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Monday, November 20, 2006
(Links added 8:05 a.m.)
McNaughton sits down
St. Joe's turns it up a notch
Bison can't come back
There it is. Short, simple, to the point. Bucknell's 63-53 loss at St. Joseph's reduced to haiku.
The long form goes something like this: Early in the game it looked a little like last season's vintage when Bucknell came out and established an early lead and proceeded to defend it through the first 14 minutes of the game. Three-pointers were falling, Chris McNaughton was taking Saint Joe's young big men to school down low. Things were going Bucknell's way, or at least they seemed to be.
In retrospect, back-to-back shot-clock beaters by Saint Joe's Rob Ferguson in the midst of Bucknell's fast start were signs of things to come. Saint Joe's would go on to making big plays as the clock ran down all afternoon.
McNaughton, the 6-11 senior from Germany struggled offensively in the first two games, in part because he never managed to get into the flow of the game due to foul trouble.Against Saint Joe's, though, McNaughton was on from the start. The Bison looked for their big man early and often and he responded by scoring 9 of Bucknell's first 21 points, including a dunk with 6:03 to play in the first half that gave Bucknell a 21-19 lead.
"The beginning of the game was like a Bucknell clinic," said Saint Joe's coach Phil Martelli.
Fourteen seconds later McNaughton was sitting on the bench with two fouls and the Bison were en route to a hole they could never climb out of.
Part of it was simply Saint Joe's increased defensive intensity. Phil Martelli said he told his team to dial the ball pressure up a notch. Of course without McNaughton's inside presence ready to exploit the man-to-man, the Hawks guards could pressure even more on the perimeter. Saint Joe's simply out-muscled the Bison, pushing the guards well outside the arc and forcing them to try to run their offense from there. Without McNaughton to keep them honest, or the presence of a dribble penetrator type who could exploit the pressure off the dribble, the Bison struggled to score.
"The win was predicated on defense," Martelli said. "Defensively, we wanted to take away their threes, from John (Griffin) and Vegotsky. We didn't want them to have any threes. We had a game plan for each guy on defense and for the most part, we executed that."
Vegotsky and Griffin had combined for 10 three-pointers in Bucknell's first two games. The two were out of sync against Saint Joe's, Griffin was an icy 2 for 11 in the game, 1 for 8 from the three-point arc.
"I need to find a rhythm. The last two games I have been really struggling," said Griffin. "I need to keep my confidence."
Griffen didn't have his rhythm, but he did have that confidence. Vegotsky had neither. Vegotsky hit the first three he took, missed two more in the first half and didn't take another shot.
"I'd like to see him miss two shots in a row and keep staying aggressive," Flannery said. "We don't have to tell Griffin twice. Jason we do."
With McNaughton sitting, or, late in the half, subbing in and out in an offense-defense arrangement with Darren Mastropaolo, who also had two fouls at the time, the Bison were out of sync. They managed just three points -- one a free throw from McNaughton and went 4:18 without a field goal until Patrick Behan broke the drought with 1:45 to go in the half.
But here is the stat that will tell you just how out of sync the Bison were once McNaughton got in foul trouble: Behan's field goal was only the second shot from the field the Bison took in that stretch.
Meanwhile, with Bucknell's offense in disarray, Saint Joe's began to pull away, using a mix of threes, free throws and inside power by Ahmad Nivins. Nivins' five unanswered points on an old-fashioned three-pomt play and another inside bucket pushed the Saint Joe's lead into double figures just before the half.
"When Chris went out, they started throwing it inside," Griffen said.
Before it was said and done, Saint Joe's had shot 10 of 16 from the field (62.5 percent)
Bucknell came out after the half and scored 6 straight points to make it a game, and later pulled to within 4 twice. But they could never get over the hump. The first time, Abe Badmus missed a layup that would have cut it to two.
Bucknell was again within four on a McNaughton layup that cut it to 55-51. But a Saint Joe's possession that lasted almost a minute and a half took the wind out of the Bison sails. First Bucknell played solid defense for 26 seconds before a foul on Abe Badmus reset the clock. Then Saint Joe's ran off 32 seconds of the 35 second clock before Jawan Carter heaved a desperation three that caromed right back to him, again resetting the shot clock (another one of those Saint Joe's shot clock good fortunes).
