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Monday, March 06, 2006
(Originally posted Sunday at 8:04 p.m., links added at 7:17 a.m.)
After his team dropped a 64-50 decision Sunday to Bucknell, American University coach Jeff Jones began his postgame press conference with one sentence that summed things up about as well as any sports writer will do with an entire story.
“Bucknell was just too much for us,” said Jones, whose team saw its season end the same way it did last year, with a loss to the Bison in Sojka Pavilion in semifinals of the Partiot League Tournament.
Jones was right.
It was too much Chris McNaughton for the American. Too much Charles Lee. Too much Kevin Bettencourt. Too much Darren Mastropaolo. And too much Bucknell defense.
Way too much Bucknell defense.
Bucknell held American without a field goal the first 4:54 of the game and just one bucket in the first 7 minutes, forcing four turnovers and five missed shots on AU’s first 10 possessions while starting the game with an 8-0 run en route to an early 11-2 lead.
The tone was set during those first seven minutes, with Bucknell’s first 11 points coming from four different players. Mastropaolo started things, scoring on Bucknell’s first possession off a nice feed from McNaughton off a high-low set. Lee scored the next two Bucknell baskets, the first a layup in transition on a nice outlet pass from Bettencourt, who came up with the steal on defense.
Then McNaughton got in on the act, finishing in transition with a thunderous dunk off another pass from Bettencourt.
Derrick Mercer got American on the board with a runner in the lane at the 15:06 mark, but Bettencourt, who missed his first two three-point tries, found the range on his third.
American did manage to come back to tie the game at 11-11 on a Brian Gilmore free throw with 9:15 to play in the half. But the major themes of the game – balanced scoring and tough defense, were set in those first seven minutes and a third theme came on Bucknell’s next possession, when Mastropaolo answered with a hook shot over 6-11 AU center Paulius Joneliunas at the other end, giving the Bison a lead they never relinquished.
American tried guarding McNaughton, Bucknell’s 6-11 junior center one on one, something few Patriot League teams are willing to do. McNaughton responded by going 8 for 9 from the field, his lone miss on a blocked shot by AU’s Jordan Nichols that looked awfully close to a goaltending call.
“We really didn’t have much of an answer for McNaughton,” said Jones. “He really exposed our lack of interior defense.”
American had no answer for Bettencourt, either. After missing his first two tries from the arc, the senior co-captain went 4 for 4 from three-point range the rest of the way, finishing with 16 points to share team-scoring honors with McNaughton.
“You work so hard. They make you guard the entire possession. Then all of a sudden, bam, (Bettencourt) knocks down a three and it takes a little bit of the life out of you,” said Jones. “His baskets are like daggers.”
Lee, the league’s Player of the Year, who spent the afternoon driving into the lane and either scoring himself or kicking the ball out to an open man. Lee had 15 points and dished off four assists. Lee also played his usual great defense on American junior guard Andre Ingram, who came into the game shooting under 25 percent from the field in seven career games against Bucknell, most of which he has spent a big part of the game guarded by Lee. Ingram, American’s leading scorer and a two-time all-league pick after being the league’s rookie of the year as a freshman, managed just five points while going 2 for 8 from the field.
“I have a lot of respect for Charles Lee. He’s the best player I have ever had to defend and play against in the Patriot League,” said Ingram. “He showed why he is the player of the year. He’s a phenomenal player.”
“He makes the big plays, the tough plays,” said Jones.
And then there was Mastropaolo, who went three for three from the field and helped hold American’s frontcourt players to a combined 1 for 10 shooting performance when he was not busy setting screens for Lee and Bettencourt.
“Darren is the reason Charles, Abe (Badmus) and I get open,” said Bettencourt.
“(Mastropaolo) is a great screener. That might not sound that sexy, but when you have shooters like a Bettencourt or (Jason) Vegotsky, or when you have great players like Lee, that puts the offensive players at an advantage. That puts the defensive players at a disadvantage. He is an important cog in that machine,” said Jones.
Put those pieces together and you come up with an offense that hit 24 of 50 (48 percent) from the field and a defense that held American to a 17 for 47 (36.2 percent) shooting effort.
“They showed great balance,” said Jones. “They are a great example of a team having stars you can rely on. They are very efficient. But what sets them apart from other good teams is that their role players not only understand their roles, they do them extremely, extremely well. And they all play great defense.”
While Bucknell kept the lead after Mastropaolo’s hook shot, American did not go away, thanks to the play of Linas Lekavicius, who scored 21 points, most by taking the ball to the rack when he got a mismatch with one of Bucknell’s big men on the perimeter against the Bison’s matchup zone. But he was a one-man show. American managed only 5 assists all afternoon, its lowest total of the season.
Lekavicius shot 8 for 15 from the field. The other 10 guys who saw action for AU combined to make 9 of the 32 shots they fired up.
“They became a one-man team and the other guys stood around a little,” said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery.
Lekavicius cut Bucknell’s lead to 5 on a layup with 2:24 to go in the first half, but the Bison responded by closing the half with an 8-0 run, taking a 35-22 lead at the intermission when Lee’s three pointer bounced around the rim and fell in at the buzzer.
"They just seized the game at that point," Jones said.
In the second half, twice AU cut Bucknell’s lead to 9 on Lekavicius three-pointers. But each time the Bison answered by scoring the next 4 points, keeping American’s comeback hopes from gaining any traction.
“They are a terrific team,” said Jones, who called the Bison the best he has seen in the league since AU joined in the 2000-2001 season. “They’ve got terrific individuals but the thing that makes them the best, or near the top is that those individuals fit together very nicely.”
The win send Bucknell into the league final for the second season in a row and breaks the school record for wins in a season. The Bison’s 25-4 record is the best in modern school history, bettering the 24-5 record of Bucknell’s 1984 East Coast Conference regular season championship team.
Gameblog Notebook (Pat Flannery's hometown paper)
After his team dropped a 64-50 decision Sunday to Bucknell, American University coach Jeff Jones began his postgame press conference with one sentence that summed things up about as well as any sports writer will do with an entire story.
“Bucknell was just too much for us,” said Jones, whose team saw its season end the same way it did last year, with a loss to the Bison in Sojka Pavilion in semifinals of the Partiot League Tournament.
Jones was right.
It was too much Chris McNaughton for the American. Too much Charles Lee. Too much Kevin Bettencourt. Too much Darren Mastropaolo. And too much Bucknell defense.
Way too much Bucknell defense.
Bucknell held American without a field goal the first 4:54 of the game and just one bucket in the first 7 minutes, forcing four turnovers and five missed shots on AU’s first 10 possessions while starting the game with an 8-0 run en route to an early 11-2 lead.
The tone was set during those first seven minutes, with Bucknell’s first 11 points coming from four different players. Mastropaolo started things, scoring on Bucknell’s first possession off a nice feed from McNaughton off a high-low set. Lee scored the next two Bucknell baskets, the first a layup in transition on a nice outlet pass from Bettencourt, who came up with the steal on defense.
Then McNaughton got in on the act, finishing in transition with a thunderous dunk off another pass from Bettencourt.
Derrick Mercer got American on the board with a runner in the lane at the 15:06 mark, but Bettencourt, who missed his first two three-point tries, found the range on his third.
American did manage to come back to tie the game at 11-11 on a Brian Gilmore free throw with 9:15 to play in the half. But the major themes of the game – balanced scoring and tough defense, were set in those first seven minutes and a third theme came on Bucknell’s next possession, when Mastropaolo answered with a hook shot over 6-11 AU center Paulius Joneliunas at the other end, giving the Bison a lead they never relinquished.
American tried guarding McNaughton, Bucknell’s 6-11 junior center one on one, something few Patriot League teams are willing to do. McNaughton responded by going 8 for 9 from the field, his lone miss on a blocked shot by AU’s Jordan Nichols that looked awfully close to a goaltending call.
“We really didn’t have much of an answer for McNaughton,” said Jones. “He really exposed our lack of interior defense.”
American had no answer for Bettencourt, either. After missing his first two tries from the arc, the senior co-captain went 4 for 4 from three-point range the rest of the way, finishing with 16 points to share team-scoring honors with McNaughton.
“You work so hard. They make you guard the entire possession. Then all of a sudden, bam, (Bettencourt) knocks down a three and it takes a little bit of the life out of you,” said Jones. “His baskets are like daggers.”
Lee, the league’s Player of the Year, who spent the afternoon driving into the lane and either scoring himself or kicking the ball out to an open man. Lee had 15 points and dished off four assists. Lee also played his usual great defense on American junior guard Andre Ingram, who came into the game shooting under 25 percent from the field in seven career games against Bucknell, most of which he has spent a big part of the game guarded by Lee. Ingram, American’s leading scorer and a two-time all-league pick after being the league’s rookie of the year as a freshman, managed just five points while going 2 for 8 from the field.
“I have a lot of respect for Charles Lee. He’s the best player I have ever had to defend and play against in the Patriot League,” said Ingram. “He showed why he is the player of the year. He’s a phenomenal player.”
“He makes the big plays, the tough plays,” said Jones.
And then there was Mastropaolo, who went three for three from the field and helped hold American’s frontcourt players to a combined 1 for 10 shooting performance when he was not busy setting screens for Lee and Bettencourt.
“Darren is the reason Charles, Abe (Badmus) and I get open,” said Bettencourt.
“(Mastropaolo) is a great screener. That might not sound that sexy, but when you have shooters like a Bettencourt or (Jason) Vegotsky, or when you have great players like Lee, that puts the offensive players at an advantage. That puts the defensive players at a disadvantage. He is an important cog in that machine,” said Jones.
Put those pieces together and you come up with an offense that hit 24 of 50 (48 percent) from the field and a defense that held American to a 17 for 47 (36.2 percent) shooting effort.
“They showed great balance,” said Jones. “They are a great example of a team having stars you can rely on. They are very efficient. But what sets them apart from other good teams is that their role players not only understand their roles, they do them extremely, extremely well. And they all play great defense.”
While Bucknell kept the lead after Mastropaolo’s hook shot, American did not go away, thanks to the play of Linas Lekavicius, who scored 21 points, most by taking the ball to the rack when he got a mismatch with one of Bucknell’s big men on the perimeter against the Bison’s matchup zone. But he was a one-man show. American managed only 5 assists all afternoon, its lowest total of the season.
Lekavicius shot 8 for 15 from the field. The other 10 guys who saw action for AU combined to make 9 of the 32 shots they fired up.
“They became a one-man team and the other guys stood around a little,” said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery.
Lekavicius cut Bucknell’s lead to 5 on a layup with 2:24 to go in the first half, but the Bison responded by closing the half with an 8-0 run, taking a 35-22 lead at the intermission when Lee’s three pointer bounced around the rim and fell in at the buzzer.
"They just seized the game at that point," Jones said.
In the second half, twice AU cut Bucknell’s lead to 9 on Lekavicius three-pointers. But each time the Bison answered by scoring the next 4 points, keeping American’s comeback hopes from gaining any traction.
“They are a terrific team,” said Jones, who called the Bison the best he has seen in the league since AU joined in the 2000-2001 season. “They’ve got terrific individuals but the thing that makes them the best, or near the top is that those individuals fit together very nicely.”
The win send Bucknell into the league final for the second season in a row and breaks the school record for wins in a season. The Bison’s 25-4 record is the best in modern school history, bettering the 24-5 record of Bucknell’s 1984 East Coast Conference regular season championship team.
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