Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
1-0
Marist
0-1
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marist | 33 | 39 | 72 |
| Bucknell | 37 | 38 | 75 |
Men's Basketball Holds off Marist in Season Opener, 75-72
11/14/2014 10:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell head coach Dave Paulsen talked about his team's quality depth throughout the preseason. He saw it first-hand on Friday night, as five Bison scored in double figures, and the bench piled up 38 big points in a 75-72 season-opening win over Marist at Sojka Pavilion.
Dom Hoffman led the way with 14 points and nine rebounds, and John Azzinaro (13), J.C. Show (12), D.J. MacLeay (11) and Steven Kaspar (10) also hit double figures. Azzinaro, Show and MacLeay did not start the game, but all three finished it and made critical plays down the stretch of an edge-of-your seat affair that was not decided until the final buzzer.
The Bison trailed 58-54 with seven minutes to play, but MacLeay's 3-point play kicked off a game-changing 10-0 run. MacLeay tied the game at 58 with a free throw, and after Hoffman took a charge, MacLeay broke the deadock with two more from the line with 4:31 to play.
Azzinaro hit a hanging jumper from the left wing, and Hoffman followed with a face-up jumper from the right baseline to make it 64-58 with 3:05 to play. After yet another defensive stop, Azzinaro back-rimmed a good look at a trey that would have sent the spread to nine, and then Khallid Hart got hot and nearly brought the Red Foxes all the way back.
Marist had not scored in nearly five minutes, but Hart hit a deep three to make it 64-61. Show, the freshman from Clarks Summit making his collegiate debut, pushed the lead up to eight with a tough lefty runner in the lane followed by a high-arcing three from the top of the key.
Hart hit a 3-pointer with 57 seconds left, and Azzinaro made two from the line after being fouled on a drive to the basket. Hart somehow banked in a heavily contested three, Azzinaro went 1-for-2 at the line, and then Hart drove to the basket for a layup that made it 72-69 with 26 seconds to play.
Bucknell inbounded to Show, and the rookie hit two clutch free throws to push the lead back to five. Hart hit yet another trey -- his seventh of the night -- to make it a 74-72 game with 15 seconds remaining. It was still a one-possession game after MacLeay went 1-for-2 at the line, but the Bison swarmed Hart, and Marist could not get a shot launched before the final horn sounded.
Hart, the reigning MAAC Rookie of the Year, finished with 33 points on 11-for-22 shooting, including 7-for-11 from 3-point distance. Fellow high-scoring guard Chavaughn Lewis tallied 18 on 6-for-16 shooting.
"I really like the resiliency of our group," said Paulsen. "They stayed the course, and even though we missed some, we got good looks against the zone. Lewis and Hart are just terrific players, and for the most part we made them take tough shots. I really liked the play off the bench. John Azzinaro, J.C. Show and D.J. MacLeay really came in and sparked us off the bench."
While Hart and Lewis were terrific for the Red Foxes, Bucknell was dominant inside. Picking up where they left off at the end of last season, the Bison finished with a 41-29 rebounding advantage, a 28-16 edge in points in the paint, and a 9-0 lead in second-chance points.
Bucknell's bench was sensational, outscoring Marist's bench 38-5. In addition to the double-figure performances from Azzinaro, MacLeay and Show, Cory Starkey tallied two points, five rebounds and a career-high six assists. Starkey entered the night with seven career assists, and he had six in the first half in this one, many coming from the high-post against Marist's zone.
The Red Foxes came out of that zone for most of the second half, and Kaspar took advantage by driving to the basket for layups on three straight possessions during a key juncture midway through the second half when the two teams were trading blows.
Starkey's layup gave Bucknell an early 17-9 lead. Marist battled back and led by as many as six at 31-26 after a 3-pointer by Phillip Lawrence. But the Bison finished the half on a 12-2 run, keyed by treys from Azzinaro and Show, and led 37-33 at the half.
Bucknell was able to overcome tough shooting nights from leading returning scorer Chris Hass and center Nana Foulland, who became the first Bison freshman to start on opening night since Joe Willman in 2009. Foulland finished with two points and five rebounds, while Hass was held to five points and four boards.
Ryan Frazier did well defending Lewis for most of the contest, and Frazier chipped in six points, four assists and three rebounds.
Bucknell shot 41.7 percent overall and hit 7 of 20 from the 3-point arc and 18 of 24 from the foul line. Marist shot 42.1 percent from the floor, including a 12-for-28 showing from long range. The Red Foxes also went a perfect 12-for-12 from the foul line.
The Bison had 12 assists on 13 first-half field goals and finished with 15 assists and seven turnovers on the night.
Bucknell next faces No. 24/23 Michigan on Monday at 8 p.m. in Ann Arbor. The contest will air live on the Big Ten Network.
