≈ Saturday, January 28, 2006
Holy Cross-Lehigh gameblog
HC 16, Lehigh 13 (11:28 first)
Lehigh shook up its starting lineup, going with Joe Knight, Jose Olivero, Kyle Neptune, Mitch Gilfillan and James Anderson.
Tim Clifford stepped out to the top of the arc and knocked down a trey to open the game when Lehigh left him alone there. That is one of 4 treys in the early going for HC -- Kevin Hamilton and Torey Thomas have the others.
Jose Olivero has 8 of Lehigh's 13 so far.
The crowd way down from what was on hand for the Bucknell game here on Wednesday. The students are not even filling the section behind the Lehigh basket. In fact, there may have been more sitting there during the women's game, thanks to some Pink Lady's group that was in attendance.
By the way, Holy Cross won the ladies' game, 69-63.
HC 24, Lehigh 15 (7:54 first)
Crusaders on a 14-4 run since trailing 11-10 at the 14:47 mark.
Holy Cross with a 16-5 edge on the boards early.
HC shooting 10-23 (43.5 percent), 4-8 from the arc. Lehigh is 6-14 (42.9 percent) 2-7 from three-point range.
HC 33, Lehigh 21 (3:32 first)
A potential problem for Holy Cross -- Torey Thomas just picked up his third personal.
Other than that, things going HC's way for the most part. Just before thomas' foul, Tim Clifford stepped out and drained his second trey of teh game. The Big Purple Dog now has 12 points on 5-6 shooting. He also has 4 of HC's 20 rebounds.
Lehigh's Joe Knight has yet to score. He is 0-3 from the field and 0-1 at the line.
HC's rebounding edge stands at 20-8, lots of those on the offensive glass, leading to a 7-0 edge in second chance points so far.
Holy Cross 37, Lehigh 28(HALFTIME)
Two big differences between how Bucknell played at Lehigh Wednesday and Holy Cross' first half showing.
1) Lehigh is not packed in a zone and Tim Clifford is making them pay for that. Clifford already has 14 points, including two three-pointers. Lehigh will have to double him if they expect to slow HC down.
2) With Lehigh playing man, the Crusaders are getting the ball in the lane on a regular basis. That is opening things up all over. When they are not finishing in the paint, the Crusaders are finding open guys on the perimeter and, unlike Bucknell Wednesday, HC is knocking them down. The Crusaders are 16-34 from the field (47.1 percent), 5-11 (45.5 percent) from the arc.
Jose Olivero is keeping Lehigh in this one. He has 13 of the Mountain Hawks' 28 points. Kyle Neptune, with a pair of threes, has 6 for Lehigh. Nobody else has more than 3 and Joe Knight is scoreless thus far.
Hamilton has 8 for HC, including two three-pointers. Thomas has 7.
Holy Cross 41, Lehigh 34 (15:29 second)
Lehigh still not doubling Clifford, but the big guy unable to make them pay so far, missing three easy looks inside. Clifford also stepped out for another three, but came up short this time.
It is a slow start to the second half, only 4 field goals combined in the first 4:31 of the half.
HC is 1-7 to start the half; Lehigh 3-5 with two turnovers.
HC 49, Lehigh 41 (11:26 second)
Knight finally gets his first bucket with 13:04 to play. Then, 27 seconds later he adds a free throw after drawing a foul on Thomas, his fourth.
Ralph Willard rolling the dice, leaves Thomas on the floor.
Hamilton with a pair of second half treys now has 14 for HC. Olivero with 19 for Lehigh.
HC 53, Lehigh 44 (9:00 second)
Take one look at Keith Simmons' uniform and it looks like part of his hydration problems might be due to profuse sweating. The back of Simmons' jersey and shorts are so soaked with sweat they are nearly a different color than the rest of the Crusaders -- closer to black than purple.
Thomas still on the floor, now has 12 points and 5 rebounds.
Knight now 1-9, 3 points.
HC 53, Lehigh 46 (7:45 second)
HC cooling off a little. The 'Saders are 6-17 from the field in the second half, 3-7 from the arc.
Quick check of the scoreboard shows Bucknell up about 30 over Navy.
HC 55, Lehigh 55 (5:01 second)
Mgebroff (Mega-soft) tips in a Knight miss to tie the game at 55-55.
Around the 7 minute mark, Simmons has left the HC bench and gone to the locker room.
HC 58, Lehigh 55 (3:57 second)
Clifford with an old-fashioned three-point play puts HC back on top.
Simmons returns and is back on the floor at the 4:21 mark.
HC 63, Lehigh 60 (1:06 to go)
HC is in the double bonus, lehigh will be with the next HC foul.
Crusaders preserving the lead at the line -- they ate 4-5 free throws since Clifford put them back on top at the 4:21 mark.
HC 63, Lehigh 60 (29.2 left)
Thomas loses control going to the hole and turns it over. Lehigh ball with a chance to tie.
Lehigh 64, HC 63 (FINAL)
Lehigh got three possessions in the final 30 seconds and Jose Olivero made them count. With 16.1 to go, Olivero got to the line for a pair of free throws to cut HC's lead to 63-62 after Lehigh chased down the rebound on a badly missed Joe Knight three attempt.
Then on the inbounds, Bryan White jumped in front of Torey Thomas to deflect a long pass near midcourt. The ball went to Kyle Neptune and Lehigh called a quick timeout to set up a play for Olivero.
Olivero went one-on-one with Hamilton, lost him at the foul line with a nifty shake and bake and banked home a one-handed runner from 3 feet with 4.5 seconds left.
Holy Cross had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but Colin Cunningham's three from the left corner was off target.
Olivero finishes with 29 points. Neptune with 10 is the only other Lehigh player in double figures.
Hamilton led HC with 20. Clifford with 19 and Thomas added 12.
Full story to follow.
Lehigh shook up its starting lineup, going with Joe Knight, Jose Olivero, Kyle Neptune, Mitch Gilfillan and James Anderson.
Tim Clifford stepped out to the top of the arc and knocked down a trey to open the game when Lehigh left him alone there. That is one of 4 treys in the early going for HC -- Kevin Hamilton and Torey Thomas have the others.
Jose Olivero has 8 of Lehigh's 13 so far.
The crowd way down from what was on hand for the Bucknell game here on Wednesday. The students are not even filling the section behind the Lehigh basket. In fact, there may have been more sitting there during the women's game, thanks to some Pink Lady's group that was in attendance.
By the way, Holy Cross won the ladies' game, 69-63.
HC 24, Lehigh 15 (7:54 first)
Crusaders on a 14-4 run since trailing 11-10 at the 14:47 mark.
Holy Cross with a 16-5 edge on the boards early.
HC shooting 10-23 (43.5 percent), 4-8 from the arc. Lehigh is 6-14 (42.9 percent) 2-7 from three-point range.
HC 33, Lehigh 21 (3:32 first)
A potential problem for Holy Cross -- Torey Thomas just picked up his third personal.
Other than that, things going HC's way for the most part. Just before thomas' foul, Tim Clifford stepped out and drained his second trey of teh game. The Big Purple Dog now has 12 points on 5-6 shooting. He also has 4 of HC's 20 rebounds.
Lehigh's Joe Knight has yet to score. He is 0-3 from the field and 0-1 at the line.
HC's rebounding edge stands at 20-8, lots of those on the offensive glass, leading to a 7-0 edge in second chance points so far.
Holy Cross 37, Lehigh 28(HALFTIME)
Two big differences between how Bucknell played at Lehigh Wednesday and Holy Cross' first half showing.
1) Lehigh is not packed in a zone and Tim Clifford is making them pay for that. Clifford already has 14 points, including two three-pointers. Lehigh will have to double him if they expect to slow HC down.
2) With Lehigh playing man, the Crusaders are getting the ball in the lane on a regular basis. That is opening things up all over. When they are not finishing in the paint, the Crusaders are finding open guys on the perimeter and, unlike Bucknell Wednesday, HC is knocking them down. The Crusaders are 16-34 from the field (47.1 percent), 5-11 (45.5 percent) from the arc.
Jose Olivero is keeping Lehigh in this one. He has 13 of the Mountain Hawks' 28 points. Kyle Neptune, with a pair of threes, has 6 for Lehigh. Nobody else has more than 3 and Joe Knight is scoreless thus far.
Hamilton has 8 for HC, including two three-pointers. Thomas has 7.
Holy Cross 41, Lehigh 34 (15:29 second)
Lehigh still not doubling Clifford, but the big guy unable to make them pay so far, missing three easy looks inside. Clifford also stepped out for another three, but came up short this time.
It is a slow start to the second half, only 4 field goals combined in the first 4:31 of the half.
HC is 1-7 to start the half; Lehigh 3-5 with two turnovers.
HC 49, Lehigh 41 (11:26 second)
Knight finally gets his first bucket with 13:04 to play. Then, 27 seconds later he adds a free throw after drawing a foul on Thomas, his fourth.
Ralph Willard rolling the dice, leaves Thomas on the floor.
Hamilton with a pair of second half treys now has 14 for HC. Olivero with 19 for Lehigh.
HC 53, Lehigh 44 (9:00 second)
Take one look at Keith Simmons' uniform and it looks like part of his hydration problems might be due to profuse sweating. The back of Simmons' jersey and shorts are so soaked with sweat they are nearly a different color than the rest of the Crusaders -- closer to black than purple.
Thomas still on the floor, now has 12 points and 5 rebounds.
Knight now 1-9, 3 points.
HC 53, Lehigh 46 (7:45 second)
HC cooling off a little. The 'Saders are 6-17 from the field in the second half, 3-7 from the arc.
Quick check of the scoreboard shows Bucknell up about 30 over Navy.
HC 55, Lehigh 55 (5:01 second)
Mgebroff (Mega-soft) tips in a Knight miss to tie the game at 55-55.
Around the 7 minute mark, Simmons has left the HC bench and gone to the locker room.
HC 58, Lehigh 55 (3:57 second)
Clifford with an old-fashioned three-point play puts HC back on top.
Simmons returns and is back on the floor at the 4:21 mark.
HC 63, Lehigh 60 (1:06 to go)
HC is in the double bonus, lehigh will be with the next HC foul.
Crusaders preserving the lead at the line -- they ate 4-5 free throws since Clifford put them back on top at the 4:21 mark.
HC 63, Lehigh 60 (29.2 left)
Thomas loses control going to the hole and turns it over. Lehigh ball with a chance to tie.
Lehigh 64, HC 63 (FINAL)
Lehigh got three possessions in the final 30 seconds and Jose Olivero made them count. With 16.1 to go, Olivero got to the line for a pair of free throws to cut HC's lead to 63-62 after Lehigh chased down the rebound on a badly missed Joe Knight three attempt.
Then on the inbounds, Bryan White jumped in front of Torey Thomas to deflect a long pass near midcourt. The ball went to Kyle Neptune and Lehigh called a quick timeout to set up a play for Olivero.
