Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
5-8
Siena
4-7
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bucknell | 38 | 33 | 71 |
| Siena | 35 | 38 | 73 |
Siena Edges Bison 73-71 in Back-and-Forth Affair
12/28/2014 5:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball
ALBANY, N.Y. – Marquis Wright scored 24 points to cancel out a career-high 23 from Bucknell freshman J.C. Show, leading Siena to a narrow 73-71 victory on Sunday afternoon at the Times Union Center. The Bison had a potential winning 3-point attempt rim out at the final buzzer, and now they head into Patriot League play on Wednesday against American.
Nana Foulland added 10 points and five rebounds, and the Bucknell bench outscored Siena's reserves 39-5, but the difference for the Saints (4-7) was an 18-9 edge at the free-throw line -- 10 of their last 12 points came at the stripe – and strong defense on Bison scoring leader Chris Hass. After hitting a three on his first shot of the day, Hass made only one more field goal and finished with seven points, almost 11 under his season average.
Siena received 55 of its 73 points from its starting backcourt, with Rob Poole contributing 17 points and Evan Hymes 14, and the Saints shot 55.3 percent from the field.
Siena cut a 10-point deficit down to three at the half after a couple of driving layups by Wright, the latter beating the halftime buzzer. Wright continued with the hot hand into the second half, and his layup off his own missed free throw gave the Saints the lead back at 44-43.
The teams traded blows for the next six minutes. Steven Kaspar's jumper gave the Bison a 54-52 lead, then Poole answered with a go-ahead 3-pointer for Siena. After a Bison turnover, Hymes scored with a tough layup in traffic to put the Saints up by three. Hymes hit again from the right wing and Wright scored on a drive to complete a 9-0 run and give Siena a 61-54 lead with 6:50 to go.
Show ended Bucknell's four-minute scoring drought with a 3-point play, then he followed with a left-wing jumper. After Javion Ogunyemi missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Kaspar fed D.J. MacLeay for a layup to tie it at 61 with 4:16 left.
The Bison (5-8) then had difficulty defending the Saints' super-quick guards without fouling. Siena hit 3 of 4 at the foul line surrounding a couple of Bison misses, but then Show pulled up in transition and hit another 3-pointer to tie it again at 64 with 2:07 to go. An off-ball foul sent Poole to the line, where he hit both charity tosses to give the Saints the lead back.
Show found himself wide open after a nifty kick-out pass from Kaspar, but his three attempt rimmed out, and Wright hit two at the line after being nudged on a drive to the basket. MacLeay put back a miss, but Wright kept it a four-point margin with two more free throws. After Hass hit both ends of a 1-and-1, Wright broke loose deep for a breakaway off the inbounds to make it 72-68 with 15 seconds left.
Show drained his fourth trey of the game to cut Bucknell's deficit to 72-71 with 5.7 ticks left. Wright then left a point on the table when he made just 1 of 2 at the line. John Azzinaro raced the ball up the floor, but as a defender jumped out at him, his double-clutch 3-point try drew only iron.
“I was disappointed in our defensive effort, but Siena had a lot to do with that by hitting some tough shots,” said head coach Dave Paulsen. “We were in a pretty good flow in the first half, but then we left some opportunities out there with some missed open looks and they got back in the game. We chart the number of times we get three consecutive stops. We did it three times in the first half but none in the second, and we couldn't seem to guard them without fouling down the stretch.”
There were five lead changes and three ties in the first 10 minutes of a fast-paced first half. The Bison stretched a one-point lead up to 10 with five different players scoring in a 12-3 run that was keyed by 3-pointers from Azzinaro and Show.
The Show trey, which gave him 11 first-half points, put the Bison up 38-28 with 2:09 to play, but Siena scored the final seven of the half to pull within 38-35.
Bucknell will open up Patriot League play on New Year's Eve with a 2:30 p.m. tip against defending-champion American. That contest will be preceded by the Bucknell-American women's game at noon.
