Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
5-18, 2-7PL
Navy
16-7, 5-3PL
| Team | 1 | 2 | OT 1 | F |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Navy | 24 | 28 | 10 | 62 |
| Bucknell | 23 | 29 | 8 | 60 |
Bucknell Men's Basketball Goes Overtime Again, Falls to Navy 62-60
2/7/2009 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2009
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Patrick Behan logged 20 points and a career-high 14 rebounds, but it wasn't enough as the Bucknell men's basketball team fell to Navy 62-60 in the Bison's school-record sixth overtime game of the year Saturday night at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell battled from start to finish and overcame a 12-point second-half deficit, but it just could not buy a bucket in several key stretches and fell to 5-18 overall and 2-7 in the Patriot League.
Patriot League scoring leader Kaleo Kina led Navy with 17 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, but Bucknell freshman Bryan Cohen made him work hard for his points. Kina was 4-for-19 from the floor and 1-for-10 from 3-point range, but he went 8-for-13 from the free-throw line. Chris Harris added 14 points despite a 3-for-14 shooting night, while Mark Veazey chipped in 12 points, including four big ones in overtime.
Navy won for the first time in nine games at Sojka Pavilion and improved to 16-7, 5-3.
It was a tense defensive struggle all the way, as both teams shot under 32 percent on the night. Cohen and G.W. Boon hit back-to-back 3-pointers midway through the first half to give the Bison an 18-10 lead, but those would be the team's only two treys of the night. In addition to 2-for-17 shooting from long range, Bucknell had a number of shots in close roll off the rim.
Cohen finished with 15 points and seven rebounds, while Justin Castleberry added 13 points and a career-high nine boards, and both had good looks at potential game-winning shots.
In the final minute of regulation, Cohen scored in the lane to tie the game at 52, then he forced Kina into a tough look and grabbed the rebound with 33 seconds left. With the shot clock off, Bucknell put the ball in the hands of Cohen, but his 17-footer hit the back iron, sending Bucknell to its record-setting sixth overtime game and eighth overtime period of the year.
Neither team led by more than one possession in the overtime period. Boon's layup with 1:31 left tied the game at 58-all. Kina answered at the other end with a tough layup along the baseline with 54 seconds to play.
Castleberry was just short on a long 3-point attempt, and the Bison fouled Harris, an 86-percent free-throw shooter. Harris made only 1 of 2, though, and Bucknell pulled within 61-60 on Cohen's layup off an inbounds play with 10 seconds left. Kina then went to the line and made the first but missed the second with 7.5 seconds left. After Behan grabbed the rebound, Castleberry weaved through traffic and let go a potential game-winning 3-pointer from about 27 feet. The shot hit the backboard - reminiscent of John Griffin's triple-overtime game-winner from much farther away in last year's Patriot League Tournament - but this time it caromed off the rim and out.
Bucknell's shooting difficulties began in the first half after Behan's shot in the lane gave it a 20-12 lead. The Bison missed their next 13 shots, however, and they did not make another field goal until Darryl Shazier banked one in from the top of the key at the halftime buzzer. That shot ended a 12-1 Navy run and pulled Bucknell within 24-23 at intermission.
Behan accounted for Bucknell's first eight points of the second half, with his fourth field goal leveling the contest at 31-all. The Bison had another extended drought, however, going more than six minutes without a bucket from the floor. In the meantime, Navy rattled off 12 straight points, capped by a Harris 3-pointer, to go up 43-31.
The Bison crept back in it with some good defense of their own. After Jordan Sugars made a layup to put the Midshipmen up 47-37 with 8:32 to go, Navy did not make another field goal in regulation time. The Mids had a 2-for-5 stretch from the foul line, and Castleberry had six points and Cohen and Behan two each in a 10-2 Bison run. Castleberry's drive to the basket pulled Bucknell within 49-47 with 3:24 left.
Navy led 52-50 after a Veazey free throw with 2:05 to play, but the Bison shut the Midshipmen down the rest of the way. Shazier had a layup try rim out with 1:35 left, but Bucknell forced a shot-clock violation. Kina then gambled for a steal on an entry pass to Cohen in the lane, and Cohen made the open layup to tie the game at 52 with 51 seconds left.
With both teams off the mark for most of the night there were plenty of rebounds up for grabs, and Bucknell collected a Sojka Pavilion-record 55 of them. Half of Behan's 14 caroms came at the offensive end, and the Bison parlayed 17 offensive boards into a 14-4 edge in second-chance points. Navy had 42 rebounds, only seven offensive.
Bucknell's starters played 187 of a possible 225 minutes and accounted for all but two of the team's points.
Navy's last win in Lewisburg came in Davis Gym on Feb. 3, 2001. Bucknell had won eight straight at home against Navy, the last seven coming in Sojka Pavilion. The Midshipmen also had a neutral-site loss to American in Sojka in the 2005 Patriot League Tournament.
At halftime of the game, Bucknell honored its 1989 East Coast Conference championship team.
The Bison are back in action on Wednesday, hosting American at 7 p.m.