Olivero went one-on-one with Hamilton, lost him at the foul line with a nifty shake and bake and banked home a one-handed runner from 3 feet with 4.5 seconds left.
Holy Cross had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but Colin Cunningham's three from the left corner was off target.
Olivero finishes with 29 points. Neptune with 10 is the only other Lehigh player in double figures.
Hamilton led HC with 20. Clifford with 19 and Thomas added 12.
Full story to follow.
Afternoon delights
Colgate 60, Army 41 -- Playing without Alvin Reed, who was injured this week in practice, the Raiders used defense to knock off visiting Army. The Cadets missed the first 12 shots they took and didn't make their first field goal of the game until the 7:17 mark of the first half. They didn't get another bucket until the 3:57 mark, finishing the half 5-21 (23.8 percent).
Colgate was not exactly en fuego in the first half either. The Raiders were 7-20 from the field, and led by just 3, 18-15 at the break.
The second half was a different story, with Colgate heating up while Army continued to scuffle. The Raiders were 14-29 after the break (48.3 percent). Army was 8-26 (30.8 percent), finishing the game at 13-47 (27.7 percent.
Kyle Roemer led Colgate with 14. Kyle Chones added 10.
Jarell Brown had 13 points for Army, on 4-14 shooting.
Colgate owned the glass, outrebounding the Cadets 38-29.
The win snaps a five-game losing streak for Colgate, which had not won since the last time it played Army (Jan. 7 at West Point). The Raiders have lost 10 of their last 11 against Division I opponents not named Army.
American 74, Lafayette 56 -- Holy no inside presence Batman. American outrebounded Lafayette 42-14. Matter of fact, the Eagles actually had more offensive rebounds -- 18 -- than Lafayette managed at both ends combined.
Not much Lafayette defense either; American shot 56 percent from the floor.
Andre Ingram led AU with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Brayden Billbe and Linas Lekavicius added 12 each. Derrick Mercer also in double figures with 11.
Paul Cummins hit six treys en route to a career-high 20 for Lafayette. Andrei Capusan with 11.
Colgate was not exactly en fuego in the first half either. The Raiders were 7-20 from the field, and led by just 3, 18-15 at the break.
The second half was a different story, with Colgate heating up while Army continued to scuffle. The Raiders were 14-29 after the break (48.3 percent). Army was 8-26 (30.8 percent), finishing the game at 13-47 (27.7 percent.
Kyle Roemer led Colgate with 14. Kyle Chones added 10.
Jarell Brown had 13 points for Army, on 4-14 shooting.
Colgate owned the glass, outrebounding the Cadets 38-29.
The win snaps a five-game losing streak for Colgate, which had not won since the last time it played Army (Jan. 7 at West Point). The Raiders have lost 10 of their last 11 against Division I opponents not named Army.
American 74, Lafayette 56 -- Holy no inside presence Batman. American outrebounded Lafayette 42-14. Matter of fact, the Eagles actually had more offensive rebounds -- 18 -- than Lafayette managed at both ends combined.
Not much Lafayette defense either; American shot 56 percent from the floor.
Andre Ingram led AU with 14 points and 9 rebounds. Brayden Billbe and Linas Lekavicius added 12 each. Derrick Mercer also in double figures with 11.
Paul Cummins hit six treys en route to a career-high 20 for Lafayette. Andrei Capusan with 11.
Battle for 2nd tops slate
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Holy Cross at Lehigh, 7:30 p.m.: The winner here has the edge in the race for one of the top two seeds and the right to host one of the pods for the first two rounds of the league tournament.
It's more a must win for Lehigh than Holy Cross, since the Mountain Hawks already have one home loss and will have to travel to both Bucknell and Holy Cross in the second half.
Last year, Holy Cross swept three games from the Mountain Hawks, winning , by 20 at home in the regular season and by 4 in the second round of the league tournament in Worcester.
In the regular season game at Hart, HC shot 52.9 percent. The other games were defensive battles. In the game at Stabler, both teams shot right around 40 percent. In the tournament game, neither team even hit 30 percent.
It should be another defensive war Saturday. Both teams emphasize the defensive end. Lehigh has been holding its opponents under 40 percent from the field on the season. Holy Cross' opponents have fared better, hitting 42 percent. But that difference in shooting performance has meant little on the scoreboard. Lehigh allows 60.3 points per game, Holy Cross gives up 61.2. The Crusaders have been better in 5 conference games, limiting league foes to 38.5 percent from the field.
Lehigh had a 7-game winning streak end when it lost to Bucknell Wednesday. Holy Cross has won two in a row, both at home, since losing back to back games to Bucknell and Boston College. The Crusaders are also 8-2 in their last 10 league road games, both losses coming at Bucknell.
Both teams have terrific backcourts, with Holy Cross' trio of Kevin Hamilton, Keith Simmons and Torey Thomas holding an edge over Lehigh, which depends more on two guards -- Joe Knight and Jose Olivero. If you shut down one of those two, it is tough for Lehigh to score enough points to win, even when playing great defense.
Last year HC was able to do that, especially against Knight, who averaged less than 8 ppg in three against the Crusaders. Knight did reach double figures in the tournament game, scoring 11 points. But even then he was 3-14 from the field.
Holy Cross also got a boost from unexpected sources in each with over Lehigh last year. Pat Doherty, John Hurley, Nate Lufkin and Greg Kinsey took turns posting double figures games on the Mountain Hawks. Three of those guys are graduated and Doherty is out for the season with an injury, so someone else will need to fill that role for Holy Cross.
That will probably be a key again this year. Whichever team has someone step up unexpectedly will have a great chance of winning. Who might be able to provide that boost in this one?
The most obvious possibility would be HC sophomore Tim Clifford, who averaged 19 ppg in games against Boston College and American (27 points), then went back into the witness protection program against Colgate.
Lehigh's Jason Mgebroff scored in double figures against a Division I team for the first time this season at Lafayette (10 pts.) last week. But he won't find as favorable matchup situation against Holy Cross.
A better possibility might be forward Kyle Neptune, who averages 11.1 ppg. His matchup with Holy Cross freshman Alex Vander Baan could be interesting.
If the players check each other and it comes down to coaching decisions, here's an interesting stat: Ralph Willard is 12-2 against Lehigh. Billy Taylor is 1-6 against HC.
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Army at Colgate 1:30 p.m.: Colgate blasted the Cadets in West Point on Jan. 7, winning 71-58 on Army's court. Since then, though, the Raiders have gone south, losing five in a row, including a home loss to American.
Army, on the other hand, seemed to get better each week. They were still losing, but they were getting closer. The Cadets finally got over that hump last Sunday at Navy. But it look like one step forward, two steps back when the Black Knights let Lafayette put a 22-point hurting on them in their own building Wednesday.
The loser of this one will be the favorite to finish in the cellar and draw the top seed in the league tournament.
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Navy at Bucknell, 7 p.m.: Navy is healthier than it was when they faced Bucknell in Annapolis earlier this month. Having Matt Fannin back, even f he is not 100 percent, makes a huge difference inside for the Mids.
It is hard to imagine Fannin being enough to make a difference in Sojka, though, where Bucknell has won 18 league games in a row at home. Most of those games came before the Bucknell students jumped on the Bison bandwagon. Since then, the Sojka advantage has been magnified by the raucous Sojka Psychos. If the orange-clad throngs behind both baskets ever figure out how to get coordinated so they are doing the same cheers in unison, they will be an even bigger advantage.
Right now, the excitement in Lewisburg makes it the best college basketball atmosphere in the league. It is a very hostile place for a visiting squad full of youngsters like Navy.
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Lafayette at American, 2 p.m.: Two teams trying to establish themselves as sort of the middle class of the league in a battle for the No. 4 spot in the standings. An early must-win for AU. An Eagles win would tie them with the Leopards at 3-4 in league play. Both teams would still be at least a game ahead of everybody behind them heading into the second half of league play.
The Eagles cannot afford a third home loss with Holy Cross yet to visit.
If Lafayette were to win, though, it would give the Leopards a 4-3 record and at least a two-game edge on the league's second division.
Paulius Joneliunas had his best night as an Eagle in the loss to Navy Wednesday. Joneliunas had 15 points on 6-8 shooting and grabbed 5 rebounds in 25 minutes against the Midshipmen. As Lehigh showed last week, the way to beat Lafayette is to get some inside scoring balance. Joneliunas and Brayden Billbe should be very viable options for Au against Lafayette's undersized backline.
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Friday, January 27, 2006
BU at HC a sellout
Holy Cross has the Feb. 11 mens-womens doubleheader with Bucknell at the Hart Center is sold out.
Midday readaround
Tom Housenick's turn to chime in on the Joe Knight situation. In his , the Daily Item's sports editor and Bucknell beat guy opines that it is unfair that Knight is paying the price for the mistakes of those whose job it was to provide him with guidance.
Writes Housenick:
Eric Thomas added some afterthoughts to the Lehigh-Bucknell game on yesterday. Eric covers the Bison for the Shamokin News-Item on a regular basis. Saturday he will also be providing us with a report from the Navy at Bucknell game (we'll be at the Holy Cross-Lehigh doubleheader for the Telegram-Gazette).
By the way, hardcore Holy Cross fans in the Rochester N.Y. area will be on the lookout for new on Time-Warner cable featuring former HC player Scott Martzloff.
There is also an update over at Ralph Willard's fine . Willard recaps the American and Colgate games and laments the league's decision to do away with travel partners for scheduling.
Writes Housenick:
What the school should be doing is announcing a suspension without pay for those responsible for misguiding Knight.Tom also previews the game today.
Eric Thomas added some afterthoughts to the Lehigh-Bucknell game on yesterday. Eric covers the Bison for the Shamokin News-Item on a regular basis. Saturday he will also be providing us with a report from the Navy at Bucknell game (we'll be at the Holy Cross-Lehigh doubleheader for the Telegram-Gazette).
By the way, hardcore Holy Cross fans in the Rochester N.Y. area will be on the lookout for new on Time-Warner cable featuring former HC player Scott Martzloff.
There is also an update over at Ralph Willard's fine . Willard recaps the American and Colgate games and laments the league's decision to do away with travel partners for scheduling.
Thursday, January 26, 2006
Bucknell alone at the top
(Originally posted Wed. night at 10:19 p.m., links added at 8:27 a.m.)
Bucknell's 59-54 win over Lehigh Wednesday night was everything you expected a battle between the two top defensive teams in the league to be.
Physical.
High-spirited.
A real battle royale between a pair of heavyweights both of whom came in feeling they were the team truly deserving the belt.
In the end, though, just like in boxing, it takes a knockout to dethrone the champs and Lehigh's pair of quick jabbing guards simply could not quite deliver enough firepower to take out the Bison, who are now alone at the top of the Patriot League standings with a 15-3 record overall, 6-0 in the league.
As anticipated, defense took the center stage in this one. Lehigh held Bucknell to its worst shooting night of the season against teams not named Duke. Bucknell forced Lehigh into 22 turnovers, matching the Mountain Hawks season high.
