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Thursday, January 19, 2006
(Originally posted Wed. at 9:47 p.m., Links added at 8:03 a.m.)
Lafayette's high-octane offensive act ran out of fuel in Lewisburg Wednesday night.
Big time.
The Patriot League's second highest scoring team coming in, the Leopards had scored over 70 points their last three games, including 85- and 80-point outbursts in wins over Colgate and Navy in their last two league games.
Even in a 32-point loss at Penn Monday, scoring had not been the Leopards problem. They put up 73 points against the Quakers.
Playing against Bucknell, though, is a little different than playing Navy and Colgate. The Bison have played a schedule full of quality teams and national powers all season, and still came in leading the league in defense. That standing will only be bolstered after they throttled the Leopards 62-32.
It was Lafayette's lowest scoring Patriot League game ever and their lowest scoring of the season by 15 points. The 'Pards' 13-point first half was easily its worst this season. The 19 they scored in the second half was just one more than their previous low half (18 against St. Joe's).
Bucknell held Lafayette to 22.9 percent shooting, a full 6 percentage points below its worst showing of the season and forced 27 Lafayette turnovers, their most thus far.
"We knew how well they had been scoring. We felt we had to go out and establish ourselves defensively," said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery.
Establish they did. After Lafayette hit three field goals in the first 7 minutes of the game, they managed only three more the rest of the half.
When Lafayette's Jamaal Hilliard scored with 9:05 to go in the half, it cut Bucknell's lead to 14-11. By the time Andrrei Capusan scored Lafayette's only other bucket of the half, almost six minutes later, the Bison had methodically built the lead to double digits.
And when Bucknell's Kevin Bettencourt stole an outlet pass and nailed his fourth three-pointer of the game, just before the buzzer, the Bison had scored as many points -- 27 -- as Lafayette would get in 39 minutes. Only a 5-point flurry in the final minute against the deep end of Bucknell's bench allowed the 'Pards to escape the embarrassment of finishing with under 30 points.
It was a night when Bucknell's defense more than made up for a sluggish first half offensively. With Lafayette packing it in on Chris McNaughton, the Bison struggled to get in sync in the first half. Only Bettencourt, who broke out of a recent slump with his 16-point first half (19 for the game), seemed to have any kind of offensive rhythm for the Bison, who turned it over nine times in the opening stanza.
Of course the way they played defense, Bettencourt was enough. It was reminiscent of the Bison game at Duke, where at one point the Cameron Crazies were chanting "J.J. is winning" because Reddick had more points than the Busknell team. The Sojka Pscyhos were not quite that creative, but at the half it was Bettencourt 16, Lafayette 13.
"I got some open looks early, knocked them down and got my confidence going," said the Bison's senior captain.
Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon said some of those looks were the result of the good defense his team played on McNaughton. The Leopards held the pre-season Patriot League Player of the Year to 2 first half points on 1-of-5 shooting (4 points, 2-8 overall).
"That was a product of helping out on McNaughton," said O'Hanlon. "They are good. They find Bettencourt. They know where he is and he knows where the basket is."
The rest of the Bison found the basket in the second half. the Bison came out after the break and went on a 14-5 run, allowing just one Lafayette field goal the first 6:27 of the half. From there the only suspense was whether or not Lafayette would score 30 points.
They did, thanks to a Paul Cummins three-pointer with 36 seconds to play. Along with an Andrew Brown bucket 20 seconds erlier, it gave the 'Pards two of their five second half field goals in the final minute.
Cummins finished with 7 points to lead Lafayette. Nobody else had more than 5.
Bettencourt was the only Bison in double figures. That was in part due to the fact that Bettencourt was the only Bison to play more than 26 minutes. The Bison bench combined for 20 points. Lafayette's starting five only scored 14.
Game Blog
Lafayette's high-octane offensive act ran out of fuel in Lewisburg Wednesday night.
Big time.
The Patriot League's second highest scoring team coming in, the Leopards had scored over 70 points their last three games, including 85- and 80-point outbursts in wins over Colgate and Navy in their last two league games.
Even in a 32-point loss at Penn Monday, scoring had not been the Leopards problem. They put up 73 points against the Quakers.
Playing against Bucknell, though, is a little different than playing Navy and Colgate. The Bison have played a schedule full of quality teams and national powers all season, and still came in leading the league in defense. That standing will only be bolstered after they throttled the Leopards 62-32.
It was Lafayette's lowest scoring Patriot League game ever and their lowest scoring of the season by 15 points. The 'Pards' 13-point first half was easily its worst this season. The 19 they scored in the second half was just one more than their previous low half (18 against St. Joe's).
Bucknell held Lafayette to 22.9 percent shooting, a full 6 percentage points below its worst showing of the season and forced 27 Lafayette turnovers, their most thus far.
"We knew how well they had been scoring. We felt we had to go out and establish ourselves defensively," said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery.
Establish they did. After Lafayette hit three field goals in the first 7 minutes of the game, they managed only three more the rest of the half.
When Lafayette's Jamaal Hilliard scored with 9:05 to go in the half, it cut Bucknell's lead to 14-11. By the time Andrrei Capusan scored Lafayette's only other bucket of the half, almost six minutes later, the Bison had methodically built the lead to double digits.
And when Bucknell's Kevin Bettencourt stole an outlet pass and nailed his fourth three-pointer of the game, just before the buzzer, the Bison had scored as many points -- 27 -- as Lafayette would get in 39 minutes. Only a 5-point flurry in the final minute against the deep end of Bucknell's bench allowed the 'Pards to escape the embarrassment of finishing with under 30 points.
It was a night when Bucknell's defense more than made up for a sluggish first half offensively. With Lafayette packing it in on Chris McNaughton, the Bison struggled to get in sync in the first half. Only Bettencourt, who broke out of a recent slump with his 16-point first half (19 for the game), seemed to have any kind of offensive rhythm for the Bison, who turned it over nine times in the opening stanza.
Of course the way they played defense, Bettencourt was enough. It was reminiscent of the Bison game at Duke, where at one point the Cameron Crazies were chanting "J.J. is winning" because Reddick had more points than the Busknell team. The Sojka Pscyhos were not quite that creative, but at the half it was Bettencourt 16, Lafayette 13.
"I got some open looks early, knocked them down and got my confidence going," said the Bison's senior captain.
Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon said some of those looks were the result of the good defense his team played on McNaughton. The Leopards held the pre-season Patriot League Player of the Year to 2 first half points on 1-of-5 shooting (4 points, 2-8 overall).
"That was a product of helping out on McNaughton," said O'Hanlon. "They are good. They find Bettencourt. They know where he is and he knows where the basket is."
The rest of the Bison found the basket in the second half. the Bison came out after the break and went on a 14-5 run, allowing just one Lafayette field goal the first 6:27 of the half. From there the only suspense was whether or not Lafayette would score 30 points.
They did, thanks to a Paul Cummins three-pointer with 36 seconds to play. Along with an Andrew Brown bucket 20 seconds erlier, it gave the 'Pards two of their five second half field goals in the final minute.
Cummins finished with 7 points to lead Lafayette. Nobody else had more than 5.
Bettencourt was the only Bison in double figures. That was in part due to the fact that Bettencourt was the only Bison to play more than 26 minutes. The Bison bench combined for 20 points. Lafayette's starting five only scored 14.
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