Bucknell University
Lehigh
Men's Basketball Completes Season Sweep of Lehigh, 87-75
2/11/2019 9:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Mackenzie scores 27, goes over 20-point mark for 4th straight game
Mackenzie scored nine points during a 15-1 Bison run early in the second half, turning a 42-35 deficit into a 50-43 lead. His pull-up three pointer from the top of the arc in transition led to a Lehigh timeout with 13:48 remaining in the half. The Mountain Hawks cut the lead back to five, but a pair of free throws by John Meeks pushed the lead to seven, and Lehigh would not get any closer the rest of the way. Bucknell used another 11-2 surge to run the margin all the way up to 16, and then the Bison hit their final nine free throws of the night to end any hopes of a Lehigh comeback.
The Mountain Hawks entered the game ranked first in the country in 3-point field goal percentage, making 44.7 percent of their shots from behind the arc. The Bison held them to just 27.3 percent shooting from downtown, as Lehigh made just six of 22 attempts. Overall, the Mountain Hawks shot 41.7 percent from the field for the game, down from its 49.4 percent average on the season, which ranked eighth nationally.
"Our guys did a great job executing the game plan," said head coach Nathan Davis. "They are a great shooting team, and we really focused on not giving them any easy looks from three. We got out of synch for a stretch in the first half, but getting some points in transition helped, and then our ability to get stops in the second half is what allowed us to take control of the game."
Lehigh led by as many as 11 in the first half as Bucknell got out to a frosty start offensively. The Bison missed 10 straight shots while the Mountain Hawks went on a 14-0 run to emerge with a 22-11 lead. Buoyed by 3-pointers from Nate Sestina, Mackenzie, and Jimmy Sotos, Bucknell was able to climb within three at 38-35 at the half.
James Karnik, who led Lehigh with 21 points, scored in the paint twice in the first minute of the second stanza, but the Bison then held the Mountain Hawks to just a single free throw over the next six minutes.
Avi Toomer tied the game at 42-all with a 3-pointer, and Mackenzie followed with a drive to the rim to give the Bison the lead for good. Mackenzie's splash from the top of the key made it 50-43, and then after Jeameril Wilson scored to end Lehigh's long drought, Meeks made two free throws and Bruce Moore turned a pretty scoop shot into a 3-point play for a 55-45 lead.
Sestina, who attempted only one shot in the first half after hitting the 20-point mark in three straight games, got rolling around the midpoint of the second half. He scored in the low post, finished in transition for a 3-point play, and drew an intentional foul on a baseline drive. Later, he rebounded two straight misses for put-backs, both of which kept the lead at 13.
Lehigh final got a couple of threes to drop in the last four minutes, but the Bison never let the margin slip under nine. Mackenzie and Sotos both went 4-for-4 at the stripe in the final 1:04.
Mackenzie moved from 29th to 25th on the program's all-time scoring list, now having scored 1,178 career points. Sestina recorded his ninth double-double of the season, tallying 15 points and 10 rebounds. Moore scored 10 of his 12 points in the second half, and Sotos had a solid all-around game with 12 points, five rebounds, five assists and three steals. Meeks matched his career high in scoring set last game against Boston University, reaching double figures with 10 points. Nate Jones also provided strong minutes off the bench, scoring four points and adding five rebounds and four assists.
🏀 @PL_MBB FINAL: @Bucknell_MBB takes a two-game lead in the Patriot League with an 87-75 win Monday on @CBSSportsNet. @Stadium pic.twitter.com/LdUOjCuX34
— Patriot League Network | PatriotLeague.tv (@PatriotLeagueTV) February 12, 2019
In addition to Karnik's 21 points and nine rebounds, Jordan Cohen added 15 points, seven assists and five rebounds. Pat Andree added 12 points while Kyle Leufroy and Lance Tejada tallied 10 points apiece, but the Bison limited that high-scoring trio to 9-for-28 shooting.
Bucknell continued its recent success on the glass, outrebounding Lehigh 43-31. The Bison held the Mountain Hawks to six offensive rebounds and improved to 10-1 this season when outrebounding their opponent.
The win gave the Bison their first season sweep of Lehigh since 2011. It was also the team's eighth straight home victory and its 17th straight at home against Patriot League opponents. Bucknell has now won seven games this season when trailing by double figures, and this marked the first time all year that the Mountain Hawks lost a game when leading at the half (11-1).
This was the 18th time in the last 20 regular-season meetings between Bucknell and Lehigh in which at least one of the teams occupied first place in the Patriot League at the time of the game.
Bucknell shot 43.1 percent from the field and went 6-for-24 from the 3-point arc and 25-for-31 from the foul line.
Next up is a two-game road stretch, starting Saturday at Holy Cross at noon.
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