It was that kind of game.
Lehigh had the edge early, feeding off a combination of the adrenaline of its best home crowd of the season (3,556) and Bucknell's inability to knock down open shots.
The Bison missed 7 of their first 8 shots, 11 of their first 13, allowing Lehigh to build a lead of as many as 7 points. Bucknell buckled down and pulled back even before Jose Olivero's old-fashioned three-point play gave Lehigh a 26-23 lead at the break.
"We have been in those situations. We have been together a long time. We knew we would come back. A three-point game at halftime, it might as well be 0-0.," said Bucknell senior Kevin Bettencourt, who had not been on the winning side in Stabler prior to this game.
It was Bettencourt, who was 2-6 in the first half, that put Bucknell on top, hitting his second three-pointer of the game to make it 28-26 early in the second half.
Lehigh retook the lead on a three by Jose Olivero and a Jason Mgebroff layup. But Bettencourt hit another three and Chris McNaughton connected on a 15-foot jumper at the 15:47 to put the Bison back on top. The McNaughton bucket was his second of the half and gave the 6-11 junior 1,000 career points at Bucknell.
The Mountain Hawks stayed close, tying the game twice in the next five minutes. Then John Griffin hit a trey to make it 39-36 Bucknell with 9:44 to play and the Bison held the lead the rest of the way.
By the 5:07 mark, when Bettencourt, who finished with a team-high 16 points, hit his third trey of the half to stretch the lead to 5, Bucknell seemed to be in control. After being outrebounded in the first half, 20-12, the Bison seemed to be getting every missed shot. Bucknell had 10 offensive rebounds in the last five minutes of the game alone.
Typical of the way Bucknell played in the second half was a sequence with just over two minutes to play. With Bucknell up 7 and trying to milk the clock, they ended up getting a long McNaughton jump shot out of a timeout with the shot clock showing 1 second. McNaughton's shot drew the front iron and bounced off, but McNaughton got the rebound, giving the Bison a fresh 35 on the shot clock.
That reset was also running down when Lee missed a jumper, but got his own rebound and was fouled. Lee made both shots to give Bucknell a 50-41 lead in a situation where twice Lehigh would have had a chance to cut the lead to 4 or 5 had they come up with the rebound. Key to the Bucknell effort on the boards was Donald Brown, who had a game-high 10 rebounds, nine in the second half.
"We weren't able to get critical rebounds. You can't miss those opportunities," said Lehigh coach Billy Taylor.
They also seemed to come up with every loose ball in the second half.
"We did all the hustle plays," Bettencourt said.
That included playing better defense after the intermission. After Lehigh shot 10-23 (43.5 percent) in the first half, the Bison held the Mountain Hawks to 9-25 (36 percent) in the second. That number was even lower until Olivero and Joe Knight hit a trio of three-pointers from just inside the New Jersey border in the final minute.
Bucknell seemed comfortable after Lee's two free throws made it 50-41 with 1:26 left. But the Bison needed to knock down 9 of 14 free throws in the final 1:20 to close it out thanks to a combination of a Lehigh press and some questionable calls by the officials, who hit Bucknell's Abe Badmus with two fouls in a span of 37 seconds to disqualify the Bison point guard, who finished with 10 points..
The first came when he was well in front of Knight, who finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds. Knight extended a forearm football style as he dribbled into Badmus, stopping the clock and getting to the line for two points.
In the end, though, it didn't matter. Lehigh managed to stretch the game long enough to get 5 possessions in the final 40 seconds, but could only convert those possessions into two long three-pointers.
While Knight and Olivero combined for 40 points and 7 three-pointers, they also had a combined 11 turnovers. Lehigh had a total of 22.
It gets no easier for Lehigh. They host Holy Cross Saturday in a game that will determine who holds second place at the end of the first round of league play. Bucknell will be home Saturday against Navy.
Game blog (on Joe Knight)
Bucknell's 59-54 win over Lehigh Wednesday night was everything you expected a battle between the two top defensive teams in the league to be.
Physical.
High-spirited.
A real battle royale between a pair of heavyweights both of whom came in feeling they were the team truly deserving the belt.
In the end, though, just like in boxing, it takes a knockout to dethrone the champs and Lehigh's pair of quick jabbing guards simply could not quite deliver enough firepower to take out the Bison, who are now alone at the top of the Patriot League standings with a 15-3 record overall, 6-0 in the league.
As anticipated, defense took the center stage in this one. Lehigh held Bucknell to its worst shooting night of the season against teams not named Duke. Bucknell forced Lehigh into 22 turnovers, matching the Mountain Hawks season high.
It was that kind of game.
Lehigh had the edge early, feeding off a combination of the adrenaline of its best home crowd of the season (3,556) and Bucknell's inability to knock down open shots.
The Bison missed 7 of their first 8 shots, 11 of their first 13, allowing Lehigh to build a lead of as many as 7 points. Bucknell buckled down and pulled back even before Jose Olivero's old-fashioned three-point play gave Lehigh a 26-23 lead at the break.
"We have been in those situations. We have been together a long time. We knew we would come back. A three-point game at halftime, it might as well be 0-0.," said Bucknell senior Kevin Bettencourt, who had not been on the winning side in Stabler prior to this game.
It was Bettencourt, who was 2-6 in the first half, that put Bucknell on top, hitting his second three-pointer of the game to make it 28-26 early in the second half.
Lehigh retook the lead on a three by Jose Olivero and a Jason Mgebroff layup. But Bettencourt hit another three and Chris McNaughton connected on a 15-foot jumper at the 15:47 to put the Bison back on top. The McNaughton bucket was his second of the half and gave the 6-11 junior 1,000 career points at Bucknell.
The Mountain Hawks stayed close, tying the game twice in the next five minutes. Then John Griffin hit a trey to make it 39-36 Bucknell with 9:44 to play and the Bison held the lead the rest of the way.
By the 5:07 mark, when Bettencourt, who finished with a team-high 16 points, hit his third trey of the half to stretch the lead to 5, Bucknell seemed to be in control. After being outrebounded in the first half, 20-12, the Bison seemed to be getting every missed shot. Bucknell had 10 offensive rebounds in the last five minutes of the game alone.
Typical of the way Bucknell played in the second half was a sequence with just over two minutes to play. With Bucknell up 7 and trying to milk the clock, they ended up getting a long McNaughton jump shot out of a timeout with the shot clock showing 1 second. McNaughton's shot drew the front iron and bounced off, but McNaughton got the rebound, giving the Bison a fresh 35 on the shot clock.
That reset was also running down when Lee missed a jumper, but got his own rebound and was fouled. Lee made both shots to give Bucknell a 50-41 lead in a situation where twice Lehigh would have had a chance to cut the lead to 4 or 5 had they come up with the rebound. Key to the Bucknell effort on the boards was Donald Brown, who had a game-high 10 rebounds, nine in the second half.
"We weren't able to get critical rebounds. You can't miss those opportunities," said Lehigh coach Billy Taylor.
They also seemed to come up with every loose ball in the second half.
"We did all the hustle plays," Bettencourt said.
That included playing better defense after the intermission. After Lehigh shot 10-23 (43.5 percent) in the first half, the Bison held the Mountain Hawks to 9-25 (36 percent) in the second. That number was even lower until Olivero and Joe Knight hit a trio of three-pointers from just inside the New Jersey border in the final minute.
Bucknell seemed comfortable after Lee's two free throws made it 50-41 with 1:26 left. But the Bison needed to knock down 9 of 14 free throws in the final 1:20 to close it out thanks to a combination of a Lehigh press and some questionable calls by the officials, who hit Bucknell's Abe Badmus with two fouls in a span of 37 seconds to disqualify the Bison point guard, who finished with 10 points..
The first came when he was well in front of Knight, who finished with 21 points and 9 rebounds. Knight extended a forearm football style as he dribbled into Badmus, stopping the clock and getting to the line for two points.
In the end, though, it didn't matter. Lehigh managed to stretch the game long enough to get 5 possessions in the final 40 seconds, but could only convert those possessions into two long three-pointers.
While Knight and Olivero combined for 40 points and 7 three-pointers, they also had a combined 11 turnovers. Lehigh had a total of 22.
It gets no easier for Lehigh. They host Holy Cross Saturday in a game that will determine who holds second place at the end of the first round of league play. Bucknell will be home Saturday against Navy.
Lafayette 82, Army 61 (FINAL)
(Originally posted Wed. at 7:40 p.m., updated at 8:09 a.m.)
Don't look now, but Lafayette, sans scholarships, is emerging as a real threat to finish in the upper division of the conference. The Leopards snapped the trhee-game losing streak brought on by a horrendous bit of bad scheduling luck last week -- Lafayette played Ivy power Penn, then two of the top three in the Patriot in Bucknell and Lehigh -- and now sit 3-3 in the league, all alone in fourth, a full game ahead of American.
Four in double figures for Lafayette, led by Andrew Brown with 18. Andrei Capusan added 17. Pat Beltley with 12 and Bilal Abdullah with 10.
Lafayette shot 49 percent from the field and out rebounded Army 37-29.
Army's Matt Bell told Ken McMillan of the :
Jarell Brown had 29 for Army, but the rest of the Black Knights were 10 of 32 from the field.
Don't look now, but Lafayette, sans scholarships, is emerging as a real threat to finish in the upper division of the conference. The Leopards snapped the trhee-game losing streak brought on by a horrendous bit of bad scheduling luck last week -- Lafayette played Ivy power Penn, then two of the top three in the Patriot in Bucknell and Lehigh -- and now sit 3-3 in the league, all alone in fourth, a full game ahead of American.
Four in double figures for Lafayette, led by Andrew Brown with 18. Andrei Capusan added 17. Pat Beltley with 12 and Bilal Abdullah with 10.
Lafayette shot 49 percent from the field and out rebounded Army 37-29.
Army's Matt Bell told Ken McMillan of the :
"It was a total bad team defensive effort. Our team is not going to win giving up that many points because we don't score 80 points a game."Actually, the Black Knights did score 80 in their win over Navy Sunday. Before that, though, the last time they scored 80 was in an 85-72 win over Lafayette in the 2001-2002 season.
Jarell Brown had 29 for Army, but the rest of the Black Knights were 10 of 32 from the field.
Navy 77, American 68
Greg Sprink hit 7 threes, finishing with 27 points to lead Navy to its first win over American since 1991.
Freshman Adam Teague added 19 for the Mids, who overcame an early 11-point deficit. The Mids scored 46 points in the second half, turning it over just once in the final 20 minutes.
Derrick Mercer's career-high 17 points led AU. Paulius Joneliunas added 15.
Freshman Adam Teague added 19 for the Mids, who overcame an early 11-point deficit. The Mids scored 46 points in the second half, turning it over just once in the final 20 minutes.
Derrick Mercer's career-high 17 points led AU. Paulius Joneliunas added 15.
