Bucknell University
18-11
Army
13-17
Bucknell Men's Basketball Rallies Past Army, 62-61, Clinches Share of Regular-Season Title
3/2/2019 2:24:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bison claim 5th straight PL regular-season title and 8th in last 9 years
Fouled on a driving lay-up attempt, Kimbal Mackenzie hit two free throws with 10.9 seconds remaining in regulation to give the Bison the one-point lead. Army (13-18, 8-10 PL) was out of timeouts and scrambled into its half-court offense. Avi Toomer tipped an errant low-post entry pass and followed it into the corner where he saved the ball by throwing it off an Army player. After an officials' review, Bucknell retained possession of the ball with 1.6 ticks left, and Toomer found Bruce Moore on a long inbounds pass into the frontcourt. Moore got a touch on the ball, and the officials determined that the clock expired before Army could get a foul on Moore.
On Senior Day it ended up being freshman Andrew Funk who led the Bison in scoring, finishing with 17 points on five made 3-pointers, none bigger than his trey with 3:13 to go that made it a 3-point game. Makenzie scored 11 of his 15 points in the second half, and Nate Sestina scored 10 points, grabbed a career-high 17 rebounds, and added four blocked shots. Army was led by Matt Wilson, who scored a game-high 21 points and added eight rebounds, and Tommy Funk, Andrew's older brother, who had 10 points, six rebounds, five assists and a pair of steals.
It was Bucknell's second major comeback against Army this season. The Bison rallied from 26 down to win 64-63 at West Point on Jan. 2, and this time around Bucknell found itself down 57-43 after a Wilson layup with 8:51 to go. The Bison defense held the Black Knights to one more field goal and just four points the rest of the way.
"It is a testament to the leadership on this team, and the leadership from those who came before this group, that we can raise a banner as regular-season champion or co-champion for the eighth time in the last nine years," said head coach Nathan Davis. "Even today when we fell behind by double figures, our seniors Kimbal Mackenzie, Nate Sestina, Nate Jones and Matt O'Reilly were the loudest voices in our huddle. They kept everyone calm and focused, and guys like Andrew Funk, Avi Toomer and Bruce Moore made winning plays down the stretch."
Prior to the game, Bucknell honored those four seniors, along with team manager Heather Smith, and there were a few heartfelt moments involved. The Canadian national anthem was sung before the game, in honor of the Ontario native Mackenzie. And after he was introduced with the rest of his family, Sestina was surprised on the court by his older brother Andrew, a First Lieutenant in the U.S. Marines who is stationed at Camp Pendleton in Southern California. It was the first time the two brothers had seen each other in person in nearly two years.
🏀 An awesome moment today at Sojka for @Bucknell_MBB. It's halftime right now between Bucknell and @ArmyWP_MBB. @PL_MBB
— Patriot League Network | PatriotLeague.tv (@PatriotLeagueTV) March 2, 2019
📺 Tune in for the second half on @CBSSportsNet
🎙️@JasonKnapp44, @COACH_MOCASSARA pic.twitter.com/1MsE1eP12p
Not gonna lie, it got a little dusty in Sojka when 1LT Andrew Sestina USMC surprised his brother Nate on Senior Day. Andrew flew in from San Diego to be here today. #rayBucknell #BisonFamily pic.twitter.com/ZbW5rPqKKb
— Bucknell MBasketball (@Bucknell_MBB) March 2, 2019
Army led 37-31 at the half after scoring the final six points of the first period, and that was the largest lead for either side until the Black Knights went on a 15-2 run. Points were very difficult to find for the Bison for much of the day, and while they went through a 1-for-11 shooting stretch, Army received eight points from Wilson and 3-pointers from Lonnie Grayson and Jordan Fox on the way to the 14-point advantage.
Mackenzie ended Bucknell's drought with a fastbreak layup, followed by a Toomer jumper from 15 feed. After a Tommy Funk layup for Army, Andrew Funk and Mackenzie connected on back-to-back 3-pointers to make it a 59-53 game and get the crowd back into it.
After the final television timeout, Andrew Funk made two free throws – his first two of the year – to bring the Bison within four. Wilson answered with two charity tosses to give the Black Knights a 61-55 lead with 3:39 left, but those would be their final points of the day.
Andrew Funk connected on his fifth triple of the game, matching his career high set six days earlier against Lafayette. Bucknell missed its next two shots, but Army left points at the free-throw line as Fox missed the front end of a 1-and-1 and Wilson missed a pair.
With 1:39 to go, Moore sealed his man deep in the lane and scored from close range to make it a 61-60 game. Sestina blocked Wilson's shot, but Andrew Funk's deep three was off the mark. Sestina then made another big defensive play when he knocked away a pass, and the Bison took possession and called timeout with 21 seconds to go.
They went to the senior Mackenzie, who attacked the basket from the left alley and drew a foul, with the shot just falling off the rim. Mackenzie, one of the top free-throw shooters in Bucknell history at better than 85 percent for his career, calmly drained the tying and go-ahead tosses to give his team its first lead since it was 25-23.
At the other end, Fox looked inside to Wilson, but Toomer made a great read to jump in front and deflect the ball into the right corner. He chased the ball down and saved it from going out of bounds, and the ball was last touched by an Army player along the right sideline.
Bucknell won despite shooting just 36.1 percent from the field, including a 9-for-33 showing from the 3-point arc. The Bison did hit 9 of 11 free-throw attempts in a game that featured only 23 combined fouls called.
Defensively, Bucknell blocked seven shots, came up with seven steals, and held Army to 34.6-percent shooting in the second half and 40.7-percent overall. Army was 6-for-19 from long distance and just 7-for-14 from the foul line.
Sestina's 17 rebounds surpassed his career high of 16, set on opening night at St. Bonaventure, and his four blocks tied his career high, set on Wednesday night at Navy.
Point guard Jimmy Sotos was held scoreless in the game, but he did have six rebounds and six assists, right on his season average. His 169 assists this season are now seventh-most in team history.
Bucknell has now erased a double-figure deficit to win a game eight times this season, including five times in league play. This comeback was the deepest into a game in which the Bison trailed by double digits before storming back. The victory was also Bucknell's 10th straight home win and its 19th straight at home against conference opponents.
Bucknell finished the regular season with 13 or more Patriot League wins for the fifth year in a row, and the Bison have now won or shared 13 regular-season titles in the 29-year history of the league.How about a round of 👏 for ANOTHER @PL_MBB regular-season title. Unlike the previous 7 in this run, this one won't be an outright title (Colgate and possibly Lehigh will also have a share). But eight in 9 years is something to celebrate! #rayBucknell #TheBisonWay #banners pic.twitter.com/lP9Cwd0vaA
— Bucknell MBasketball (@Bucknell_MBB) March 2, 2019
Bucknell's route to a possible third straight Patriot League Tournament title will have to come as a No. 2 seed. Bucknell and Colgate split their two regular-season meetings – and both swept Lehigh, which relegates the Mountain Hawks to the No. 3 seed even with a win later in the evening to create a three-way tie – but the Raiders claim the tiebreaker based on a sweep of fourth-place American, while Bucknell went 1-1 against the Eagles.
The Bison will debut in the postseason on Thursday, March 7, with a home game in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal round. Bucknell will play the winner of the 7 vs. 10 first-round game on Tuesday, March 5. Holy Cross will be the No. 10 seed, and Lafayette and Boston University could be seeded seventh, depending on the result of the Saturday-night Lehigh-Loyola game.
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