Men's Basketball Falls in Home Opener to Vermont, 66-63

Sunday, November 10

Lewisburg, Pa.

2 p.m.

Bucknell University

1-1,0-0Patriot

Vermont

2-0,0-0America East

Vermont

Bucknell

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Men's Basketball Falls in Home Opener to Vermont, 66-63

11/10/2019 4:40:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

LEWISBURG, Pa. – The Bucknell men's basketball team was hampered by ice-cold shooting from long range and lost its home opener, 66-63, to Vermont on Sunday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. In a game that featured major momentum swings both ways, Vermont made its final seven free throws to help seal the victory, and the Bison missed on a late opportunity to tie the ball game to fall to 1-1 on the season.

Bucknell led 40-32 after Andrew Funk's 3-pointer 2:45 into the second half, but that would be the team's final long-distance make of the day. Later in the half the Bison went more than four minutes without scoring while Vermont (2-0) went on a 12-0 run to take its largest lead of eight points at 56-48 with 6:19 left. But the Bison shot back with a 9-1 run to tie the score at 57 on Funk's driving layup with 2:53 to go.

Both teams struggled from 3-point range all night, combining to made only 7 of 47 from beyond the arc. However, one of Vermont's four made threes came from the 2019 America East Player of the Year Anthony Lamb, whose shot gave the Catamounts a 60-57 lead with 2:34 remaining. Jimmy Sotos grabbed an offensive rebound for the Bison on their next possession and hit a put-back in the lane while drawing a foul to bring Bucknell within one. However, he missed his free throw attempt, and then Lamb grabbed an offensive rebound after a Vermont miss at the other end and converted both of his free throw attempts after being fouled to put the Catamounts up 62-59.

Bruce Moore hit a pair of free throws to cut the score back to 62-61, and Bucknell followed with a defensive stop. But on the ensuing possession John Meeks had his heel on the sideline when he caught a pass in the corner with 18 seconds left. Everett Duncan made four straight free throws down the stretch for Vermont, sandwiched around a Sotos layup. Bucknell had one final chance, but Sotos' long 3-pointer rimmed out, and the Catamounts avenged losses to the Bison in each of the last two seasons.

"I thought our guys fought really hard today, and sometimes it felt like we actually tried a little too hard," said head coach Nathan Davis. "At times we moved the ball well and got good shots, but for the second game in a row we got into some costly scoring droughts. It's OK to miss some shots, but you can't let it snowball into seven or eight empty possessions, and then all of the sudden you haven't scored in three or four minutes and the other team is back in the game. Especially against a team as good as Vermont. The 3-point shooting obviously stands out on the stat sheet, but those long droughts in each half were the difference."

One game after scoring a career-high 19 points in a season-opening win at Fairfield, Meeks tallied 16 in this one. Moore also scored 16, Sotos had 12, and Paul Newman collected a career-high 11 rebounds to go with six points.

Lamb scored a game-high 20 points in just 18 minutes of game time due to foul trouble. Ryan Davis had a big day off the bench for the Catamounts with 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Everett Duncan and Ben Shungu added 10 points each.

The Bison went 20-for-32 (.625) on 2-point shuts but just 3-for-22 (.136) from the arc. Vermont also struggled from downtown, finishing 4-for-25 (.160) from the arc while shooting 34.4 percent for the game. The Catamounts did grab 13 offensive rebounds, which led to a 13-8 edge in second-chance points and a 42-36 overall rebounding advantage.

Bucknell got out to a strong start, leading 11-2 after a Kahliel Spear fadeaway jumper from the baseline. That capped an 11-0 Bison run, and after Vermont rallied to take a 28-24 lead, Bucknell pieced together a 10-0 spurt, with six of the points coming from Meeks. Bucknell led 35-32 at the break, then scored the first five in the second half on a driving layup from Ben Robertson, followed by Robertson's drive and kick to Funk for his three.

Bucknell hosts Hofstra on Wednesday at 7 p.m. The contest will be the second leg of a hoops doubleheader, with the Bison women taking on St. Bonaventure at 4 p.m.

Gallery: (11/10/2019) Men's Basketball vs. Vermont (2)