Holy Cross 60, Colgate 42
Kevin Hamilton leads the Crusaders with 24 points. Hamilton also had 7 steals, tying HC's single-game record and becoming the all-time school and league career steals leader.
Colgate led early, but Torey Thomas scored 6 in a row to put the Crusaders up Holy Cross 26-23 at the half, even though they shot just 7-27 (25.9 percent). Holy Cross opened the second half with a 10-0 run and Colgate never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Torey Thomas had 8 points and 8 assists -- one more than Colgate's entire team.
The Raiders finished with 7 assists and 23 turnovers. No Raider reached double figures as Colgate shot 33.3 percent (14-42) from the field.
Colgate has lost five in a row and 10 of its last 12 against Division I foes. It was also Colgate's ninth loss in 10 road games this season. The only Raiders road win came on Jan. 7 at Army. The Cadets visit Colgate Saturday.
Colgate led early, but Torey Thomas scored 6 in a row to put the Crusaders up Holy Cross 26-23 at the half, even though they shot just 7-27 (25.9 percent). Holy Cross opened the second half with a 10-0 run and Colgate never got closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Torey Thomas had 8 points and 8 assists -- one more than Colgate's entire team.
The Raiders finished with 7 assists and 23 turnovers. No Raider reached double figures as Colgate shot 33.3 percent (14-42) from the field.
Colgate has lost five in a row and 10 of its last 12 against Division I foes. It was also Colgate's ninth loss in 10 road games this season. The only Raiders road win came on Jan. 7 at Army. The Cadets visit Colgate Saturday.
Wednesday, January 25, 2006
Bucknell-Lehigh gameblog
Pregame
A large contingent of Bucknell fans on hand. Two buses made the trip from Lewisburg and there are close to as many orange clad BU students as Lehigh students in the house.
The big difference is that Lehigh's students are right behind the home basket. Bucknell's are mostly in the upper level, where their noise will be largely swallowed by the cavernous arena.
Plenty of seats available, the place is maybe half full.
Fans in the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Tv market might want to hit ABC 16 at 11 for highlights. This is the first time in our memory that the stations outside the Lehigh Valley have shown up here for highlights.
Lehigh 5, Bucknell 2 (14:39
Knight checks in at 17:05. Scores on his first touch.
Bucknell getting plenty of open looks early, but not knocking them down. Bison 1 for first 8 shots.
Lehigh 10, Bucknell 4 (11:34 first)
Officials in "let 'em play" mode. Four team fouls total -- 2 each team -- in first 8-plus minutes.
Bucknell now 2-13 from the floor.
Olivero has 5 to lead Lehigh.
Lehigh 16, Bucknell 9 (8:50 first)
Gilfillan and Kyle Neptune with back-toback 3s forces Flannery to call a timeout.
Lehigh 16, Bucknell 11 (7:19 first)
Lehigh kids making disparaging remarks about Charles Lee's intelligence when he goes to the free throw line.
At the only school in the league to ever have the NCAA decclare a player academically ineligible, where the sophomore class president allegedly robbed a bank, that is what my mother would call "rich."
Bucknell now 5-17 from the field. Lehigh is 6-14. Big difference -- Gilfillan has two treys.
Lehigh 20, Bucknell 18 (3:01 first)
Lehigh now 8-for-18 with 11 turnovers. Bucknell 8-24, 5 turnovers
Lehigh 26, Bucknell 23 (halftime)
Bucknell trailed by as many as 7 early, but came back to tie the Mountain Hawks twice before Jose Olivero, with a little help from Joe DeMayo, put lehigh up at the intermission with an old-fashioned three-point play that was the result of Bucknell's defense falling asleep (resulting in an easy bucket for Olivero) and a phantom foul on Badmus under the basket after the shot (that resulted in the free throw).
Joe Knight leads Lehigh with 9 points on 4-9 shooting. Olivero has 8 and Gilfillan 6 on a pair of threes. As a team, Lehigh shooting 10-23 (43.5 percent) in the first half. Lehigh had 12 turnovers but holds a 20-12 edge on the boards, mostly the result of more Bucknell misses. Bucknell has 5 offensive boards, Lehigh 4.
For the Bison, open looks aplenty in the first half, but not many falling. Bucknell 9-26 (34.6 percent), 3-11 from the arc (27.3 percent). Bucknell with 6 turnovers.
Lee and Bettencourt each with 5 for Bucknell. Donald Brown has 4. Chris McNaughton 1-4, 0 rebounds.
Expect Bucknell to look to get it into McNaughton's hands more in the second half.
In other games that have gone like this in the first half, Pat Flannery has run a play for the big guy right out of the locker rooms at the start of the second half.
team fouls ended the half at 7 for Lehigh, 6 for Bucknell. Badmus has 2 for the Bison, Bryan White 2 for Lehigh.
Bucknell 33, Lehigh 31 (14:09 second)
Bucknell took the lead ffor the first time since 2-0 at the start of the game on a Bettencourt three around the 17:40 mark. Since then the two teams basically swapping buckets.
McNaughton with 4 early in the seocnd half (6 total) on a pair of foul line jumpers.
Bucknell 35, Lehigh 33 (11:04 second)
It is heating up in Stabler. Bodies are flying for every loose ball.
Donald Brown just scored inside for Bucknell to retake the lead after Knight tied it on a pull up jumper from about 10-feet out. brown on the line for a possible three-point play. The foul, on Bryan White, his third.
Bucknell 39, Lehigh 38 (7:37 second)
Where would Lehigh be without Joe Knight? He is one board away from a double-double right now, with 16 points, 9 rebounds.
Bucknell still not shooting great, ovberall they are 15-41, 6-15 in the second half. But Lehigh is 5-14 in the second half and still turning it over. Mountain Hawks now have 19 turnovers.
Bucknell 45, Lehigh 40 (4:57 to play)
The mugging of Chris McNaughton continues. No blood, no foul where McNaughton is concerned.
Meanwhile, Bucknell gets team foul 7 with 5:30 to play. Lehigh with only three team fouls in the half.
Bettencourt hits a three to extend Bucknell's lead to 5. He now has 4 treys, 14 points. After a 2-6 first half, he is 3-5 in the second with three three-pointers.
Bucknell 45, Lehigh 40 (3:58 to play)
McNaughton, by the way, hit his 1,000th career point on a foul line jumper withg around 15 minutes to go in the second half.
Bucknell 48, Lehigh 41 (2:05 left)
Bison ball with one second on the shot clock. McNaughton's jumper off the rim, but BU rebounds for a fresh 35 seconds.
Lehigh, with only 3 team fouls, cannot put BU on the line yet to extend the game.
Bucknell 51, Lehigh 43 (1:02 left)
Bucknell won't let Lehigh have the ball. They have five offensive rebounds in the past 2 or 3 minutes, including three on missed free throws that kept possessions alive.
Bucknell 55, Lehigh 51
Badmus fifth personal at 44.3. Hard to believe some of the fouls called on the Bucknell point gurad, especially considering what the officials let go against McNaughton. His fourth was for being in front of Joe Knight when Knight pushed off with a forearm. Badmus was four feet away when Knight initiated the move.
Olivero just hit a three to pull Lehigh within 4. It came after a questionable travel call on Charles Lee, who had come up with what looked like a big steal.
FINAL
Bucknell hits 9-14 free throws in the final 1:04
Full story to follow
A large contingent of Bucknell fans on hand. Two buses made the trip from Lewisburg and there are close to as many orange clad BU students as Lehigh students in the house.
The big difference is that Lehigh's students are right behind the home basket. Bucknell's are mostly in the upper level, where their noise will be largely swallowed by the cavernous arena.
Plenty of seats available, the place is maybe half full.
Fans in the Scranton-Wilkes-Barre Tv market might want to hit ABC 16 at 11 for highlights. This is the first time in our memory that the stations outside the Lehigh Valley have shown up here for highlights.
Lehigh 5, Bucknell 2 (14:39
Knight checks in at 17:05. Scores on his first touch.
Bucknell getting plenty of open looks early, but not knocking them down. Bison 1 for first 8 shots.
Lehigh 10, Bucknell 4 (11:34 first)
Officials in "let 'em play" mode. Four team fouls total -- 2 each team -- in first 8-plus minutes.
Bucknell now 2-13 from the floor.
Olivero has 5 to lead Lehigh.
Lehigh 16, Bucknell 9 (8:50 first)
Gilfillan and Kyle Neptune with back-toback 3s forces Flannery to call a timeout.
Lehigh 16, Bucknell 11 (7:19 first)
Lehigh kids making disparaging remarks about Charles Lee's intelligence when he goes to the free throw line.
At the only school in the league to ever have the NCAA decclare a player academically ineligible, where the sophomore class president allegedly robbed a bank, that is what my mother would call "rich."
Bucknell now 5-17 from the field. Lehigh is 6-14. Big difference -- Gilfillan has two treys.
Lehigh 20, Bucknell 18 (3:01 first)
Lehigh now 8-for-18 with 11 turnovers. Bucknell 8-24, 5 turnovers
Lehigh 26, Bucknell 23 (halftime)
Bucknell trailed by as many as 7 early, but came back to tie the Mountain Hawks twice before Jose Olivero, with a little help from Joe DeMayo, put lehigh up at the intermission with an old-fashioned three-point play that was the result of Bucknell's defense falling asleep (resulting in an easy bucket for Olivero) and a phantom foul on Badmus under the basket after the shot (that resulted in the free throw).
Joe Knight leads Lehigh with 9 points on 4-9 shooting. Olivero has 8 and Gilfillan 6 on a pair of threes. As a team, Lehigh shooting 10-23 (43.5 percent) in the first half. Lehigh had 12 turnovers but holds a 20-12 edge on the boards, mostly the result of more Bucknell misses. Bucknell has 5 offensive boards, Lehigh 4.
For the Bison, open looks aplenty in the first half, but not many falling. Bucknell 9-26 (34.6 percent), 3-11 from the arc (27.3 percent). Bucknell with 6 turnovers.
Lee and Bettencourt each with 5 for Bucknell. Donald Brown has 4. Chris McNaughton 1-4, 0 rebounds.
Expect Bucknell to look to get it into McNaughton's hands more in the second half.
In other games that have gone like this in the first half, Pat Flannery has run a play for the big guy right out of the locker rooms at the start of the second half.
team fouls ended the half at 7 for Lehigh, 6 for Bucknell. Badmus has 2 for the Bison, Bryan White 2 for Lehigh.
Bucknell 33, Lehigh 31 (14:09 second)
Bucknell took the lead ffor the first time since 2-0 at the start of the game on a Bettencourt three around the 17:40 mark. Since then the two teams basically swapping buckets.
McNaughton with 4 early in the seocnd half (6 total) on a pair of foul line jumpers.
Bucknell 35, Lehigh 33 (11:04 second)
It is heating up in Stabler. Bodies are flying for every loose ball.
