Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
19-14
Lafayette
19-12
Bucknell Eliminated from PL Tournament after 80-74 Loss to Lafayette
3/8/2015 6:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Nick Lindner scored 23 points, Dan Trist added 21, and fourth-seeded Lafayette's starting five accounted for all 80 of its points in an 80-74 win over top-seeded Bucknell in a Patriot League Tournament semifinal game on Sunday at Sojka Pavilion. Ryan Frazier scored a career-high 22 points and Chris Hass had 19 for the Bison, who will now play in the NIT.
Lafayette (19-12) entered the game with the league's best overall record and the No. 1 scoring offense in the conference, but the Leopards were coming into a building where they were just 1-16 all-time against Bucknell (19-14). The Bison held that potent offense in check for much of the day, but then just could not muster a stop down the stretch. The Leopards scored on their final 16 possessions over the last 9:13 of the game. They made 10 of their final 11 shots from the field, and on the lone miss Bucknell was called for a foul on the rebound, resulting in a pair of made free throws.
Bucknell led 34-31, then opened the second half on a 9-2 run. A dunk from Zach Thomas and a jumper by Hass made it 43-33 with 17:34 to play. But then the Bison went cold, scoring just one point over the next seven minutes. In the meantime, Lafayette shot back with a 10-0 run in just 1:39 to tie the game. Joey Ptasinski and Seth Hinrichs hit 3-pointers, and Trist capped the run with a 3-point play, and the run grew to 14-1 after four straight free throws.
Even as Lafayette was getting back in the game, Bucknell was still hanging in there defensively. The Bison held the Leopards without a field goal for 4:22 during one stretch and regained the lead at 48-47 on a short jumper in the lane by Frazier with 9:24 to go.
The Frazier bucket came on the heels of a missed 3-pointer by Bryce Scott with 9:48 to go, and that would ultimately be Lafayette's final empty possession of the day.
Ptasinski answered with a layup to give Lafayette the lead back with 9:14 left, and then a rare turnover led to a Trist dunk in transition. A missed front end of a 1-and-1 helped Lafayette stretch its lead to five, but Frazier hit a 3-pointer with 6:46 to play to make it 55-53.
The teams traded points all the way to the final minute, but Lafayette was able to slowly increment its lead thanks to 3-pointers by Ptasinski and Lindner, and a couple of 1-for-2s at the foul line by Bucknell.
Hass sank a big 3-pointer with 2:32 remaining to bring Bucknell within 69-66, but every time the Bison scored the Leopards answered. Lafayette went 9-for-10 at the foul line down the stretch to preserve the victory.
“We just could not put any stops together,” said head coach Dave Paulsen. “You've got to give a lot of credit to Lafayette for that. That's a really good, veteran team with three senior 1,000-point scorers out there who have been through a lot of battles. I wasn't thrilled with our defensive effort in a lot of cases, but there were probably an equal number of cases where they hit some pretty tough, guarded shots.”
Frazier was very aggressive driving the ball, and he finished 7-for-12 from the field and 7-for-9 from the foul line. His 22 points were three better than his previous career high of 19, set earlier this season at Navy. Hass was 8-for-16 from the floor and 3-for-6 from the arc, and he also shared game-high honors with six rebounds.
Zach Thomas added 15 points and six rebounds, but Bucknell's normally potent bench was held to five points on 1-for-13 shooting. The Bison shot 43.3 percent from the field, 7-for-18 from the 3-point arc and 15-for-22 from the free-throw line.
In addition to the two 20-point scorers, Ptasinski tallied 18 points, Scott had 11 and Hinrichs seven for the Leopards, who shot 53.1 percent overall, 7-for-16 from 3-point range and 21-for-24 from the foul line. Lindner also had seven assists to go with his 23 points.
Bucknell finished with a 35-21 rebounding edge and limited Lafayette to just two offensive rebounds in the game. Both teams handled the ball well, as Lafayette committed only four turnovers and Bucknell seven.
The Bison were trying to advance to the Patriot League championship game for a league-high 11th time. Instead, the Leopards will host Wednesday's final against sixth-seeded American, which routed No. 2 Colgate 73-62 in Sunday's other semifinal. It will be the first championship game without the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League's 25-year history.
“This team grew as much if not more over the course of the season than any team I have coached in 21 years,” said Paulsen. “To be the best team on a night-in, night-out basis over the course of the season is a heck of tribute to our guys. Now we are going to need our leaders to find the resolve to help us get better. Three years ago we bounced back from a very disappointing loss and beat Arizona in the NIT. This is just as disappointing and we really wanted to go to another NCAA Tournament for our seniors, but now we owe it to them to send them out in the right way.”
Bucknell will learn its NIT destination when it is announced next Sunday night on 8:30 p.m. on ESPNU. This will be the program's second NIT appearance. In 2012, the Bison upset Arizona in the first round before falling to Nevada.
Postgame Press Conference:
