Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
5-12, 0-1PL
Navy
7-9, 1-0PL
Bison Cagers Open Patriot League Season with 69-67 Loss to Navy
1/9/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 9, 2010
| Video Highlights
LEWISBURG, Pa. - O.J. Avworo's driving layup with just over a minute to play gave Navy a hard-fought 69-67 victory over Bucknell at Sojka Pavilion Saturday night in the Patriot League openers for both teams. Freshman Bryson Johnson had 18 points and rookie Mike Muscala tallied 16 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots for the Bison, who fell to 5-12 overall. Chris Harris led the Midshipmen (7-9) with 15 points, about five below his season average, but Navy's role players stepped up and were a big factor in the final outcome.
After doing well in the turnover department for most of the season, Bucknell has suddenly become mistake-prone in recent games, and miscues hurt the Bison down the stretch in this one. Twice in the final five minutes of a tightly contested game Navy hit transition 3-pointers off Bucknell turnovers. First it was Greg Brown canning a left-corner 3-pointer after Jordan Sugars took the ball away from Patrick Behan, snapping a 58-all tie with 4:51 left.
Later, Bucknell had possession of the ball up 64-63 with two minutes left, but Bryan Cohen's pass was intercepted in the frontcourt. That led to a Romeo Garcia pull-up 3-pointer from the top of the key.
Bucknell went right back ahead 67-66 on Johnson's fourth 3-pointer of the night, coming with 1:25 remaining. Then Avworo drove down the left side of the lane and flipped in a tough shot off the glass for only his second field goal of the night.
At the other end, Darryl Shazier and Muscala could not connect on a pick-and-roll play, and the ball went out of bounds back to Navy with 43 seconds left. On the re-start, Bucknell elected to put Avworo, just a 44-percent free-throw shooter on the line for a 1-and-1, and his shot went all the way around the rim and out.
The Bison called timeout with 18 seconds left and set up a play for Johnson coming off a screen on the right side. Johnson's 3-point attempt was short, and there was a tie-up for a loose ball in the lane on the rebound. Navy had the possession arrow, and Harris made 1 of 2 free throws with 2.9 seconds left to make it 69-67. With no timeouts remaining, Shazier was forced to heave up a three-quarter court shot after the missed second free throw, and it fell short.
Bucknell got out to a slow start offensively, going the first 5:58 of the game before Muscala made the team's first field goal of the night. Navy was cold early as well, but a Montez Blair 3-pointer with 7:43 left in the first half gave them a 21-12 lead. That would be the largest lead of the night for either side, as Bucknell rallied to tie it at 34 at the half.
Brown's 3-pointer six minutes into the second period put Navy ahead 48-42, but the Bison quickly rallied behind buckets from Behan and Johnson, and neither team led by more than three points for the final 9:37 of the game.
Bucknell took its first lead of the night at 54-53 on Behan's free throw with 8:10 left. G.W. Boon's jumper put the Bison up 56-53, but Garcia hit two big shots with Harris on the bench temporarily after hobbling off after a collision with Boon. Garcia hit two tying shots, the latter a 3-pointer with 6:44 left to make it 58-all.
Bucknell had three missed shots and a turnover with the score tied at 58, then Brown followed with the big 3-pointer after the Bison turnover.
With top scorers Harris and Jordan Sugars (five points) held well below their season averages, Navy got big lifts from Brown (10 points), Jeremy Wilson (10 points on 5-for-5 shooting) and Blair (eight points). Blair and Brown both went 2-for-3 from 3-point range, as Navy went 8-for-18 from the arc and shot 48.1 percent overall.
Behan added 10 points and six rebounds and Tyree went 6-for-6 from the foul line and had eight points for the Bison, who shot 43.8 percent overall and 52.4 percent in the second half. Bucknell was held to five 3-point shots in 14 attempts, with Johnson accounting for four of the made threes. The Bison were a solid 20-for-25 from the free-throw line, while Navy was 9-for-14.
Bucknell outrebounded Navy 34-23 but had 16 turnovers to Navy's 11. Muscala's seven blocked shots were one shy of the Bucknell single-game record. Brian Anderson had eight blocks against George Mason in 1993, and Mike Butts did it twice in the 1980s.
Bucknell will be back in action on Wednesday night, hosting American at 7 p.m.