Donald Brown just scored inside for Bucknell to retake the lead after Knight tied it on a pull up jumper from about 10-feet out. brown on the line for a possible three-point play. The foul, on Bryan White, his third.
Bucknell 39, Lehigh 38 (7:37 second)
Where would Lehigh be without Joe Knight? He is one board away from a double-double right now, with 16 points, 9 rebounds.
Bucknell still not shooting great, ovberall they are 15-41, 6-15 in the second half. But Lehigh is 5-14 in the second half and still turning it over. Mountain Hawks now have 19 turnovers.
Bucknell 45, Lehigh 40 (4:57 to play)
The mugging of Chris McNaughton continues. No blood, no foul where McNaughton is concerned.
Meanwhile, Bucknell gets team foul 7 with 5:30 to play. Lehigh with only three team fouls in the half.
Bettencourt hits a three to extend Bucknell's lead to 5. He now has 4 treys, 14 points. After a 2-6 first half, he is 3-5 in the second with three three-pointers.
Bucknell 45, Lehigh 40 (3:58 to play)
McNaughton, by the way, hit his 1,000th career point on a foul line jumper withg around 15 minutes to go in the second half.
Bucknell 48, Lehigh 41 (2:05 left)
Bison ball with one second on the shot clock. McNaughton's jumper off the rim, but BU rebounds for a fresh 35 seconds.
Lehigh, with only 3 team fouls, cannot put BU on the line yet to extend the game.
Bucknell 51, Lehigh 43 (1:02 left)
Bucknell won't let Lehigh have the ball. They have five offensive rebounds in the past 2 or 3 minutes, including three on missed free throws that kept possessions alive.
Bucknell 55, Lehigh 51
Badmus fifth personal at 44.3. Hard to believe some of the fouls called on the Bucknell point gurad, especially considering what the officials let go against McNaughton. His fourth was for being in front of Joe Knight when Knight pushed off with a forearm. Badmus was four feet away when Knight initiated the move.
Olivero just hit a three to pull Lehigh within 4. It came after a questionable travel call on Charles Lee, who had come up with what looked like a big steal.
FINAL
Bucknell hits 9-14 free throws in the final 1:04
Full story to follow
Another apologist
The mainstream media down in the Lehigh Valley has been working overtime this week in their role as apologist for Lehigh in the Joe Knight fiasco.
Today it is Paul Sokoloski's turn. Writing in a .
The problem with this one is that Sokoloski simply does not even understand the facts behind the case. For example, he writes:
But that is pure B.S. For starters, they expressed concerns about a lot of his work at High Point before Knight was even admitted to Lehigh. That is why he had to spend a year at a community college. And certainly any student transferring to a new school knows where he or she stands once they get there.
Then Sokoloski goes on to give Sterrett a platform for his usual defense: The NCAA rules are confusing:
The bottom line is pretty simple: Lehigh tried to find a way to let Knight play. It got caught and Knight paid the price for the mistakes made by his school.
Knight sat out 16 games and his league-record 45-point game in last year's tournament will be wiped from the record books.
Lehigh, it appears, will forfeit a few games from last year, a penalty that is next to meaningless since it won't cost the school any money or trophies.
Today it is Paul Sokoloski's turn. Writing in a .
The problem with this one is that Sokoloski simply does not even understand the facts behind the case. For example, he writes:
Knight maintained a near-3.0 grade-point average at High Point University and Tarrant Community College -- where he left with Dean's List honors.The facts, as we reported back while Sokoloski and the rest of the Lehigh Valley media were giving Lehigh a free pass on the whole mess:
"(Knight) was in good standing at High Point, though he did have a GPA that was less than ideal," Sterrett said. Sterrett said Knight’s GPA at High Point was around a 2.0.Sokoloski said Lehigh officials figured most of the 93 credits Knight brought with him to Lehigh would transfer, thus no eligibility questions.
But that is pure B.S. For starters, they expressed concerns about a lot of his work at High Point before Knight was even admitted to Lehigh. That is why he had to spend a year at a community college. And certainly any student transferring to a new school knows where he or she stands once they get there.
Then Sokoloski goes on to give Sterrett a platform for his usual defense: The NCAA rules are confusing:
"There are 495 pages of rules and regulations," Sterrett said. "Most of this stuff is pretty clear. Some of it is left to interpretation. The (NCAA) interpretation is different from what we had determined."Once again, since nobody in the Lehigh Valley has bothered to share it with their readers, here is the NCAA rule that caused Knight's problems:
The calculation of credit hours to meet this requirement [the cumulative credits required under the progress toward degree bylaw] shall be based upon hours earned or accepted for degree credit.Remember, this rule was enacted to make sure kids don't spend four years taking basket weaving and pencil sharpening classes, keeping their GPA high enough to be eligible without actually progressing towards a real degree.
The bottom line is pretty simple: Lehigh tried to find a way to let Knight play. It got caught and Knight paid the price for the mistakes made by his school.
Knight sat out 16 games and his league-record 45-point game in last year's tournament will be wiped from the record books.
Lehigh, it appears, will forfeit a few games from last year, a penalty that is next to meaningless since it won't cost the school any money or trophies.
Battle for 1st tops slate
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Lafayette at Army 5:30 p.m.: This could be a big game when it is all said and done. What could be at stake here is a chance to finish out of the bottom two spots in the league, thus avoiding playing a top two seed on its own floor in the first round of the league tournament.
The two are well matched. Lafayette has struggled on the road. Army has just plain struggled.
After running the gauntlet last week, the Leopards take on a team cut from the same cloth in the Black Knights. Two weeks ago, Lafayette was exceeding expectations by opening 2-1 in conference play, picking up wins over Colgate and Navy. Then came consecutive games against teams against whom the Leopards were simply overmatched. Three lopsided losses later, Fran O'Hanlon has to be worried about his young team's psyche.
Army is riding high after finally breaking through for a win at Navy Sunday. The seemingly much-improved Black Knights came close against Lehigh and American, then got over the hump in Annapolis.
These two teams appear evenly matched. Both are guard-oriented, with neither boasting a legitimate big man. With a visit to beatable Colgate on Saturday, Army could be looking at the possibility of a three-game win streak if it gets past Lafayette here. That could make things a little more interesting when Bucknell visits West Point on Feb.1. First things first, though. The Cadets have not beaten back-to-back Division I opponents since the 2001-2002 season, when they won two straight twice. Best we can tell, the last time Army won three straight was the 1998-1999 season,
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Bucknell at Lehigh, 7 p.m.: We previewed this one yesterday. Can't think of much that has changed since then.
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Colgate at Holy Cross, 7 p.m.: Colgate is struggling and Worcester is not a place to go to get well. The Raiders have lost four straight, and 9 of their last 11 against Division I opponents.
A perimeter-oriented team, Colgate has not been shooting well enough from outside to win. The Raiders rank fifth in the league in field goal percentage at 41.4 percent and their 33.1 percent success rate from the arc is next to last in the conference.
Colgate ranks ahead of the Crusaders in scoring defense, allowing 61.9 per game (third in the league) to HC's 62.2 (fourth). But Holy Cross' opponents are shooting 42.3 percent (fourth), while Colgate foes are shooting 43.2 percent.
Holy Cross needs Keith Simmons to stay on the floor. It could also use another strong game from sophomore center Tim Clifford, who still needs to show he can get it done inside against somebody other than American.
If Clifford is productive, and against Colgate's Mark Daniels he should be able to be productive, it could be a very long night for Colgate.
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American at Navy, 7:30 p.m.: Since joining the league, American has never lost to Navy. The streak actually goes back even further, 10 games, dating to the days the two spent together in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Navy got Matt Fannin back somewhat unexpectedly last week, Playing with a big brace on his injured knee, Fannin managed 18 points in a home loss to Army. If he is able to keep contributing, it will help address Navy's weakness in the post. It might even be enough to allow the Midshipmen to play Paulius Joneliunas and Brayden Billbe to a draw upfront.
If that happens, it could turn into a perimeter shootout.
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Tuesday, January 24, 2006
Tuesday evening readaround
We used to maintain a permanent link along the right side of the page to a blog called ET on Sports. ET, is Eric Thomas, a recent Penn State grad who exited college with a degree and a lot of experience in sports journalism. E has worked part time at the Patriot-News in Harrisburg and has written elsewhere. He also has done a lot of radio. In fact he still dabbles on the air doing color for Bucknell women's games. His day job, though, is in the sports shop at the Shamokin News-Item, a Times-Shamrock publication in the Coal Region that lies between Lewisburg and Pat Flannery's hometown of Pottsville.
The News-Item suffers from a one big flaw-- its Web site updates sporadically, and never early in the day. Because of that, we have not linked to a lot of E's work on the Bucknell beat.
Before the Bucknell-Holy Cross game, E sent us some Ralph Willard quotes from his preview story to share with Hoop Time readers. This week he has done one better, posting his on his old blog to share it with Hoop Time readers. Thanks Eric.
BRACKET BUSTERITIS . . . Tom Housenick of the Daily Item had Monday about Bucknell's Brack4et Buster possibilities.
KUDOS PAT . . . Flannery makes the list of 8 mid-major at insidehoops.com
The News-Item suffers from a one big flaw-- its Web site updates sporadically, and never early in the day. Because of that, we have not linked to a lot of E's work on the Bucknell beat.
Before the Bucknell-Holy Cross game, E sent us some Ralph Willard quotes from his preview story to share with Hoop Time readers. This week he has done one better, posting his on his old blog to share it with Hoop Time readers. Thanks Eric.
BRACKET BUSTERITIS . . . Tom Housenick of the Daily Item had Monday about Bucknell's Brack4et Buster possibilities.
KUDOS PAT . . . Flannery makes the list of 8 mid-major at insidehoops.com
Early line favors Bison
Hard to tell a lot about Lehigh from Saturday’s win over Lafayette.
At least not when it comes to Lehigh’s offense. The Mountain Hawks shot the lights out in Kirby – 31 for 47, 9 of 18 at the arc.
That is not Lehigh. At least not the Lehigh that showed up for most of the other 19 games the Hawks have played. Even with the boost from the Lafayette game, the Mountain Hawks are seventh in the eight-team league in field goal percentage (40.6 percent).
It’s defense, not offense, on which the Hawks hang their hats. Lehigh ranks second in the league defensively in both scoring and field goal percentage.
They showed some of that defense against Lafayette, holding the Leopards to 37.5 percent from the field.
One thing Bucknell is likely to notice when they watch tape of that game would be the play of Lafayette’s Andrei Capusan.
Capusan, a skinny, 6-8 forward put up 18 points against Lehigh’s slow-afoot bigs. Neither Jason Mgebroff nor Mike Fischman could guard Capusan. When they played off of Capusan, he would step back and drop a short jumper over their heads. When Lehigh tried to play him tighter, Capusan repeatedly beat them to the rim with his quickness.
McNaughton’s game is a lot like Capusan’s, except McNaughton is more skilled and, at 6-11, has more of a presence in the post. Perhaps the biggest improvement in his game this season is the mid-range jumper. McNaughton has even hit a couple of treys.