Finally, at the 2:34 mark, 1:23 after his layup, McNaughton fouled Pat Calathes, who hit to free throws for a 57-51 Saint Joe's lead. Bucknell never got closer.
McNaughton finished with 14 points in 23 minutes. Although he finished with four personals, the last was semi-intentional, If Bucknell is looking for good news to take from this one, McNaughton's starting to look a little like his old self is one item they could cling to. But he was not nearly as effective after the first 14 minutes.
"When he comes out and sits, he is hard to get going again," said Flannery.
Another was a second straight career night by Darren Mastropaolo, who scored 11 of his 13 in the second half.
On the down side, the Bison still are not getting the offense they need from Badmus and Donald Brown. Badmus was 2 for 6, but again passed up open jumpers that he needs to take, and make, if people are going to be forced to play Bucknell honest. Badmus hit one of the two three-pointers he took. He also turned the ball over seven times, often the result of over penetrating and finding himself with no place to go with the ball.
Brown is a more perplexing problem. Attempts to transform him into a perimeter threat on offense have not taken. Brown is no three-point threat, but Flannery figured on his being able to make enough pull-up 10-footers to be effective at the three. The problem is, Brown's offense is likely to come from running the break and crashing the offensive glass.
"We need a better, consistent way to score from the perimeter," Flannery said.
Flannery is not one to switch starting lineups. He feels it is important to start a big lineup (see notebook) and is not likely to put 6-2 Jason Vegotsky or 6-3 Rob Thomas at the starting three, even though each would seem to inject more offense. But watch for Flannery to start tweaking his rotation as he searches for combinations that can score.
"We are still trying to figure that out," said Griffen.
Efforts to find the right combinations will continue Tuesday night, when Bucknell travels west on route 45 to meet Penn State.
| Notebook | Postgame audio | | | |
Bonus link: (Bucks County Courier Times)
McNaughton sits down
St. Joe's turns it up a notch
Bison can't come back
There it is. Short, simple, to the point. Bucknell's 63-53 loss at St. Joseph's reduced to haiku.
The long form goes something like this: Early in the game it looked a little like last season's vintage when Bucknell came out and established an early lead and proceeded to defend it through the first 14 minutes of the game. Three-pointers were falling, Chris McNaughton was taking Saint Joe's young big men to school down low. Things were going Bucknell's way, or at least they seemed to be.
In retrospect, back-to-back shot-clock beaters by Saint Joe's Rob Ferguson in the midst of Bucknell's fast start were signs of things to come. Saint Joe's would go on to making big plays as the clock ran down all afternoon.
McNaughton, the 6-11 senior from Germany struggled offensively in the first two games, in part because he never managed to get into the flow of the game due to foul trouble.Against Saint Joe's, though, McNaughton was on from the start. The Bison looked for their big man early and often and he responded by scoring 9 of Bucknell's first 21 points, including a dunk with 6:03 to play in the first half that gave Bucknell a 21-19 lead.
"The beginning of the game was like a Bucknell clinic," said Saint Joe's coach Phil Martelli.
Fourteen seconds later McNaughton was sitting on the bench with two fouls and the Bison were en route to a hole they could never climb out of.
Part of it was simply Saint Joe's increased defensive intensity. Phil Martelli said he told his team to dial the ball pressure up a notch. Of course without McNaughton's inside presence ready to exploit the man-to-man, the Hawks guards could pressure even more on the perimeter. Saint Joe's simply out-muscled the Bison, pushing the guards well outside the arc and forcing them to try to run their offense from there. Without McNaughton to keep them honest, or the presence of a dribble penetrator type who could exploit the pressure off the dribble, the Bison struggled to score.
"The win was predicated on defense," Martelli said. "Defensively, we wanted to take away their threes, from John (Griffin) and Vegotsky. We didn't want them to have any threes. We had a game plan for each guy on defense and for the most part, we executed that."
