Bison finish 17-0 run through Patriot with win over HC

(Originally posted Friday at 8:51 p.m., links added at 8:11 a.m.)

There are no nets hanging in Sojka Pavilion. What was left of them after Bucknell's shooters scorched them in the second half of the Patriot League Championship game were cut down by the celebrating Bison following their 74-59 win over visiting Holy Cross.

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It was the second year in a row Bucknell got to break out the scissors. No one is certain, but it might have been the first time they ever cut down the nets at home. The three other times in modern history that Bucknell won its league tournament title it happened on someone else's floor,including last year when they won the title on Holy Cross' home floor in Worcester.

"I can't say it was different than doing it up there because for me, as a coach, it was my first time doing it and I will never forget it," said Bucknell coach Pat Flannery. "But being an alum, it was especially gratifying."

And it was special for the orange clad crowd of 4,110 that filled Sojka Pavilion, with the obvious exception of the 400 or so Holy Cross fans who made the trip. The Bison student section chanted "Undefeated" as the clock ran down, then stormed the court in celebration of the Bison's unprecedented 17-0 run through the conference regular season and tournament.

That such a celebration would take place began to be apparent early in the second half. Buoyed by a momentum-boosting three-pointer by Kevin Bettencourt that sent the Bison to the locker room at intermission with a 42-38 led, Bucknell came out and took control with an early 15-2 run, holding the Crusaders without a basket for a stretch of over seven minutes

"The start of the second half, defensively we were able to adjust to some of the things they did in the first half," said Flannery.

Bucknell also picked it up a little on offense, too. After a solid 46.9 percent shooting effort before the break, the Bison came out and hit 61.1 percent (11 of 18) in the second half. It started with center Chris McNaughton, who was forced to sit the final seven minutes of the first half after picking up three fouls. Leading 45-42, the Bison went to the 6-11 junior two straight trips down the floor, quickly extending the lead to 49-42.

"(The first half foul trouble) just made me more aggressive coming out in the second half. It kind of motivated me," said McNaughton, who finished with 14 points of 7 of 9 shooting.

After a Kevin Hamilton layup stemmed the tide temporarily, Bucknell scored 11 unanswered points, including five by reserve forward Donald Brown, who overcame a 1 for 5 start to finish with 14 points. All five came courtesy of drives by BU point guard Abe Badmus, who beat his man off the dribble and dished to Brown when the Holy Cross big men came to help.

By the time Holy Cross' Keith Simmons stopped the run with a long three that cut Bucknell's margin to 65-50, it was pretty clear the Crusaders would not be staging any miracle comeback like the one that almost overcame a big Bucknell lead in last year's championship. Not with point guard Torey Thomas sitting on the bench nursing an ankle that he turned badly in the first half and Simmons and Hamilton running on fumes after being forced to play yeoman's minutes to make up for Thomas' absence. The Crusaders never got closer than 11 the rest of the way.

"Once Torey went down, it was, as Yogi said, deja vu all over again," said Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard, whose team has battled enough injuries to script a season of ER this year. The guy who would have came in for Thomas, Pat Doherty, has not played since early in the season due to a foot injury. Simmons and Hamilton have both battled an assortment of ailments all year. Adding insult to injury, Hamilton lost a thumbnail in the second half to boot.

"It was Murphy's Law," said Simmons. "When Torey went down, I shook my head. I said, 'Oh no, this can't happen again. Not now."

Thomas tried to play through it, but by the time Badmus beat him off the dribble for those two dishes to Brown, it was obvious he was not able to help. Thomas sat and watched the final seven minutes of the game.

What Thomas saw was a textbook example of a deeper, more physical team wearing down an opponent. By the end, when Simmons came out with 1:43 to play, he had run out of gas.

"We just kept working them, making Hamilton and Simmons play defense and they got tired," said Bucknell's Charles Lee, who added the tournament MVP trophy to his collection of post season honors. Lee finished with 16 points.

Bettencourt led all scorers with 23, including six three-pointers. Always a streaky shooter, the senior from Salem, Mass. hit the first trey he took and never stopped hitting them.

"He is always dangerous because if you give him an opportunity to shoot the basketball, he is going to knock it down," said Willard. "He is a senior. He is going to make big plays."

McNaughton was the fourth Bison in doubles, scoring 14 points on a 7 of 9 shooting night.

Hamilton led Holy Cross with 20 points, playing all but a minute of the game. Simmons, who Willard had planned to get significant rests by subbing for him around the long TV timeouts, ended up playing 38 minutes, finishing with 19 points. Tim Clifford also reached double figures for Holy Cross, scoring all of his 10 points in the first half, eight of them at the foul line, where he was perfect.

Foul shooting kept Holy Cross close in the first half. The Crusaders went to the line 20 times before the intermission, making 17. After the break they shot only five free throws in what can only be called an extremely inconsistently officiated game.

NOTES: The loss was the first ever as a No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament for Holy Cross, which twice won the championship as a two seed, including in 1993 when they beat Bucknell in the Bison's old Davis Gym . . . HC was 8-0 as a two seed coming in . . . The win was Bucknell's fourth in a row over HC, dating back to last year's final, and their fifth in six games . . . Lee became the first player in league history to win back to back tournament MVP honors . . . He is the seventh player to win regular season Player of the Year and Tournament MVP in the same season.

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