Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
18-13, 13-5PL
American
15-15, 8-10PL
Bison Clinch Outright PL Title with Heart-Stopping 71-69 Win at American
2/28/2015 4:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball
WASHINGTON, D.C. – After a monumental performance from the freshman class and a few heart-stopping moments in the final seconds, Bucknell held off American 71-69 on Saturday and secured the outright 2015 Patriot League regular-season championship. Second-place Colgate had already beaten Lehigh and would have shared the title and claimed the No. 1 seed had Bucknell not held on, and that final verdict was not decided until Pee Wee Gardner's half-court attempt at the final buzzer rimmed out.
The regular-season title is Bucknell's fourth in the last five years, and the Bison (18-13, 13-5 PL) have clinched home-court advantage throughout the Patriot League Tournament. The tourney gets underway Tuesday with two first-round games featuring the bottom four seeds, and then in Thursday's quarterfinal round Bucknell will host the winner of No. 8 Holy Cross and No. 9 Loyola.
“To have the sustained excellence over two-and-a-half months to win a conference championship is a testament to this team's hard work,” said head coach Dave Paulsen afterward. “Our goals reach well beyond a regular-season title, but this is a major accomplishment for our program. I told our guys to bask in it for about 24 hours and then we will get back to work at practice on Monday.”
This season of Patriot League basketball has been wild throughout, with dozens of close games among evenly matched teams bunched tightly in the standings. The Bucknell-American game epitomized the season, with a whopping 26 lead changes and 12 ties.
Neither team was able to go on an extended run, but the Bison seemingly had some breathing room around the two-minute mark when freshman J.C. Show tried to take over the game. With top scorer Chris Hass limited to two shots in 11 minutes due to foul trouble, Show was brilliant. He scored 20 points on 8-for-13 shooting, and his right-corner 3-pointer followed by a pull-up in the lane gave Bucknell the largest lead for either side, seven points at 66-59 with 2:05 to play.
But the defending-champion Eagles (15-15, 8-10 PL) would not go away. Marko Vasic was equally terrific for American, producing 21 points, nine rebounds and six assists, and his 3-pointer cut Bucknell's lead to four with 1:44 left.
After freshman Zach Thomas (12 points, 10 rebounds) was called for a charging foul, John Schoof scored on a backdoor cut to make it a two-point game. The Bison whittled the shot clock down and then went inside to freshman center Nana Foulland (12 points, seven rebounds). Foulland was swarmed and had to kick the ball out to Steven Kaspar deep on the left wing, and Kaspar was fouled on his last-second 3-point attempt. The senior co-captain hit the first two of his three free-throw attempts, and then there was a scramble for the rebound as the loose ball went out of bounds in the left corner. The officials initially awarded possession to Bucknell, but then overturned the call on replay.
Vasic scored on a drive, then Show hit two clutch pieces of a 1-and-1 to stretch the lead back to four at 70-66 with 21 seconds left. Jalen Rhea answered with a right-corner three to make it 70-69 with 11 seconds left, and then Bucknell could not get the ball inbounds in the backcourt. The Bison used two timeouts and then got called for a five-second violation.
Suddenly American had a chance to win it and got the ball to the red-hot Vasic, who was fouled on a drive to the basket. But Vasic, who had been 4-for-4 at the line and 3-for-4 from the 3-point arc at that point, missed both free throws. Thomas rebounded the second and was quickly fouled. He made 1 of 2 at the line to make it 71-69 with 5.2 seconds remaining.
Bucknell applied enough pressure to force Gardner into a desperation heave from halfcourt. Gardner had already hit four buzzer-beaters this season, albeit from much closer to the basket, but this time his shot disappeared into the cylinder for a moment and popped back out as the large, orange-clad visiting crowd gasped a huge sigh of relief.
“We took their best shot,” said Paulsen. “American played extremely well today, and they are very hard to guard. I don't know if I've ever been in a game with 26 lead changes. Our guys were very resilient today. It wasn't always pretty, but that is to be expected in a game with these stakes.”
Bucknell shot 55.3 percent for the game, its second-highest figure of the season. The Bison were 5-for-13 from 3-point range and 14-for-21 from the foul line. American shot 47.1 percent overall, 6-for-17 from the arc and 15-for-18 at the line. Bucknell finished with a 30-26 edge on the glass.
Of Bucknell's 71 points, 49 came from the four freshmen. The first-year class was especially clutch down the stretch, scoring 15 of the team's final 17 points. Show posted his second 20-point game of the season, with his high of 23 coming at Siena in the final game before the start of Patriot League play in December.
Kaspar also had another terrific game off the bench. He had a key steal just before the Show bucket that put the Bison up by seven, and he scored all eight of his points in the second half. Led by Kaspar and Show, Bucknell finished with a 35-9 edge in bench scoring.
“I thought we got a huge contribution from the freshman class, especially with our leading scorer Chris Hass on the bench in foul trouble,” said Paulsen. “To be able to withstand that was great.”
There were 16 lead changes and two ties in a tightly played first half. The largest separation was a 19-14 Bucknell lead after Thomas' blocked shot led to a coast-to-coast layup by Show. American quickly struck back with a 7-0 run to reclaim the lead
Thomas hit two free throws to put Bucknell in front 32-31 with 13 seconds left, and then the Bison came up with a defensive stand to take that narrow lead into the locker room.
The victory ensures that Bucknell will continue to play even beyond the Patriot League Tournament. A tournament win comes with an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, otherwise the Bison are guaranteed a spot in the NIT.
American will be seeded sixth and at play at No. 3 Lehigh in the quarterfinals.
Tickets for Bucknell's March 5 Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal game can be purchased online at Bucknell.edu/boxoffice, over the phone at 570-577-1000 or in person at the Bucknell Campus Box Office.
