Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
5-7
Wake Forest
6-6
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bucknell | 20 | 33 | 53 |
| Wake Forest | 31 | 29 | 60 |
Wake Forest Holds off Bucknell Rally, 60-53
12/22/2014 10:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Chris Hass scored 26 points and fueled a big second-half rally that got Bucknell back in the game after an ice-cold start, but Wake Forest held strong down the stretch and prevailed 60-53 on Monday night before 9,739 fans at the LJVM Coliseum. Codi Miller-McIntyre had 19 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four assists for the Demon Deacons, who saw an early 17-point advantage trimmed to one but never did give up the lead.
Bucknell (5-7) had a rough shooting night, with a 1-for-19 start leading to 28.6 percent accuracy for the game, but the Bison were strong defensively, holding Wake Forest (6-6) to 36.2 percent from the field. Both teams scored 20 points at the free-throw line in a game that was slowed by 52 combined fouls.
The Bison trailed by only 11 at the half despite going 4-for-26 from the field. Darius Leonard's 3-pointer 1:45 into the second half gave Wake Forest a 37-23 lead, but that would be the Demon Deacons' last field goal for nearly seven minutes. At the other end Hass' baseline drive for a slam dunk ignited Bucknell's 14-1 run.
The surge was aided by a pair of separate technical fouls and the ejection of Wake Forest forward Devin Thomas, who had eight points and 11 rebounds before leaving with 13:54 to play. Hass hit all four of the technical free throws as well as a 3-pointer, and D.J. MacLeay's put-back made it a one-point game at 38-37 with 12:06 to play.
Bucknell had been doing a solid job on the defensive glass – Wake Forest had only six offensive boards at that point – but the Demon Deacons began to assert themselves on the boards and they never did surrender the lead. Greg McClinton tipped in his own miss to end Wake's field goal drought, and then the Bison went 5:22 without a bucket of their own.
Wake Forest went back up by 10 at 53-43 on McClinton's 3-point play. Bucknell shot back with five straight points – it might have been an 8-0 run if not for three straight missed free throws – with Hass' layup cutting it to 53-48 with 2:16 to play.
Bucknell had just forced a shot clock violation and was closing in on another, but Cornelius Hudson's lone field goal of the night was a dagger 3-pointer from deep in the right corner with 1:42 to play. J.C. Show's missed three at the other end led to a long rebound and run-out for Miller-McIntyre. He was fouled and hit both free throws to push the lead back to 10. The Bison got as close as six on Hass's fourth trey of the night with 30 seconds left.
“I thought we really competed and defended hard, but if you want to win on the road in an ACC building you have to make some baskets,” said head coach Dave Paulsen. “I was pleased with the effort, but not with the execution. Give credit to Wake for disrupting us some with their pressure, but we had 16 turnovers and a number of missed point-blank layups.”
Bucknell struggled to get the ball in the hoop for most of the first half but stuck around with scrappy defense and 10-for-12 shooting at the foul line. Wake Forest led by as many as 17 at 21-4 before four free throws from Ryan Frazier and a Ben Oberfeld 17-foot jumper gave the Bison their first surge of the night.
In the final three minutes of the half the Demon Deacons held a 29-13 lead, but Bucknell finished the half on a 7-2 run. Show rebounded his own miss and kicked it out to Hass for a 3-pointer. Hass added a pair of free throws, and Show answered a Madison Jones basket with a reverse layup off a backdoor cut to make it 31-20 at the break.
Wake Forest finished with a 41-35 edge on the boards, but the Bison led 9-7 in second-chance points. Bucknell was 20-for-26 from the foul line, while Wake Forest finished 20-for-35.
Hass topped the 20-point mark for the fourth time this season. In four games against major-conference opponents he averaged 23.3 points – 21 at Michigan, 32 at Villanova, 14 vs. Penn State and now 26 at Wake Forest. Against Wake, Hass was 6-for-18 from the field, 4-for-13 from 3-point range and a perfect 10-for-10 at the line.
The Bison are back in action on Dec. 28 at Siena in their final non-conference game of the regular season.
