Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
17-13, 12-5PL
Lehigh
16-12, 10-7PL
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| BUCKNELL | 26 | 39 | 65 |
| Lehigh | 42 | 42 | 84 |
Lehigh Topples Bison Men 84-65, Bucknell's PL Lead Down to 1 with 1 Game Left
2/25/2015 9:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Bucknell's lead in the Patriot League was reduced to one game with one to play on Wednesday, as hot-shooting Lehigh defeated the Bison 84-65 at Stabler Arena while second-place Colgate topped Lafayette 95-83 just down the road in Easton.
Bucknell's five-game winning streak came to an end, and the Bison will now need a victory at American or a Colgate loss to Lehigh on Saturday to clinch the outright Patriot League regular-season title and the No. 1 seed for the Patriot League Tournament.
Nana Foulland scored 15 points and Chris Hass had 11 for the Bison, who are now 17-13 overall and 12-5 in the Patriot League. Kahron Ross led four Lehigh (16-12, 10-7 PL) players in double figures with 17 points along with 10 assists. Austin Price added 16 points, Jesse Chuku hit 4 of 5 from the arc and scored 14, and Tim Kempton had 11 points.
It was a rough go from the beginning for the Bison, who didn't score for the first 6:09 of the contest and eventually trailed 25-8 after a 3-for-19 start from the field.
Lehigh led by as many as 18 on two occasions late in the half, but a 3-point play by Hass followed by a 3-pointer from Ryan Frazier cut it to 12 at 38-26. But the Mountain Hawks finished off the period with a layup from Corey Schaefer and a jumper by Ross in the lane to go up 42-26 at the break.
Bucknell shot 30.2 percent with seven turnovers in the first half, while Lehigh shot 55.2 percent with only five miscues.
The Bison rallied from 16 down with nine minutes to play to beat Lehigh at home last month, but there would be no comeback this time as the Mountain Hawks used an 8-0 run to go up 60-36 with 13:33 to go.
Lehigh's largest lead was 28 at 81-53 with 6:16 to go. The Bison reserves held the Mountain Hawks to only one more field goal after that while going on a 12-0 run, capped by Dom Hoffman's first career 3-pointer.
Steven Kaspar had a solid night off the bench with six points, seven rebounds and five assists. J.C. Show added seven points and four assists.
Bucknell shot 34.9 percent from the floor and hit 7 of 27 from 3-point distance and 14 of 23 from the foul line. Lehigh finished at 53.4 percent overall, 8 of 16 from the arc and 14 of 20 from the foul line.
Bucknell wraps up the regular season on Saturday at American at noon. The Bison defeated the Eagles 57-47 at Sojka Pavilion on New Year's Eve.
