Blue Team Holds off Furious Rally by Orange to Win Annual Bucknell Men's Basketball Alumni Game, 95-92
2/5/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 5, 2011
2011 Alumni Game Photo Gallery
LEWISBURG, Pa. - More than two dozen former members of the Bucknell men's basketball program turned out for the 2011 Alumni Game at Sojka Pavilion on Saturday afternoon. In an exciting contest which, like most alumni affairs, featured a lot of up and down offense, the Blue team held on to defeat the Orange squad, 95-92.
Led by 16 points from Darren Mastropaolo '08, the Blue team built up a 49-33 advantage after the first 20 minutes of play. The offense clicked on all cylinders for the Blue squad in the opening half, and every player on the roster managed to score at least one bucket. John Griffin '08 tallied seven assists to lead all players in that category and Charles Lee '06 dumped in 11 points. Along with teammate Rob Thomas '08, the quartet of players from Bucknell's 2005 Patriot League Championship team accounted for 43 of the Blue team's 49 first-half points.
But behind the play of Abe Badmus '07, Dave Steigerwald '96 and Mark Treiber '97, the Orange squad made a late run in the second half, closing within two points before falling by the final margin. Badmus scored 18 in the half, while Steigerwald and Treiber each added 12.
In what was a very entertaining matchup for the few hundred fans in attendance, Griffin and Badmus battled to a virtual head-to-head tie in the final statistics, as each finished with a game-high 30 points and 10 assists.
Those who were there might argue that Badmus won the battle by virtue of his electrifying block off the backboard which almost mirrored the incredible play he made at Pitt in 2005 to help the Bison knock off the then-ranked 7th Panthers, ending a 48-game winning streak at the Petersen Events Center.
In addition to Griffin, Lee and Mastropaolo each cracked the 20-point mark for the Blue team with 25 and 20 points, respectively. Thomas scored eight points, followed by six from Tom Welch '97, four from Ed Sigl '84 and two from Bob Edwards '76.
Treiber (16), Steigerwald (15) and Dan Bowen '00 (13) all joined Badmus in double-figures for the Orange squad, while Chris Niesz (8 pts, 4 asst), Mark Allsteadt '87 (6 pts, 3 asst) and Kevin Wenk '96 (4 pts, 1 asst) rounded out the scoring. Matt Fiery '10 added an assist.
Other alumni from the program who were in attendance but did not play included: Hall of Famers Tommy Thompson '60 and Bob Barry '80, former head coach Pat Flannery '80, former assistant coach Terry Conrad, Chuck Carroll '68, Harvey Edwards '78, Steve O'Brien '80, Kevin Blackwell '86, Doug Allen '88, Keith Fenton '91, Andrew Morrison '08 and managers Grant Tormey '90, Karli Perrine '04 and Tinecia Repard '07.