Vegotsky and Griffin had combined for 10 three-pointers in Bucknell's first two games. The two were out of sync against Saint Joe's, Griffin was an icy 2 for 11 in the game, 1 for 8 from the three-point arc.
"I need to find a rhythm. The last two games I have been really struggling," said Griffin. "I need to keep my confidence."
Griffen didn't have his rhythm, but he did have that confidence. Vegotsky had neither. Vegotsky hit the first three he took, missed two more in the first half and didn't take another shot.
"I'd like to see him miss two shots in a row and keep staying aggressive," Flannery said. "We don't have to tell Griffin twice. Jason we do."
With McNaughton sitting, or, late in the half, subbing in and out in an offense-defense arrangement with Darren Mastropaolo, who also had two fouls at the time, the Bison were out of sync. They managed just three points -- one a free throw from McNaughton and went 4:18 without a field goal until Patrick Behan broke the drought with 1:45 to go in the half.
But here is the stat that will tell you just how out of sync the Bison were once McNaughton got in foul trouble: Behan's field goal was only the second shot from the field the Bison took in that stretch.
Meanwhile, with Bucknell's offense in disarray, Saint Joe's began to pull away, using a mix of threes, free throws and inside power by Ahmad Nivins. Nivins' five unanswered points on an old-fashioned three-pomt play and another inside bucket pushed the Saint Joe's lead into double figures just before the half.
"When Chris went out, they started throwing it inside," Griffen said.
Before it was said and done, Saint Joe's had shot 10 of 16 from the field (62.5 percent)
Bucknell came out after the half and scored 6 straight points to make it a game, and later pulled to within 4 twice. But they could never get over the hump. The first time, Abe Badmus missed a layup that would have cut it to two.
Bucknell was again within four on a McNaughton layup that cut it to 55-51. But a Saint Joe's possession that lasted almost a minute and a half took the wind out of the Bison sails. First Bucknell played solid defense for 26 seconds before a foul on Abe Badmus reset the clock. Then Saint Joe's ran off 32 seconds of the 35 second clock before Jawan Carter heaved a desperation three that caromed right back to him, again resetting the shot clock (another one of those Saint Joe's shot clock good fortunes).
Finally, at the 2:34 mark, 1:23 after his layup, McNaughton fouled Pat Calathes, who hit to free throws for a 57-51 Saint Joe's lead. Bucknell never got closer.
McNaughton finished with 14 points in 23 minutes. Although he finished with four personals, the last was semi-intentional, If Bucknell is looking for good news to take from this one, McNaughton's starting to look a little like his old self is one item they could cling to. But he was not nearly as effective after the first 14 minutes.
"When he comes out and sits, he is hard to get going again," said Flannery.
Another was a second straight career night by Darren Mastropaolo, who scored 11 of his 13 in the second half.
On the down side, the Bison still are not getting the offense they need from Badmus and Donald Brown. Badmus was 2 for 6, but again passed up open jumpers that he needs to take, and make, if people are going to be forced to play Bucknell honest. Badmus hit one of the two three-pointers he took. He also turned the ball over seven times, often the result of over penetrating and finding himself with no place to go with the ball.
Brown is a more perplexing problem. Attempts to transform him into a perimeter threat on offense have not taken. Brown is no three-point threat, but Flannery figured on his being able to make enough pull-up 10-footers to be effective at the three. The problem is, Brown's offense is likely to come from running the break and crashing the offensive glass.
"We need a better, consistent way to score from the perimeter," Flannery said.
Flannery is not one to switch starting lineups. He feels it is important to start a big lineup (see notebook) and is not likely to put 6-2 Jason Vegotsky or 6-3 Rob Thomas at the starting three, even though each would seem to inject more offense. But watch for Flannery to start tweaking his rotation as he searches for combinations that can score.
"We are still trying to figure that out," said Griffen.
Efforts to find the right combinations will continue Tuesday night, when Bucknell travels west on route 45 to meet Penn State.
| Notebook | Postgame audio | | | |
Bonus link: (Bucks County Courier Times)
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