' deficit to five at 61-56 with 2:47 left.
Brown made it 62-58 with a short baseline jumper at the 1:31 mark, then the freshman Cohen hit one of the biggest shots of the night for the Bison, a leaner in the lane that restored a six-point cushion with 56 seconds left.
Behan grabbed another rebound and was fouled with 45 seconds left, and Behan iced it for the Bison at the line. He made eight in a row to counterbalance a pair of 3-point bank shots from Beinert.
The first half was well-played by both sides and finished with the Crusaders taking a 32-30 lead to the locker room. Two early 3-pointers by Shazier staked the Bison to an early 10-6 lead, but Holy Cross rallied to go up by nine at 23-14 on a Keister layup.
Behan scored six straight Bison points, Boon hit a 3-pointer and Cohen scored four straight to help Bucknell gain a 30-all tie. Evans' shot in the lane with 1:41 left put Holy Cross up two, and both teams came up empty on their final two possessions of the half.
Behan (10), Shazier (9) and Cohen (8) combined for 27 of Bucknell's 30 first-half points. Bucknell shot 41.4 percent in the half, while Holy Cross shot 46.7 percent after making eight of their first 11.
Holy Cross outrebounded Bucknell 35-32, much closer than the 43-28 disparity in the first meeting of the year between the two teams, a 68-56 Crusader win at Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 17.
Shazier also had six assists and only one turnover in 38 minutes against the Holy Cross pressure, and he was 5-for-7 from 3-point range and made both his free-throw attempts. Boon, who broke out of a five-game scoring slump that coincided with Bucknell's five-game losing streak, was 4-for-7 from the arc and also grabbed six rebounds.
After the game, Boon was named most valuable player of Holy Cross' Winter Homecoming Game.
Bucknell won at the Hart Center for the second year in a row and now lead the series 11-10 in Worcester. Coach Dave Paulsen is now 2-0 in the facility, as he led his Williams College team to an upset of Holy Cross here.
Bucknell's last road victory was the memorable triple-overtime win over Navy in the 2008 Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals.
Bucknell is back in action on Wednesday night at Lafayette. The Bison defeated the Leopards 71-61 in Lewisburg last month.
