Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
13-16, 8-5PL
Lehigh
18-10, 9-4PL
Lehigh Defeats Bison Men 81-59 to Take over First Place in Patriot League
2/24/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 24, 2010
BETHLEHEM, Pa. - C.J. McCollum scored 29 points and Lehigh received significant help from a couple of its reserves en route to a convincing 81-59 victory over Bucknell in a battle of first-place teams Wednesday night at Stabler Arena. Mike Muscala scored 14 points and had nine rebounds to lead the Bison, who had won four straight and seven of their last eight coming in.
The victory gave the Mountain Hawks a split of the season series with Bucknell and improved them to 9-4 in the Patriot League with one game remaining. The Bison (13-16, 8-5) can still rally back and gain a share of the regular-season title with a win at Army Saturday and a Holy Cross win over Lehigh, but Bucknell most likely would be on the short end of any tiebreaker for the No. 1 seed.
Lehigh came out and pressured the Bison defensively right from the start. The Bison opened with back-to-back 3-pointers from Bryson Johnson and shot 50 percent from the field in the first half, but they matched their season average with 11 first-half turnovers.
The Mountain Hawks were even better from the field, shooting 60 percent in the opening half, and they turned those 11 turnovers into 16 points.
Lehigh's lead was just 21-19 at the 10-minute mark when John Adams and Hall hit back-to-back 3-pointers. Knutson followed with a bucket to make it a 10-point lead at 29-19. Later in the half Muscala scored six straight Bucknell points, twice pulling his team within seven, but McCollum took over in the final two minutes of the half.
The eight-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week had yet to make a field goal, but he scored all of his team's points in a 9-1 run to close the half. He turned a steal into a breakaway dunk, drove the lane for a 3-point play and finished with a contested 3-pointer with 33 seconds left to give Lehigh a 42-27 lead at the half.
McCollum, who became the top freshman scorer in Patriot League history in this game, then opened the second half with a four-point play to stretch the lead to 19. The Bison then got plenty of stops but went cold themselves, starting the second period just 2-for-14.
Stephen Tyree's follow made it 57-40 at the 9:32 mark, but Lehigh removed any doubt when McCollum made two off-balance jumpers, the latter a 3-pointer, to spark a 7-0 run that pushed the lead up over 20.
Lehigh received 29 bench points, including 11 from Prentice Small and eight from John Adams, who gave the Mountain Hawks a lift with all-conference forward Zahir Carrington in foul trouble. Carrington played only eight minutes and scored two points.
Johnson chipped in 10 points and Bryan Cohen nine for the Bison, who had only two turnovers but shot only 32.4 percent in the second half. Patrick Behan, who scored 24 points in Bucknell's most recent game, was limited to eight minutes due to a foot injury and he finished with two points.
Bucknell closes out the regular season on Saturday at 4 p.m. at Army. The Bison defeated the Black Knights 55-48 on Jan. 30.