It’s an impossible matchup for Lehigh, who will have to double hard on McNaughton.
Bucknell’s Darren Mastropaolo lacks McNaughton’s range, but has shown an ability to finish around the basket. He is strong enough to play the Lehigh big guys and his quickness is an advantage against either of them.
“Bucknell might have a little bit of an advantage inside,” said Colgate coach Emmett Davis, who lost to both teams last week.
When Lehigh goes with Bryan White, Bucknell can counter with Donald Brown, who can match White’s athleticism.
In the backcourt, they are fairly even. Lehigh can put Joe Knight, Jose Olivero and Kyle Neptune on the floor together. That is a good as any backcourt in the league, at least offensively. But Bucknell’s trio of Abe Badmus, Kevin Bettencourt and Charles Lee is pretty good, too, and might be stronger defensively.
The biggest difference between the two backcourts might be in terms of expectations. For Lehigh to knock off Bucknell, it needs a great night from its guards. Bucknell’s front court gives it more options, a greater margin of error.
That margin of error, ultimately, seems to be the biggest difference between Bucknell and the rest of the league.
Can Bucknell be beaten? Sure, but for most teams in the league to even have a chance against the Bison, they need to bring their A-plus game and hope Bucknell doesn’t. Lehigh, for example, will have a tough time beating Bucknell without a big night from Knight and Olivero. Holy Cross would need Keith Simmons, Kevin Hamilton and Torey Thomas all on top of their games.
Bucknell, on the other hand, has shown it can win a lot of different ways. It can beat you inside with McNaughton, outside with Lee and Bettencourt. It can beat you with its defense, or with its bench.
As much credit as Lehigh deserves for its defense, it is worth noting that Bucknell is holding its opponents to almost 5 points per game fewer than Lehigh. Opponents are shooting 37 percent against BU, almost 2 points better (38.8 percent) against Lehigh.
Given the far tougher schedule Bucknell has played, those are significant differences. In fact, to get a better guage of how the two stack up against similar opposition, take a look at the conference games only stats.
In five league games, Bucknell has held opponents to 43.8 points per game. Lehigh is 12 points back, actually third in the league behind Holy Cross at 56 points allowed per game (HC is at 55.5). In field goal percentage defense, Bucknell’s opponents have shot 29.9 percent, Lehigh’s foes 38 percent.
Factor in that Bucknell has already played Holy Cross, which has the highest scoring offense in conference games, while Lehigh played Army, the second-lowest scoring team, and the difference looks even bigger.
Does this mean Bucknell is a lock at Lehigh Wednesday night? Hardly.
Foul trouble can change the basic equation in a hurry. Few teams seem to get as kind a whistle at home as Lehigh. In seven home games against Division I opponents, Lehigh has gone to the line an average of 26.6 times per game. The opposition has shot just 16 per game in those contests.
Even with Lehigh shooting a league-low 65 percent from the stripe, 10 extra trips to the foul line can be worth almost 7 extra points. That is a significant number in a low scoring game, which Lehigh’s defense almost always assures.
That advantage can compound if the fouls are called on the wrong people for Bucknell. If the Bison have to play without McNaughton for long stretches of time due to foul problems, Lehigh’s chances are multiplied.
Lehigh took offense when, after their win Saturday at Lafayette, someone asked them about the challenge of facing the league’s two best teams back-to-back this week. The Mountain Hawks made it clear they feel they should be mentioned right along with the Bison and Holy Cross when people handicap the league.
That might be true, but we won’t know that for sure until the week ends. On paper, Bucknell looks a notch or two ahead of the rest of the pack, with Lehigh likely to battle Holy Cross for the right to host the No. 2 seed pod in the postseason.
At least not when it comes to Lehigh’s offense. The Mountain Hawks shot the lights out in Kirby – 31 for 47, 9 of 18 at the arc.
That is not Lehigh. At least not the Lehigh that showed up for most of the other 19 games the Hawks have played. Even with the boost from the Lafayette game, the Mountain Hawks are seventh in the eight-team league in field goal percentage (40.6 percent).
It’s defense, not offense, on which the Hawks hang their hats. Lehigh ranks second in the league defensively in both scoring and field goal percentage.
They showed some of that defense against Lafayette, holding the Leopards to 37.5 percent from the field.
One thing Bucknell is likely to notice when they watch tape of that game would be the play of Lafayette’s Andrei Capusan.
Capusan, a skinny, 6-8 forward put up 18 points against Lehigh’s slow-afoot bigs. Neither Jason Mgebroff nor Mike Fischman could guard Capusan. When they played off of Capusan, he would step back and drop a short jumper over their heads. When Lehigh tried to play him tighter, Capusan repeatedly beat them to the rim with his quickness.
McNaughton’s game is a lot like Capusan’s, except McNaughton is more skilled and, at 6-11, has more of a presence in the post. Perhaps the biggest improvement in his game this season is the mid-range jumper. McNaughton has even hit a couple of treys.
It’s an impossible matchup for Lehigh, who will have to double hard on McNaughton.
Bucknell’s Darren Mastropaolo lacks McNaughton’s range, but has shown an ability to finish around the basket. He is strong enough to play the Lehigh big guys and his quickness is an advantage against either of them.
“Bucknell might have a little bit of an advantage inside,” said Colgate coach Emmett Davis, who lost to both teams last week.
When Lehigh goes with Bryan White, Bucknell can counter with Donald Brown, who can match White’s athleticism.
In the backcourt, they are fairly even. Lehigh can put Joe Knight, Jose Olivero and Kyle Neptune on the floor together. That is a good as any backcourt in the league, at least offensively. But Bucknell’s trio of Abe Badmus, Kevin Bettencourt and Charles Lee is pretty good, too, and might be stronger defensively.
The biggest difference between the two backcourts might be in terms of expectations. For Lehigh to knock off Bucknell, it needs a great night from its guards. Bucknell’s front court gives it more options, a greater margin of error.
That margin of error, ultimately, seems to be the biggest difference between Bucknell and the rest of the league.
Can Bucknell be beaten? Sure, but for most teams in the league to even have a chance against the Bison, they need to bring their A-plus game and hope Bucknell doesn’t. Lehigh, for example, will have a tough time beating Bucknell without a big night from Knight and Olivero. Holy Cross would need Keith Simmons, Kevin Hamilton and Torey Thomas all on top of their games.
Bucknell, on the other hand, has shown it can win a lot of different ways. It can beat you inside with McNaughton, outside with Lee and Bettencourt. It can beat you with its defense, or with its bench.
As much credit as Lehigh deserves for its defense, it is worth noting that Bucknell is holding its opponents to almost 5 points per game fewer than Lehigh. Opponents are shooting 37 percent against BU, almost 2 points better (38.8 percent) against Lehigh.
Given the far tougher schedule Bucknell has played, those are significant differences. In fact, to get a better guage of how the two stack up against similar opposition, take a look at the conference games only stats.
In five league games, Bucknell has held opponents to 43.8 points per game. Lehigh is 12 points back, actually third in the league behind Holy Cross at 56 points allowed per game (HC is at 55.5). In field goal percentage defense, Bucknell’s opponents have shot 29.9 percent, Lehigh’s foes 38 percent.
Factor in that Bucknell has already played Holy Cross, which has the highest scoring offense in conference games, while Lehigh played Army, the second-lowest scoring team, and the difference looks even bigger.
Does this mean Bucknell is a lock at Lehigh Wednesday night? Hardly.
Foul trouble can change the basic equation in a hurry. Few teams seem to get as kind a whistle at home as Lehigh. In seven home games against Division I opponents, Lehigh has gone to the line an average of 26.6 times per game. The opposition has shot just 16 per game in those contests.
Even with Lehigh shooting a league-low 65 percent from the stripe, 10 extra trips to the foul line can be worth almost 7 extra points. That is a significant number in a low scoring game, which Lehigh’s defense almost always assures.
That advantage can compound if the fouls are called on the wrong people for Bucknell. If the Bison have to play without McNaughton for long stretches of time due to foul problems, Lehigh’s chances are multiplied.
Lehigh took offense when, after their win Saturday at Lafayette, someone asked them about the challenge of facing the league’s two best teams back-to-back this week. The Mountain Hawks made it clear they feel they should be mentioned right along with the Bison and Holy Cross when people handicap the league.
That might be true, but we won’t know that for sure until the week ends. On paper, Bucknell looks a notch or two ahead of the rest of the pack, with Lehigh likely to battle Holy Cross for the right to host the No. 2 seed pod in the postseason.
Lehigh offers forfeits
According to Andre Williams in , Lehigh is offering to forfeit 13 game Joe Knight played in last season. The move would leave the Mountain Hawks with a 1-28 record, the lone win coming in a game in which Knight did not play due to a knee injury.
Frankly, that is hardly a fitting punishment. It would add to Knight's punishment by wiping out his 45-point league record game against Colgate in the league tournament, but it would not punish the school, which is were the blame belongs.
Knight only did what athletic department types told him to. He is not the one still trying to spin it as an innocent mistake. That would be Lehigh AD Joe Sterrett, who continues to try to spin this as an innocent mistake.
The league's punishment must punish the school, not Knight. The kid has already paid a heavy price -- 16 missed games in his final season -- for someone else's mistake.
Anything less than taking away at least one scholarship and probationary status for Lehigh would allow the folks who actually made the mistake to get away with no repercussions.
The Morning Call was all over this story this morning, tossing a into the mix as well.
Jones wrote:
Maybe if Lehigh had been open and upfront from the start, people would be more willing to buy the "official explanation." And maybe if the "mainstream media' had done its job when Knight was first suspended, people would not have had to read about it online.
Frankly, that is hardly a fitting punishment. It would add to Knight's punishment by wiping out his 45-point league record game against Colgate in the league tournament, but it would not punish the school, which is were the blame belongs.
Knight only did what athletic department types told him to. He is not the one still trying to spin it as an innocent mistake. That would be Lehigh AD Joe Sterrett, who continues to try to spin this as an innocent mistake.
Sterrett disputes the NCAA claim that Knight was not eligible to play, saying Lehigh believed he was making progress toward his degree even though he didn't have the applicable credits when he entered the university.Making progress without the credits? In that case, we are well on our way to a doctorate here.
"He has never been ineligible," Sterrett said. "He has only taken whatever people told him he should take. We certified him through our normal process."
The league's punishment must punish the school, not Knight. The kid has already paid a heavy price -- 16 missed games in his final season -- for someone else's mistake.
Anything less than taking away at least one scholarship and probationary status for Lehigh would allow the folks who actually made the mistake to get away with no repercussions.
The Morning Call was all over this story this morning, tossing a into the mix as well.
