(Originally posted 2:22 a.m., links added at 8:47 a.m.)

Bucknell coach Pat Flannery, your team just became the first team in Patriot League history to go undefeated in conference play. What is next?

“We gave a couple days off last year and I thought we really had legs coming into the tournament. We were all over the place. We will do that again this year,” said Flannery following his team’s 70-47 decision over Army in a Sojka Pavilion rumble Saturday night.

After the off days, the Bison will spend a day or two working on some of their own weaknesses, then they will put in the game plan for Friday’s Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal rematch with this same Army team.

What? No trip to Disney World? Hardly. There was barely even a celebration Saturday night after the Bison extended their 18th straight against Patriot League opponents, completing their unprecedented 14-0 run through the conference this season..

Maybe later. Right now it is all about winning the league tournament and sewing up an automatic bid for a return trip to the NCAA Tournament. Despite their 23-4 record and lofty RPI, there is no thought of any at large bids.

The prognosticators might be making pretty persuasive arguments that the selection committee ought to invite the Bison back to the dance, even if they lose in the league tournament. Bucknell prefers an indisputable argument.

“Our goal is to win the Patriot League Tournament. We’re going to focus on that,” said Kevin Bettencourt, one of four Bucknell seniors honored before the game.

The Bison know that plenty of deserving teams have been left home before. They prefer leaving nothing to chance.

“That is the mindset you have to go in. There are a lot of teams that they sit there and interview with long faces on when they don’t go. You take care of business and you go. If you don’t, then it is your own fault,” said Flannery.

That was why Bucknell’s starters were still in the game with the Bison up 20 and less than three minutes to play. Flannery began preparing for the first round tournament matchup shortly after the Bison blew the game open by scoring 9 unanswered points in the first 1:06 of the second half.

“I looked at it as a chance for us, knowing that we were going to play these guys again. We tried to play a lot of man. We tried to get their looks, their patterns and their quickness. Now the kids will know each other. Then we tried to get Rob (Thomas) and Jason (Vegotsky) and these guys a chance, some of the younger kids, John Griffin, to recognize . . . .It gave those younger guys a chance to get a feel for Army and that will help us a lot,” Flannery said.

The Bison worked on their press, and Flannery looked at different combinations on the floor, even taking a glimpse at one point at a grouping with sophomores Darren Mastropaolo, Rob Thomas and John Griffin, along with freshman Vegotsky and junior point guard Abe Badmus, a rotation seemingly pretty evenly lacking in experience and height.

As much as it helped Bucknell get ready for Friday’s first round game, it probably added to Army’s challenge. Jim Crews has gone to an even younger rotation of late, if that is actually possible with a roster that has just one senior. Crews said Bucknell’s versatility was a problem for his inexperienced tea.

“They switch some. They play a little zone, they play man. They go big with the big kid, then all of a sudden, Lee is playing a four. I don’t know what Brown is besides good. He’s not big, he’s not small. He’s good. They look different all the time and that presents problems,” Crews said.

It’s that way at both ends of the floor. Each time you think you’ve plugged a defensive leak, a different Bison steps up and soaks you. In the first half it was Lee, who scored 11 of his game-high 18 points during the run at the end of the first half that put the Bison in control. During the last 7:58 of the first half, Lee was scored almost every way possible – a layup, a jumper, a three-pointer. 4 for 5 at the foul line.

During that same stretch, Army’s only points came when Marshall Jackson converted an old-fashioned, and-one three-point play with 1:10 to go in the half.
The end result was a 25-18 Bucknell lead at the intermission.

Any confidence infusion Army might have gotten by Jackson’s play was gone before most of the crowd of 4,174 was settled into its seats for the second half. It started with a pair of free throws from Chris McNaughton, who saw the ball on Bucknell’s first possession after going scoreless the first half. McNaughton made the first, but missed the second. Mastropaolo got the rebound and the ball went to Bettencourt, who buried a three to make it an 11-point Bucknell lead.

On Bucknell’s next possession, Mastropaolo was fouled making a layup. Mastropaolo missed the second shot, the ball ended up in Bettencourt’s hands and the senior buried the three. All of a sudden the 25-18 halftime score had exploded to 34-18.

“That just kicked our rear ends. If I am not mistaken, they got three offensive rebounds and scored 10 points in the first minute-18. It went from 7 to 17 in a minute-18. That was huge,” said Crews.

By the time it was over, three other Bison joined Lee in double figures. Bettencourt had 13, Griffin 12 (including 6 for 6 at the foul line) and McNaughton 11.

Matt Bell scored 16 to lead Army. Fourteen of those came in the second half when the game had already been determined. Marshall Jackson added 10, all in the first half. But Jarell Brown, the league’s third-leading scorer, who posted 25 on Bucknell in West Point earlier this season, spent most of his night being hounded by Charles Lee, who played a key role in Brown being held to a single field goal on seven shots.

Lee was quick to share credit for stopping Brown,

“It was a great team job. A couple times he was getting to the lane and guys were stepping up trying to take charges, making all his shots difficult,” Lee said.

Overall Bucknell held Army to a 15 for 41 showing from the field (36.6 percent). It was the 17th time this season Bucknell, which is ranked fourth nationally in field goal percentage defense, held an opponent below 40 percent from the field. It was also the eighth Bucknell opponent to be held under 50 points.

The Bison did have some scares. Nearly every regular starter was hurt at least once. Sixth-man Donald Brown was hurt twice. The worst of the bunch was the first half ankle injury suffered by point guard Abe Badmus. Badmus limped off the floor and was taken to the training room for treatment. But he returned to the game, finishing with a solid 3 assists, one turnover, one steal line in 18 minutes.

“Abe certainly worried us. He’s a pretty tough kid. When he came up like that and couldn’t shake that off, we were a little worried about him,” Flannery said.

The other injuries Flannery laughed off.

“It’s a varsity limp. That is what it is called. You’re home, it is senior day, everybody has to get hurt. Everybody wants to come out. Everybody wants to get an ice pack. I mean, McNaughton was hurt. Abe was hurt. I think I saw (seldom used fan favorite) Holland (Mack) getting a drink and he was hurt,” Flannery said.

The Bison’s regular season title is their second outright in the 16 years of Patriot League hoops. Bucknell also shared the regular season championship in 1995. The other outright championship came in 1993, when Charlie Woollum’s Bison went 13-1 in the regular season. That team was one of five who had enjoyed single loss seasons, along with the 1991 Fordham team (11-1), Lafayette’s 11-1 2000 team and the two Holy Cross 13-1 teams (2003, 2005).

All of those teams were outstanding. None of them went unbeaten in conference play.

“It doesn’t happen very often,” Crews said.

“It’s obviously something we are proud of. I have followed the Patriot League since my brother played, so I know no team has ever done that before,” said Bettencourt.

These same two teams will meet again Friday night at 8 in the second game of a first round doubleheader in Sojka. No. 4 seed American will meet five-seed Lafayette in the first game. That one tips at 5:30 p.m.

Box score

Gameblog

AP story

Eric Thomas