Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
6-14;1-3
Lafayette
13-6;4-0
Lafayette Holds off Bison Men, 61-57
1/20/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 20, 2010
EASTON, Pa. - The Bucknell men's basketball team came back from an early 13-point deficit and played one of its better defensive games of the year against the top-scoring team in the Patriot League, but first-place Lafayette made enough plays down the stretch to hold off the Bison 61-57 on Wednesday night at Kirby Sports Center.
Bryan Cohen had 13 points and five assists while holding Lafayette's high-scoring Ryan Willen to five points. Stephen Tyree added 10 points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals for the Bison (6-14, 1-3), who were playing without injured forward Mike Muscala.
Jared Mintz had 17 points and 11 rebounds and Michael Gruner added 14 points for the Leopards, who are now 4-0 in the Patriot League and 13-6 overall.
After cutting a 13-point deficit down to one by halftime, the Bison took the lead on a Darryl Shazier 3-pointer 1:53 into the second half. Bucknell held a number of small leads as the two teams traded points throughout the half.
Bryson Johnson's trey gave the Bison their first four-point lead at 42-38. It was still a four-point cushion at 44-40 when they had a number of opportunities to stretch the lead but could not convert. Bucknell missed five straight shots, including 3-pointers from Johnson and Boon that would have made it a seven-point game.
Bucknell did eventually go up by six on back-to-back baseline jumpers by Joe Willman, but Lafayette answered with seven straight points, the last five coming on a controversial sequence with 5:35 left in the game. Jim Mower hit a 3-pointer after an official called a foul on Bucknell away from the ball. After a meeting and trip to the replay monitor, the 3-pointer was ruled good, and Mintz went to the line and converted both ends of a 1-and-1 to put the Leopards back up 49-48.
The Bison did reclaim the lead on another Willman jumper with 5:10 to play, but Jeff Kari's contested 3-pointer on the right side put Lafayette back in front 52-50. The Bison tied it on two Cohen free throws, but Gruner's backdoor layup at the 3:23 mark gave the Leopards the lead for good at 54-52.
Bucknell had two possessions to tie, but came up empty on a turnover and missed layup. Then at the 2:03 mark Mower hit a dagger 3-pointer to make it a 57-52 game.
The Bison had life when Tyree stole a long inbounds pass, then hit a pull-up 3-pointer that made it a 59-57 game with 37 seconds left. Tyree then stole the next inbounds pass, but his layup attempt that would have tied the game rimmed out.
Tony Johnson made two free throws with 27 seconds left to make it a four-possession game, and the Bison could not get another shot to drop.
Bucknell got off to a rough start in this one thanks to a rash of turnovers and missed layups, but it made a big run late in the first half to get back in the game. The Leopards made eight of their first 12 field-goal attempts and led 21-8 after Ryan Willen's 3-pointer at the 9:15 mark.
The Bison held Lafayette to one field goal the rest of the half, however. G.W. Boon hit a 3-pointer to make it 21-14, and after a Mintz layup Cohen and Willman finished inside for Bucknell. Johnson's right-corner 3-pointer brought the Bison within 24-21, and Tyree's layup off a nice backdoor feed from Cohen made it 24-23. After forcing Lafayette's eighth turnover of the half, Bucknell had a shot to take the lead to the locker room, but Patrick Behan's 28-footer at the buzzer hit the back iron.
Lafayette came into the game averaging just under 90 points per game in league play, but the Bison forced 23 turnovers and held the Leopards to its lowest point total since Dec. 6.
Bucknell was hampered by 17 turnovers of its own. The Bison were just 7-for-29 from 3-point range, 6 of 11 from the foul line and missed numerous layups in the game.
Willman and Boon had eight points each off the bench, while Johnson grabbed a career-high eight rebounds.
Bucknell wraps up its three-game road trip on Saturday at Colgate at 2 p.m.
