Thursday, March 7
Lewisburg, Pa.
7 p.m.
Bucknell University
20-11
77
vs
65
Holy Cross (PL Quarterfinals)
16-17
1
2
F
Holy Cross
33
32
65
Bucknell
33
44
77
Photo by: Marc Hagemeier
Men's Basketball Defeats Holy Cross 77-65 to Advance to PL Semifinals
3/7/2019 9:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Second-seeded Bison to face No. 3 Lehigh in semis Sunday at 2 p.m.
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LEWISBURG, Pa. – Kimbal Mackenzie scored a game-high 27 points, making a career-high seven 3-pointers along the way, to lead the Bucknell men's basketball team to a 77-65 victory over Holy Cross in the Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals on Thursday night at Sojka Pavilion. The second-seeded Bison (20-11) will host third-seeded Lehigh in a semifinal matchup on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. The Mountain Hawks defeated Army, 75-70, on Thursday.
Bucknell has advanced to the semifinal round for the 22nd time in the 29 year history of the Patriot League Tournament. This was the 16th postseason meeting between Bucknell and Holy Cross – by far the most Patriot League history – and now the Bison will have a 10th postseason clash with Lehigh in the Patriot League era, with a berth in the title game on the line.
"That's as good a No. 10 seed as you will find across the country," head coach Nathan Davis said of Holy Cross. "Give our guys a lot of credit. I thought Kimbal came out when we were a little tight and got us 10 points so we didn't fall behind, and then different guys took turns making plays throughout the game. Everyone did something to contribute to the win, and that's what you need this time of year."
Holy Cross (16-17) led 45-40 following a Caleb Green lay-up with 13:47 to go in the second half. The Bison then went on a 16-1 run over the next 3 minutes, 30 seconds to take a 56-46 lead. Andrew Funk started the run with back-to-back threes, the second of which he launched pulling up on the right wing on a fastbreak opportunity following a Holy Cross turnover and leading to a Crusaders' timeout.
Jehyve Floyd made a free throw to tie the game, but Mackenzie responded by making his sixth three of the contest to ignite a 13-0 flurry. John Meeks, who scored 12 of his career-high 14 points off the bench in the second half, found Nate Sestina for a lay-up, and then Mackenzie hit his seventh triple of the game in his first 10 attempts right out of a media timeout.
Meeks followed with a layup, and then after Floyd ended Holy Cross' 3:46 field-goal drought, Meeks turned a transition bucket into a 3-point play. The Crusaders would cut the Bison lead to seven a couple of times but get no closer the rest of the way.
Avi Toomer hit a 3-pointer to stretch a seven-point edge back to 10, and after a couple of Matt Faw free throws, Meeks scored in the paint followed by a 3-pointer, both assisted by Mackenzie, to make it a commanding 71-58 margin at the final television timeout.
Sestina scored 14 points to go along with nine rebounds and a pair of blocks. Funk finished with three triples for nine points, and Toomer had seven points and five rebounds. Jimmy Sotos added six points and five assists.
Mackenzie was sensational from start to finish. He scored Bucknell's first 10 points of the night and had 16 at the half. He finished 9-for-18 from the field, 7-for-13 from the 3-point arc and 2-for-2 from the foul line, and he added five rebounds and four assists to his 27-point ledger. His fifth 3-pointer of the night was also the 200th of his career, making him the sixth Bucknell player ever to reach that plateau.
"I've said all along that we have a deep team, and we have a lot of guys who can score as long as we get the right shots," said Davis.
Floyd was one of three Crusaders to score 13 points, and the league's two-time Defensive Player of the Year had three steals and two blocks. Jacob Grandison had 13 points and nine rebounds, and Austin Butler also had 13 for Holy Cross.
Holy Cross worked its Princeton-style offense effectively at times and shot 45.9 percent from the field, but the Crusaders hit just 4 of 18 attempts from 3-point range and 5 of 10 from the foul line.
Sestina and the rest of the Bison bigs did a solid job on Floyd, who shot better than 70 percent from the field in Patriot League play and 68 percent overall this season. Floyd converted some tough buckets inside, but he finished the night 6-for-13, and Sestina drew two offensive fouls on him during Bucknell's big second-half run.
"One of the things that's tough about them is that they use a lot of clock," said Davis. "I thought in the first half we did a pretty good job the first 20, 25 seconds [of the shot clock], and they got three put-backs and they got a couple of late drives middle for baskets. I thought we did a better job of sustaining if for the entire shot clock."
The Bison shot 49.1 percent overall and went 12-for-26 from outside the arc and 9-for-11 at the foul line.
The contest got off to a back-and-forth start, with the teams alternating points for the first eight minutes before Bucknell finally pieced together a mini run with consecutive layups from Sestina and Sotos. That gave the Bison a 21-16 lead, but Holy Cross shot back with a 6-0 spurt, and there would be seven ties and five lead changes over the first 20 minutes. Fittingly, the game was tied at 33 at intermission.
Holy Cross outscored the Bison 10-5 over the first 5:22 of the second stanza to build that five-point lead, which proved to be its largest of the night.
The victory gave Bucknell a 20-win season for the 15th time in school history, and for the third year in a row. The Bison, who have won five straight Patriot League regular-season titles and eight of the last nine, extended their home winning streaks to 11 in a row overall and 20 straight against Patriot League opponents.
