(Originally posted Sat., 5:47 p.m., Updated with links at 8:44 a.m.)

There shouldn't be much suspense about who will be named the Patriot League's Rookie of the Week when the league hands out its weekly honors Monday afternoon. Not after the show Bucknell freshman Jason Vegotsky put on Saturday afternoon in Navy's Alumni Hall. Vegotsky came off the bench to pour in a career-best 19 points to lead the Bison to a 74-52 win over the host Midshipmen in the Patriot League opener for both teams.

Vegotsky hit 7-of-11 from the field, including 5-of-8 three-pointers, two of the treys coming during the 20-3 run at the end of the first half that Bucknell used to take control of the game.

Vegotsky, who had 12 points in Bucknell's loss at Duke earlier in the week, was just one of the players who came off the bench to give the Bison a spark after they trailed Navy 23-19 with 7:04 to play in the first half. Up until that point, Navy was able to keep Bucknell in check through a combination of Chris McNaughton foul trouble, a tightly packed zone defense and some cold shooting from the perimeter by the Bison's starters, who were getting open looks, but not knocking them down.

It was actually Vegotsky's old AAU teammate, guard John Griffin, who got Bucknell's offensive engine revving. Through the first 13 minutes of the game, the Bison were 2-13 from the arc. It wasn't that they weren't getting open looks. Even Vegotsky and Griffin were struggling, with Griffin missing the first three treys he fired up and Vegotsky off the mark on his first two tries from the arc.

Then Griffin connected to tie the game at 23-23 and the Bison were on a 12-0 roll. By the time intermission arrived, Bucknell's run had stretched to 20-3, giving Bucknell a 39-26 lead. Griffin and Vegotsky each had a pair of treys in that stretch, accounting for 12 of the 20 Bucknell points.

The start of the second half was more of the same, with the Bison opening with a 16-4 spurt to build the lead to 55-30. After that, the two teams pretty much swapped buckets, with Navy never getting closer than 18 the rest of the way.

It was a dominating performance by Bucknell, made even more impressive by the fact that three of the four Bison in double figures were guys who came off the bench. Griffin finished with 10 and Donald Brown added 12. The other Bison in double figures was McNaughton, who scored 7 of his 11 points from the foul line.

"Our bench was outstanding," said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery, who won for just the second time in 15 tries in Annapolis. "We got some interesting numbers from some different people."

Had you told Navy coach Billy Lange before the game that McNaughton would be the only Bison starter in double figures and that the 6-11 German would only get two field goals, he would have liked those odds.

"I'd have thought we'd have a good shot," said Lange. "I'd have said that is great for us."

But Lange wouldn't have expected Bucknell's bench to score 41 points.

"That is the best basketball team I have ever watched play in my life. I'm not saying they are the most talented group of guys. Obviously, I spent three years in the Big East, there are probably better teams in terms of talent. But in terms of team, that is the best team I have ever seen -- their ability to be tough, defend, not be rattled, pass the ball -- it's incredible," Lange said.

Vegotsky was not surprised by the way Bucknell's bench performed.

"If you would see one of our practices, the second team can compete as well as our first team," he said. "We can play, too. When everybody can play like that, that is what is going to happen."

It wasn't just Bucknell's offense that got in gear. The Bison also kicked it up on defense after starting a little slow. Navy hit three of its first four shots. By the end of the first half, they made only five more buckets from the field. With no inside presence, in no small part due to the absence of injured forward Matt Fannin, the Midshipmen were forced to settle for three-point tries almost every trip down the floor.

With Bucknell's perimeter defenders in their faces most of the afternoon, that was not a successful strategy. The Mids shot 28.6 percent in the first half, 29.1 percent for the game. Navy's leading scorer, swingman Greg Sprink, who had gone off for over 30 points in two of the Mids' last three games, finished with 3 points, ending a streak of nine straight games in double figures for the 6-4 sophomore. A 45.8 percent shooter from three-point range coming in, Sprink was 0-for-4 from the arc.

Sprink was not the only Mid who struggled. Corey Johnson, who returned to the starting lineup after missing nine games with a kneee injury, went 4-13 from the field. Freshman Kaleo Kina struggled through a 3-14 afternoon.

Bucknell's dominance extended to the boards, where they outrebounded Navy, the league's top rebounding team coming in, by a healthy 47-30 margin.

Kina led Navy with 12 points. Johnson was also in double figures, finishing with 11.

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