Jones wrote:
That's not his fault. He trusted people on the administrative level to do their jobs, and they failed him. Either they bungled their interpretation of an NCAA rule regarding the transfer of credits — which remains the official explanation — or they were guilty of something more sinister.Interesting to see Jones suggest people go online to read about the Knight story, since that is the only place it was covered as it played out. While online journalists were busy digging into the situation, Jones' paper, which purportedly covers Lehigh, was content to go with the "injury" explanation for weeks and has yet to ask how Lehigh could misterpret a rule that is pretty simple and straight forward.
Rest assured that there is a perception out there that the latter is the case. And that will always be so, no matter how often someone in the Lehigh hierarchy says it was nothing more than an honest mistake. Just go online sometime, and read all about it.
Maybe if Lehigh had been open and upfront from the start, people would be more willing to buy the "official explanation." And maybe if the "mainstream media' had done its job when Knight was first suspended, people would not have had to read about it online.
Monday, January 23, 2006
Bison in the polls
Bucknell stays No. 2 in the latest , Northern Iowa remains No. 3.
Bison with 32 votes in the , ranked ninth among the others receiving votes.
Bison 10th on the others receiving list in the latest . Bucknell with 10 votes.
Bison with 32 votes in the , ranked ninth among the others receiving votes.
Bison 10th on the others receiving list in the latest . Bucknell with 10 votes.
Army guns down Mids
(Originally posted Sun. at 3:08 p.m., Updated at 7:47 a.m.}
Army 80, Navy 73 -- How big is the Army-Navy game to the two teams? Just ask Matt Fannin, Navy's captain, who did a Willis Reed imitation, taking the court with the torn ACL everyone figured had ended his season wrapped and braced. Fannin managed 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, but it was not enough.
Matt Bell (24 points) and Cobran Bates (20) led Army. Jarell Brown added 15 and Cory Sinning had 10 for Army, which shot 26-45 (58 percent) from the floor, including 10-19 (53 percent) from the arc.
It was the most points Army has scored in a game in four years. The last time the Black Knights had cracked the 80s was in an 85-72 win over Lafayette on Jan. 19, 2002.
Greg Sprink added 14 for Navy, but he was 3-11 from the field, 1-5 on three-point tries. Navy overall 25-59 (42 percent from the field, 4-18 (22 percent) from three-point range.
Army 80, Navy 73 -- How big is the Army-Navy game to the two teams? Just ask Matt Fannin, Navy's captain, who did a Willis Reed imitation, taking the court with the torn ACL everyone figured had ended his season wrapped and braced. Fannin managed 18 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals, but it was not enough.
Matt Bell (24 points) and Cobran Bates (20) led Army. Jarell Brown added 15 and Cory Sinning had 10 for Army, which shot 26-45 (58 percent) from the floor, including 10-19 (53 percent) from the arc.
It was the most points Army has scored in a game in four years. The last time the Black Knights had cracked the 80s was in an 85-72 win over Lafayette on Jan. 19, 2002.
Greg Sprink added 14 for Navy, but he was 3-11 from the field, 1-5 on three-point tries. Navy overall 25-59 (42 percent from the field, 4-18 (22 percent) from three-point range.
Sunday, January 22, 2006
Web updates
We will be adding a link to our right side roster for Basketball U.'s new . Jake has been gracious enough to not taunt us or dance on the Hoop Time logo chanting "This is our trophy." seems least we can do is give him a link.
If you have questions about particular teams, feel free to post them under those team's Basketball U. forum and we'll try to get you answers.
Also, Ralph Willard sneaked a few minutes out of prepping the Crusaders for the American game to post an update on . Of particular interest. Ralph's public response to Al Skinner's comments after the Boston College game.
As always, a Ralph update is a .
If you have questions about particular teams, feel free to post them under those team's Basketball U. forum and we'll try to get you answers.
Also, Ralph Willard sneaked a few minutes out of prepping the Crusaders for the American game to post an update on . Of particular interest. Ralph's public response to Al Skinner's comments after the Boston College game.
As always, a Ralph update is a .
Coming attractions
Mark Wogenrich of the Morning Call is already to Wednesday's Bucknell at Lehigh showdown for first place in the Patriot League standings.
Wogenrich, who we doubt has even seen the Bison on TV, suggests:
We'll look closer Monday at the Bucknell-Lehigh matchup.
Wogenrich, who we doubt has even seen the Bison on TV, suggests:
Against Bucknell, the right game plan will short-circuit shooters Kevin Bettencourt and freshman Jason Vegotsky and find ways to free Mgebroff and Mike Fischman inside. It also will rely on the high-percentage offense that beat Lafayette.We saw both teams in action Saturday and are of the opinion that a game plan that centers on stopping Bettencourt and Vegotsky, a freshman who sees limited minutes (but does have a three-point shooting percentage that looks impressive on the stats sheet to someone who has limited familiarity with the Bison) is as doomed to failure as a game plan that counts on Mgebroff and Fischman to carry the load on offense.
We'll look closer Monday at the Bucknell-Lehigh matchup.
It's Army-Navy, 'nuf said
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Army at Navy, 1 p.m.: Last year Army was one of the worst four teams in all of Division I, winning just 1 of 24 games. But that win came against Navy. Welcome to the basketball version of the . The two teams have split in each of the last two seasons. Last year each held serve at home; the year before the road team won each game.
In other words, this is all but impossible to predict because Army-Navy games are not always decided simply by the talent on the rosters.
If it were, Navy would appear to have the edge, with its fleet of backcourt talent. But the Mids have struggled since their best post player, Matt Fannin, went down with a knee injury and Army has played better since Jarell Brown returned after missing five games with an injury of his own. The Mids have lost 4 of their last 5 without Fannin.
Certainly Navy is one of the few teams Army can expect to match up with in the frontcourt.
Brown is Army's leading scorer, averaging 14.2 points per game. Matt Bell is also in double figures, averaging 13.7 ppg, but the junior guard is only hitting at a 38 percent clip from the field, 29 percent from the arc.
Navy's starting backcourt trio of Greg Sprink (13.9 ppg), Corey Johnson (13.4 ppg) and Kaleo Kina (10.7 ppg) are each averaging in double figures.
Both teams are looking for their first conference win. Army has been closer, losing two games by a combined total of 5 points in road games at Lehigh and American its last two times out.
Navy comes in off a 71-65 non-league win Tuesday over Longwood.
In addition to being the league's weekly CSTV game, this one can also be heard on Sirius satellite radio on station 117.
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Bucknell does it with D again
(Originally posted Sat. 10:29 p.m., links added 8:53 a.m.)
How good is Bucknell playing defense right now? Consider this, since league play began Jan. 7, Bucknell has played 10 halves of basketball. In eight of those 10, the opposition has shot less than 30 percent from the field.
Saturday night in Lewisburg they did it again, holding Colgate to 7-26 from the field in the second half to pull away for a 62-43 win.
Chris McNaughton had 16 points and Donald Brown came off the bench to score 14 on perfect 6 for 6 shooting. As a team, the Bison knocked down 24 of 46 (52.2 percent), finishing above 50 percent from the field for the seventh time this season. The Bison dished out 18 assists, including 8 by Abe Badmus, who also had 9 points.
It was a solid offensive show, to be certain, but it was the defense that was the key.
In the first half, the Bucknell defense played well enough to keep the Bison in the game despite a stretch of almost eight minutes without a bucket. In the second half, it was even stingier, holding the Raiders to 7 buckets on 26 shots (26.9 percent). The Bison forced 17 turnovers, turning them into 15 points.
Brown was responsible for a lot of that. He is big enough to defend the power forward spot and quick enough to jump out on the shooters in the corners to take away the open three. Against a quick, perimeter oriented team like Colgate, that is essential. Colgate missed 13 of the 18 three-pointers they put up, and the ones that fell, including three by Alvin Reed (4-12, 3-9 from the arc) that were basically answered off-balance prayers.
"It (provides a spark) every time Donald comes in, somehow we get going," said McNaughton.
"WIth (Brown) out there we are capable of extending on defense," said Badmus.
After talking in the preseason about pressing more this season, Pat Flannery turned the dogs loose in the second half, creating turnovers with a combination of full and halfcourt traps that fueled the decisive 15-0 run that put Colgate away.
What provided the energy surge that sparked the run was Brown, who skyed over a crowd around the basket to guide home a missed layup by Jason Vegotsky and added another bucket during the spurt. Brown also had a steal during that stretch.
"I know in order to help this team, I had to be aggressive both defensively and offensively. That was the way I was going to get on the floor," Brown said.
Bucknell came in averaging six three pointers per game, but shot just 9 and made only 2. Kevin Bettencourt was 0-for-4 from the arc, 3-9 overall, finishing with just 6 points, but he had four assists. Instead of bombing away from outside, the Bison pounded it inside, outscoring Colgate 20-4 in the paint and out rebounding the Raiders 33-23.
"Coach tells us every day, you're not going to get the same thing every time. You have to go through your progressions. If something is not working, something else is going to be working. We have enough weapons and enough options on this team to never be in a position where we
just can't find a way to score," Badmus said.
Reed and Kyle Roemer each with 11 for the Raiders, who have lost four straight, seven of their last nine.
The win for Bucknell sets up a first place showdown in Bethlehem Wednesday against Lehigh. Both Bucknell and the Mountain Hawks are 5-0 in conference play.
Game Blog
How good is Bucknell playing defense right now? Consider this, since league play began Jan. 7, Bucknell has played 10 halves of basketball. In eight of those 10, the opposition has shot less than 30 percent from the field.
Saturday night in Lewisburg they did it again, holding Colgate to 7-26 from the field in the second half to pull away for a 62-43 win.
Chris McNaughton had 16 points and Donald Brown came off the bench to score 14 on perfect 6 for 6 shooting. As a team, the Bison knocked down 24 of 46 (52.2 percent), finishing above 50 percent from the field for the seventh time this season. The Bison dished out 18 assists, including 8 by Abe Badmus, who also had 9 points.
It was a solid offensive show, to be certain, but it was the defense that was the key.
In the first half, the Bucknell defense played well enough to keep the Bison in the game despite a stretch of almost eight minutes without a bucket. In the second half, it was even stingier, holding the Raiders to 7 buckets on 26 shots (26.9 percent). The Bison forced 17 turnovers, turning them into 15 points.
Brown was responsible for a lot of that. He is big enough to defend the power forward spot and quick enough to jump out on the shooters in the corners to take away the open three. Against a quick, perimeter oriented team like Colgate, that is essential. Colgate missed 13 of the 18 three-pointers they put up, and the ones that fell, including three by Alvin Reed (4-12, 3-9 from the arc) that were basically answered off-balance prayers.
"It (provides a spark) every time Donald comes in, somehow we get going," said McNaughton.
"WIth (Brown) out there we are capable of extending on defense," said Badmus.
After talking in the preseason about pressing more this season, Pat Flannery turned the dogs loose in the second half, creating turnovers with a combination of full and halfcourt traps that fueled the decisive 15-0 run that put Colgate away.
What provided the energy surge that sparked the run was Brown, who skyed over a crowd around the basket to guide home a missed layup by Jason Vegotsky and added another bucket during the spurt. Brown also had a steal during that stretch.
