Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
10-9,7-1PL
Boston University
10-11, 3-5PL
First-Place Bison Storm Back to Beat Boston University 74-71
1/23/2016 4:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BOSTON, Mass. – Stephen Brown scored a career-high 21 points to lead a Bucknell rally from 17 points down in a 74-71 win at Boston University on Saturday afternoon at Case Gym. The Bison improved to 10-9 overall and 7-1 in the Patriot League, and they moved into sole possession of first place by a half game over Navy, which had its game against Army postponed due to the snowstorm.
Zach Thomas tallied 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench for Bucknell, which played without leading scorer Chris Hass due to injury. Ryan Frazier scored 11 points, including five big free throws in the final minute, and Nana Foulland tossed in 10 for the Bison, who won for the fourth straight time in Boston.
Nathan Dieudonne paced Boston University with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Eric Fanning and Cheddi Mosely added 12 each, and Nick Havener had seven points and 12 rebounds. The Terriers, who are also dealing with some significant injuries, fell to 10-11 overall and 3-5 in the Patriot League.
“I thought we showed tremendous toughness today,” said head coach Nathan Davis. “We never wavered when we were down by 17 in the first half. We only had nine points with about seven minutes left in the first half, but we stayed the course, got good shots and still scored 74. Boston University is a tough team to play with their athleticism, but we gutted out a big road win.”
Brown continued his magnificent play, hitting eight of 10 shots from the field, 5 of 6 from the line, en route to his first career 20-point game. He also had five rebounds, four assists and three steals, all of which were clean picks in the backcourt that led to breakaway layups. Brown is now 28-for-39 from the floor in his last six games.
“Stephen has been great for us,” said Davis. “He is playing as well as anyone in the league right now. He set the tone with those steals. Offensively he made all the right decisions and knocked down his free throws, which is exactly what you need out of your point guard.”
Things were not looking so rosy for Bucknell early in the contest. While the Bison were getting off to a 3-for-16 start, Boston University ran out to a 26-9 lead after 12:22 of play. Back-to-back buckets by Blaise Mbargorba extended the margin to 17, but then consecutive layups by John Azzinaro got the Bison going.
Foulland followed Azzinaro with a 3-point play, and buckets by Brown and Dom Hoffman completed an 11-0 run that made it 26-20. Dieudonne dunked at the other end, but then a Hoffman jumper in the paint and a 3-pointer by Azzinaro got the Bison as close as three at 28-25.
The Terriers scored four straight before D.J. MacLeay closed out the half with a put-back to make it a 32-27 game at the break.
Boston University upped its lead back to eight at the 12:36 mark of the second half after Dylan Haines connected on a 3-pointer just seconds after entering the game for the first time. Thomas immediately hit back with a 3-pointer at the other end. Foulland made 1 of 2 at the line, and then Brown scored on back-to-back fastbreak layups to tie the game for the very first time at 48-all.
It would be another 5:18 before the Bison could take their first lead. Mbargorba made 1 of 2 at the line to put Boston University up 57-56, then Frazier drove hard to the glass for a layup that put the Bison on top with 5:06 to go.
Both teams were saddled with foul problems at that point – there were a combined 53 fouls in the game and 54 free throws in the second half alone – and they would swap the lead twice more at the line.
Havener hit both of his charity attempts to give the Terriers a 61-59 lead with 3:54 left. Frazier then hit a pair from the stripe to tie it. Mosely, who had already hit four 3-pointers for Boston University, missed one from the left corner, and Foulland answered with a short baseline jump-hook. That gave the Bison the lead for good, but the verdict would not be clinched until the final buzzer sounded.
Brown picked Kyle Foreman's pocket and went in for an uncontested layup that stretched the margin to 65-62. Dieudonne made 1 of 2 at the line, and then Boston University purposefully fouled Foulland, who had been struggling at the foul line. Foulland missed both, but John Papale was off with a three attempt at the other end, and then Brown had nifty drive and dish to Thomas for a layup and 67-63 lead with 1:06 to play.
Thomas fouled out on Foreman's baseline drive at the other end, and Foreman hit both free throws. The Terriers stole the inbounds pass, but Mosely stepped on the sideline to turn the ball back over to Bucknell.
Frazier made two free throws, and then Dieudonne went 1-for-2 at the line. Mosely snagged the offensive rebound after the miss, but his put-back wouldn't fall. Frazier grabbed that rebound and connected on two more free throws to make it 71-66 with 26 seconds left.
Brown made two at the line after a Fanning layup, but Boston University still had life when Papale canned a 3-pointer with nine seconds to go. Frazier was fouled again after the inbounds. He missed the first but made the second to give the Bison a 74-71 lead, and at the other end Papale's decent look at a 3-pointer came up short off the front rim.
The Bison have now beaten the Terriers four straight times to get to 7-3 in the series. Bucknell has now won four straight on the road and is 6-4 away from home this season. The Bison grinded out two road wins over Loyola and Boston University on the heels of last week's home loss to Colgate.
Hass' consecutive games streak ended at 62 after sitting this one out with a foot injury. Despite playing without the Patriot League's second-leading scorer (18.7 points per game), the Bison shot 66.7 percent (14-21) in the second half and an even 50 percent for the game. After the 3-for-16 start, they shot 64.7 percent (22-34) the rest of the way.
Bucknell was 3-for-14 from 3-point range but 22-for-36 inside the arc. Defensively, the Bison forced 19 turnovers and limited the Terriers to 41.5 percent shooting. Boston University shot 54.2 percent in the second half and just 31.0 percent in the second.
Next up for Bucknell is a Monday night home encounter with Lafayette. The 7:30 p.m. game will be televised by CBS Sports Network. An “Orange Out” has been declared for the game, and the Bison will be wearing 1970s-era throwback uniforms.
