Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
3-7
Princeton
7-3
Princeton Rides Big First-Half Run to 89-77 Win over Bucknell
12/22/2015 9:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball
PRINCETON, N.J. – Princeton outscored Bucknell 31-13 in the final 11 minutes of the first half, and that run proved to be the difference in the Tigers' 89-77 victory over Bucknell on Tuesday night at Jadwin Gym. Chris Hass led all scorers with 21 points, and Stephen Brown had a strong game with 10 points and a career-high eight assists, but the Bison dropped their sixth straight and fell to 3-7 on the season.
Bucknell, which was playing for the first time in exactly two weeks after final exams, shot 66.7 percent (20-30) in the second half and 56.1 percent for the game. But Princeton (7-3) also shot over 50 percent and had a 41-22 rebounding edge that led to a 22-0 edge in second-chance points.
Zach Thomas added 16 points for the Bison, who outscored Princeton 48-41 in the second half.
It was a tight game for the first nine minutes, until Princeton broke open a one-point game with a 29-5 run. Leading 17-16, the Tigers used 3-pointers from Myles Stephens, Spencer Weisz and Steven Cook – the latter two coming on tapped-out offensive rebounds – to stretch the lead out to 10 at 30-20.
Later in the half, Princeton scored 15 straight points to run out to a 46-21 lead with 2:48 remaining. Brown made two nice moves in the lane to spark an 8-0 Bison surge. Two free throws by leading-scorer Henry Caruso – his first two points of the game – with 27 seconds left gave the Tigers a 48-29 lead at the break.
Despite playing on a sore ankle, Hass scored 17 of his 21 points in the second half, hitting 9 of 13 shots in the game. He recorded his 15th career 20-point game and moved past Steve Sigl into 31st place on Bucknell's all-time scoring list.
“We just had trouble stopping that run in the first half, and obviously the rebounding disparity was glaring,” said head coach Nathan Davis. “Princeton is a very tough team to defend. They are very balanced and can score in a variety of ways. We did some good things in the second half tonight, and we will need to build on that.”
Ten of the 11 Bison in uniform scored points, with freshmen Matt O'Reilly and Nate Sestina hitting 3-pointers in the final minutes. O'Reilly, whose father Robert played for Princeton, was making his collegiate debut.
The Bison had three fastbreak layups coming off steals in the first 4:05 of the game, and they had a few small leads early before Princeton went ahead for good on a Cook trey at the 14:16 mark.
Devin Cannady led Princeton with 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting off the bench. Weisz added 14 points and 10 rebounds, and Caruso and Cook finished with 13 points each.
Bucknell returns to action on Dec. 27 at home against Fairfield at 2 p.m. That will be the final regular-season non-conference game, with the Patriot League opener following on Dec. 30 against Navy at Sojka Pavilion at 7 p.m.