Bucknell took both games from Lehigh during the regular season, winning 85-83 in Bethlehem on Jan. 19 and 87-75 at Sojka Pavilion on Feb. 11. The Bison and Mountain Hawks last met in the Patriot League Tournament in 2017, when Bucknell won 81-65 in the championship game.Gallery: (3/7/2019) Men's Basketball vs. Holy Cross
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Kimbal Mackenzie scored a game-high 27 points, making a career-high seven 3-pointers along the way, to lead the Bucknell men's basketball team to a 77-65 victory over Holy Cross in the Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals on Thursday night at Sojka Pavilion. The second-seeded Bison (20-11) will host third-seeded Lehigh in a semifinal matchup on Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. on CBS Sports Network. The Mountain Hawks defeated Army, 75-70, on Thursday.
Bucknell has advanced to the semifinal round for the 22nd time in the 29 year history of the Patriot League Tournament. This was the 16th postseason meeting between Bucknell and Holy Cross – by far the most Patriot League history – and now the Bison will have a 10th postseason clash with Lehigh in the Patriot League era, with a berth in the title game on the line.
"That's as good a No. 10 seed as you will find across the country," head coach Nathan Davis said of Holy Cross. "Give our guys a lot of credit. I thought Kimbal came out when we were a little tight and got us 10 points so we didn't fall behind, and then different guys took turns making plays throughout the game. Everyone did something to contribute to the win, and that's what you need this time of year."
Holy Cross (16-17) led 45-40 following a Caleb Green lay-up with 13:47 to go in the second half. The Bison then went on a 16-1 run over the next 3 minutes, 30 seconds to take a 56-46 lead. Andrew Funk started the run with back-to-back threes, the second of which he launched pulling up on the right wing on a fastbreak opportunity following a Holy Cross turnover and leading to a Crusaders' timeout.
Jehyve Floyd made a free throw to tie the game, but Mackenzie responded by making his sixth three of the contest to ignite a 13-0 flurry. John Meeks, who scored 12 of his career-high 14 points off the bench in the second half, found Nate Sestina for a lay-up, and then Mackenzie hit his seventh triple of the game in his first 10 attempts right out of a media timeout.
Meeks followed with a layup, and then after Floyd ended Holy Cross' 3:46 field-goal drought, Meeks turned a transition bucket into a 3-point play. The Crusaders would cut the Bison lead to seven a couple of times but get no closer the rest of the way.
Avi Toomer hit a 3-pointer to stretch a seven-point edge back to 10, and after a couple of Matt Faw free throws, Meeks scored in the paint followed by a 3-pointer, both assisted by Mackenzie, to make it a commanding 71-58 margin at the final television timeout.
Sestina scored 14 points to go along with nine rebounds and a pair of blocks. Funk finished with three triples for nine points, and Toomer had seven points and five rebounds. Jimmy Sotos added six points and five assists.
Mackenzie was sensational from start to finish. He scored Bucknell's first 10 points of the night and had 16 at the half. He finished 9-for-18 from the field, 7-for-13 from the 3-point arc and 2-for-2 from the foul line, and he added five rebounds and four assists to his 27-point ledger. His fifth 3-pointer of the night was also the 200th of his career, making him the sixth Bucknell player ever to reach that plateau.
"I've said all along that we have a deep team, and we have a lot of guys who can score as long as we get the right shots," said Davis.
Floyd was one of three Crusaders to score 13 points, and the league's two-time Defensive Player of the Year had three steals and two blocks. Jacob Grandison had 13 points and nine rebounds, and Austin Butler also had 13 for Holy Cross.
Holy Cross worked its Princeton-style offense effectively at times and shot 45.9 percent from the field, but the Crusaders hit just 4 of 18 attempts from 3-point range and 5 of 10 from the foul line.
Sestina and the rest of the Bison bigs did a solid job on Floyd, who shot better than 70 percent from the field in Patriot League play and 68 percent overall this season. Floyd converted some tough buckets inside, but he finished the night 6-for-13, and Sestina drew two offensive fouls on him during Bucknell's big second-half run.
"One of the things that's tough about them is that they use a lot of clock," said Davis. "I thought in the first half we did a pretty good job the first 20, 25 seconds [of the shot clock], and they got three put-backs and they got a couple of late drives middle for baskets. I thought we did a better job of sustaining if for the entire shot clock."
The Bison shot 49.1 percent overall and went 12-for-26 from outside the arc and 9-for-11 at the foul line.
The contest got off to a back-and-forth start, with the teams alternating points for the first eight minutes before Bucknell finally pieced together a mini run with consecutive layups from Sestina and Sotos. That gave the Bison a 21-16 lead, but Holy Cross shot back with a 6-0 spurt, and there would be seven ties and five lead changes over the first 20 minutes. Fittingly, the game was tied at 33 at intermission.
Holy Cross outscored the Bison 10-5 over the first 5:22 of the second stanza to build that five-point lead, which proved to be its largest of the night.
The victory gave Bucknell a 20-win season for the 15th time in school history, and for the third year in a row. The Bison, who have won five straight Patriot League regular-season titles and eight of the last nine, extended their home winning streaks to 11 in a row overall and 20 straight against Patriot League opponents.
Bucknell took both games from Lehigh during the regular season, winning 85-83 in Bethlehem on Jan. 19 and 87-75 at Sojka Pavilion on Feb. 11. The Bison and Mountain Hawks last met in the Patriot League Tournament in 2017, when Bucknell won 81-65 in the championship game.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE:
PHOTO GALLERY:
Team Stats
HolyCr
Buck
FG%
.459
.491
3FG%
.222
.462
FT%
.500
.818
RB
30
35
TO
11
12
STL
6
6
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
27
FGM
9
3FGM
7
FTM
2
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
1
FTM
1
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
0
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
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/ Men's BasketballF/C
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