Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
1-3
Mount St. Mary's
1-2
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mount St Mary's | 36 | 37 | 73 |
| Bucknell | 41 | 28 | 69 |
Mount St. Mary's Holds off Bison 73-69
11/22/2014 9:29:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Kristijan Krajina and Gregory Graves scored 16 points apiece to help defending Northeast Conference champion Mount St. Mary's rally past Bucknell 73-69 at Sojka Pavilion on Saturday night. Chris Hass scored 17 points and Dom Hoffman had 14 for the Bison.
Rebounding and turnovers proved to be the difference. Bucknell statistically has been one of the top defensive rebounding teams in the country over the last several years, but a big Mount St. Mary's team came up with 13 offensive boards, leading to 15 second-chance points. The Mount scored five points in one key juncture of the second half by rebounding their own missed free throws.
Bucknell (1-3) had to deal with Mount St. Mary's full-court pressure all night, and even though both teams turned the ball over 14 times, the Mount (1-2) had a 19-8 advantage in points off turnovers.
The Bison shot 54.3 percent, with Hass (5-6) and Hoffman (6-8) combining to go 11-for-14 from the field. Hass was a perfect 5-for-5 in the first half, but he did not get another field-goal attempt until a miss at the final buzzer with Bucknell trailing by four.
The first half was played at a dizzying pace, with both teams making shots. It was already a 17-15 game at the first media timeout, and the Bison had a strong finish to the half to go up 41-36 at the break.
Trailing 30-27 at the five-minute mark, Bucknell scored six straight points to start a 14-6 run. Ryan Frazier hit a jumper and two free throws, and then freshman point guard Stephen Brown picked up one of his six assists with a feed to D.J. MacLeay for a transition layup.
Hass finished the half with two free throws, and then Nana Foulland scored inside to start the second stanza and give the Bison a 43-36 lead. The margin grew to as many as eight on a couple of occasions, the last at 50-42 on another MacLeay layup from a Brown assist.
Mount St. Mary's clawed back as Bucknell went 7:30 without a field goal. Krajina hit a free throw to bring the Mount within 56-52. He missed the second, but somehow got his own rebound, and that led to a 3-point play for Khalid Nwandu to make it a one-point game.
Frazier hit two free throws for the Bison, but then Mount St. Mary's earned a four-point possession with another free-throw rebound. Graves was fouled on a made layup, and Taylor Danaher grabbed the miss. Graves was fouled again, and he made both ends of a one-and-one to put Mount St. Mary's ahead 59-58 with 7:20 to go.
Bucknell struck back with a pair of Hoffman charity tosses, and then Frazier's blocked shot led to a Brown fastbreak layup and a 62-59 lead.
The lead would change hands five more times down the stretch before Krajina put Mount St. Mary's ahead to stay with back-to-back post moves. The first one gave his team a 67-66 advantage with 3:00 remaining, and after a Bucknell miss Krajina scored with a short lefty baseline hook to make it 69-66.
Hass made two free throws with 1:46 left and then the Bison forced a shot-clock violation with a strong defensive possession. While Mount St. Mary's did a good job keeping the ball out of Hass' hands, the Bison went to Hoffman, who had been 6-for-7 on mid-range jumpers at that point. But this time he was a bit strong and his shot drew back iron.
Byron Ashe made only 1 of 2 at the foul line, giving the Bison a possession down by two inside 30 seconds to play. MacLeay was fouled receiving pass at the top of the key, but after making the first free throw, his second was off the mark. Bucknell fouled Danaher on the rebound, and the 7-footer made both ends of a one-and-one to make it 72-69 with 14 seconds to go.
Hass was double-teamed on the left wing and had to give the ball up, and MacLeay's contested 3-pointer came up short. Junior Robinson hit the second of two free throws to clinch it with 1.3 seconds left.
MacLeay was the third Bison in double figures with 11 points, and Frazier had a good night with eight points and three assists without a turnover.
Mount St. Mary's, with a starting frontcourt standing 6-7, 6-11, 7-0, finished with a 31-24 edge on the glass and shot an even 50.0 percent from the field, despite a 5-for-19 showing from the 3-point arc.
This busy season-opening schedule does not get any easier for the Bison. After playing its last three games against 2014 NCAA Tournament teams in Michigan, Villanova and Mount St. Mary's, Bucknell now has to turn around and travel to Toledo for a 7 p.m. game Monday night as part of the Progressive Legends Classic. The Rockets finished 27-7 and played in the NIT a year ago.