"I know in order to help this team, I had to be aggressive both defensively and offensively. That was the way I was going to get on the floor," Brown said.
Bucknell came in averaging six three pointers per game, but shot just 9 and made only 2. Kevin Bettencourt was 0-for-4 from the arc, 3-9 overall, finishing with just 6 points, but he had four assists. Instead of bombing away from outside, the Bison pounded it inside, outscoring Colgate 20-4 in the paint and out rebounding the Raiders 33-23.
"Coach tells us every day, you're not going to get the same thing every time. You have to go through your progressions. If something is not working, something else is going to be working. We have enough weapons and enough options on this team to never be in a position where we
just can't find a way to score," Badmus said.
Reed and Kyle Roemer each with 11 for the Raiders, who have lost four straight, seven of their last nine.
The win for Bucknell sets up a first place showdown in Bethlehem Wednesday against Lehigh. Both Bucknell and the Mountain Hawks are 5-0 in conference play.
Lehigh wears Lafayette down
(Originally posted Sat. 4:07 p.m., links added 8:47 a.m.)
EASTON -- "Too big." "Too strong." "Too athletic."
Those were phases Fran O'Hanlon used to describe Lehigh during the press conference that followed the Mountain Hawks' 76-58 win over O'Hanlon's game, but overmatched, Lafayette Leopards.
Looking to extend a modest four-game homecourt win streak that included wins over Navy and Colgate (and a win over Division 3 Dickinson), the Leopards played with a lot of resiliency for the first 30 minutes of so. Twice in the early going, Lehigh went on little spurts that Lafayette managed to squelch before they became flat-out runs with a combination of ball-hawking defense and timely shooting.
The third time Lehigh mounted a charge, Lafayette was unable to answer, though.
It started innocently, with a Bryan White dunk at the 14:02 mark of the second half to put Lehigh back in front after Lafayette had fought off a brief Hawks' flurry at the start of the half. Back-to-back threes to open the half and a twisting runner by Jose Olivero in the first 1:35 of the half has stretched Lehigh's 2-point halftime lead to 38-28 in a hurry.
But Lafayette freshman Andrew Brown hit three quick treys to spark a 13-2 'Pards run that put the home team ahead 41-40.
White's slam gave Lehigh a 42-41edge and a lead it never lost.
The win ended a stretch of three years in a row where Lafayette held serve at home against the Hawks. Wednesday, Lehigh ended a 14-game Hamilton, N.Y. skid.
"There were a couple of streaks we wanted to end," said Olivero.
It took the Mountain Hawks over three minutes to stretch the lead. But after Joe Knight jumped the passing lane on an Andrei Capusan outlet pass with 11:00 on the clock, and went the other way for an easy layup, his first field goal, the Lehigh offense shifted into a gear Lafayette was unable to match.
Lehigh outscored the Leopards 23-7 over the next seven minutes and never looked back.
"They kind of wore us down with their size and athleticism," O'Hanlon said.
The Mountain Hawks shot 72 percent (18-25) in the second half, 66 percent for the game. That was a side of Lehigh seldom seen. The Hawks are better known for low scoring grinds. They were next to last in the league in field goal percentage coming in, shooting 39,4 percent.
"We got some opportunities in transition. We didn't shoot a whole lot of threes. We tried to attack in the paint," Lehigh coach Billy Taylor said
A big chunk of that high percentage against Lafayette can be attributed to big men Mike Fischman and Jason Mgebroff, who were a combined 8-for-8 taking turns in the low post, often with Taylor employing both big guys at the same time in a high-low look.
Lafayette tried to counter by out-quicking the Mountain Hawks at the other end. It worked for a while, before the skinny 6-7 Capusan got worn down from the constant pounding of playing against Lehigh's behemoths. For a while Capusan was able to score almost at will with an effective mix of step away jumpers and quick, nimble post moves that took advantage of his matchup with the bigger, slower of foot, Lehigh defenders.
But at the other end, those same big guys were leaning on him in the post, and eventually it took a toll. The jumpers stopped falling and that enabled the Lehigh defenders to play off him enough to stop Capusan from jetting past them.
"They just kept throwing a lot of people at him," O'Hanlon said.
Jose Olivero led all scorers with 21 points, including 4 three-pointers, two coming back-to-back when Lehigh made the decisive run. Kyle Neptune added 3 treys and 18 points for Lehigh, which hit 9-of-18 from the arc. Knight and Mgebroff each had 10 points off the bench.
Capusan's 16 led Lafayette. Brown chipped in with 15 on 5 three-pointers.
Game Blog
EASTON -- "Too big." "Too strong." "Too athletic."
Those were phases Fran O'Hanlon used to describe Lehigh during the press conference that followed the Mountain Hawks' 76-58 win over O'Hanlon's game, but overmatched, Lafayette Leopards.
Looking to extend a modest four-game homecourt win streak that included wins over Navy and Colgate (and a win over Division 3 Dickinson), the Leopards played with a lot of resiliency for the first 30 minutes of so. Twice in the early going, Lehigh went on little spurts that Lafayette managed to squelch before they became flat-out runs with a combination of ball-hawking defense and timely shooting.
The third time Lehigh mounted a charge, Lafayette was unable to answer, though.
It started innocently, with a Bryan White dunk at the 14:02 mark of the second half to put Lehigh back in front after Lafayette had fought off a brief Hawks' flurry at the start of the half. Back-to-back threes to open the half and a twisting runner by Jose Olivero in the first 1:35 of the half has stretched Lehigh's 2-point halftime lead to 38-28 in a hurry.
But Lafayette freshman Andrew Brown hit three quick treys to spark a 13-2 'Pards run that put the home team ahead 41-40.
White's slam gave Lehigh a 42-41edge and a lead it never lost.
The win ended a stretch of three years in a row where Lafayette held serve at home against the Hawks. Wednesday, Lehigh ended a 14-game Hamilton, N.Y. skid.
"There were a couple of streaks we wanted to end," said Olivero.
It took the Mountain Hawks over three minutes to stretch the lead. But after Joe Knight jumped the passing lane on an Andrei Capusan outlet pass with 11:00 on the clock, and went the other way for an easy layup, his first field goal, the Lehigh offense shifted into a gear Lafayette was unable to match.
Lehigh outscored the Leopards 23-7 over the next seven minutes and never looked back.
"They kind of wore us down with their size and athleticism," O'Hanlon said.
The Mountain Hawks shot 72 percent (18-25) in the second half, 66 percent for the game. That was a side of Lehigh seldom seen. The Hawks are better known for low scoring grinds. They were next to last in the league in field goal percentage coming in, shooting 39,4 percent.
"We got some opportunities in transition. We didn't shoot a whole lot of threes. We tried to attack in the paint," Lehigh coach Billy Taylor said
A big chunk of that high percentage against Lafayette can be attributed to big men Mike Fischman and Jason Mgebroff, who were a combined 8-for-8 taking turns in the low post, often with Taylor employing both big guys at the same time in a high-low look.
Lafayette tried to counter by out-quicking the Mountain Hawks at the other end. It worked for a while, before the skinny 6-7 Capusan got worn down from the constant pounding of playing against Lehigh's behemoths. For a while Capusan was able to score almost at will with an effective mix of step away jumpers and quick, nimble post moves that took advantage of his matchup with the bigger, slower of foot, Lehigh defenders.
But at the other end, those same big guys were leaning on him in the post, and eventually it took a toll. The jumpers stopped falling and that enabled the Lehigh defenders to play off him enough to stop Capusan from jetting past them.
"They just kept throwing a lot of people at him," O'Hanlon said.
Jose Olivero led all scorers with 21 points, including 4 three-pointers, two coming back-to-back when Lehigh made the decisive run. Kyle Neptune added 3 treys and 18 points for Lehigh, which hit 9-of-18 from the arc. Knight and Mgebroff each had 10 points off the bench.
Capusan's 16 led Lafayette. Brown chipped in with 15 on 5 three-pointers.
Big Dog day afternoon at HC
(Originally posted Sat. at 10:31 p.m., updated at 8:39 a.m.)
Holy Cross 74, American 63 -- What is it about American that brings out the Tim Clifford's usually hidden inner player? , Clifford, then a freshman, filled in for the injured Nate Lufkin and put together a 13-point, 13-rebound double-double.
That game, in particular, raised the expectations bar pretty high for the Big Purple Dog coming into his sophomore season. But Clifford has spent more time in Ralph Willard's dog house than on the floor until Saturday, when he got his first start of the season and responded by dropping a 27-points, 4-blocks bomb on the visiting Eagles. Clifford's 27 were a career high, as were the 33 minutes he played.
Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard explained his decision to give Clifford the start to Jen Toland of the :
Kevin Hamilon added 17 points and 8 rebounds for HC.
Andre Ingram led AU with 18 points. Arvydas Eitutavicius added 13 and Brayden Billbe had 10. American shot better from the field than the Crusaders (24-53, 45.3 percent for AU to HC's 22-51, 43.1 percent) and had 7 three-pointers to 6 for HC. But Holy Cross got to the foul line 14 more times than AU and made 16 more free throws (HC 24-29, AU 8-15). Having 18 turnovers didn't help the AU cause any, either.
©2005 Hoop Time. All rights reserved.
Holy Cross 74, American 63 -- What is it about American that brings out the Tim Clifford's usually hidden inner player? , Clifford, then a freshman, filled in for the injured Nate Lufkin and put together a 13-point, 13-rebound double-double.
That game, in particular, raised the expectations bar pretty high for the Big Purple Dog coming into his sophomore season. But Clifford has spent more time in Ralph Willard's dog house than on the floor until Saturday, when he got his first start of the season and responded by dropping a 27-points, 4-blocks bomb on the visiting Eagles. Clifford's 27 were a career high, as were the 33 minutes he played.
Holy Cross coach Ralph Willard explained his decision to give Clifford the start to Jen Toland of the :
"I've been thinking for a while about bringing Kevin (Hyland) off the bench because that's a role he got used to last year. Tim had such a special game today that Kevin didn't really get a chance to get in. But Tim has been playing well in practice and with a great deal of energy and more confidence than he did earlier in the year."HC also got a boost from the apparent return to health of Keith Simmons, who played 37 minutes, finishing with 15 points and 6 rebounds. Simmons' second half minutes were limited due to cramping problems in HC's two prior games -- not coincidentally, both losses.
Kevin Hamilon added 17 points and 8 rebounds for HC.
Andre Ingram led AU with 18 points. Arvydas Eitutavicius added 13 and Brayden Billbe had 10. American shot better from the field than the Crusaders (24-53, 45.3 percent for AU to HC's 22-51, 43.1 percent) and had 7 three-pointers to 6 for HC. But Holy Cross got to the foul line 14 more times than AU and made 16 more free throws (HC 24-29, AU 8-15). Having 18 turnovers didn't help the AU cause any, either.
