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Wednesday, January 24, 2007
(Originally posted Tuesday, 10:12 p.m., updated with links at 7:21 a.m.)
Bucknell took over sole possession of second place with an impressive win in Sojka.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Maybe next time. Maybe with a healthy Jason Mgebroff. Maybe in their own barn.
Not here, though; not this night. Not in Sojka Pavilion, where Bucknell has now won 30 straight league games. Not with the Bison raining threes and dominating the inside like they were dressed in leather and carrying whips. Not with Jose Olivero struggling to score and Kyle Neptune struggling to even find iron.
Lehigh might yet prove to be a contender in the Patriot League; there is a lot of ball yet to be played. But on this Tuesday night in Lewisburg, the Mountain Hawks didn't even look like pretenders, losing 62-44 to a Bucknell team that was, in a word, dominant..
It was a game that was close for about five minutes. Then Bucknell broke it open with a 14-2 run and never looked back. The Bison hit six threes in the first half -- four in the first 10 minutes while they built a solid lead they would hold all night. By the half that lead was 16 points, and would have been worse if the Bison had shot better than 50 percent at the foul line.
"We just came out stagnant," said freshman point guard Marquis Hall, whose 18 points were the lone bright spot for the Mountain Hawks (9-13 overall, 4-2 Patriot), who have now lost 10 of 11 on the road this season. "They just wanted it more than us the first half and it showed."
It showed on the scoreboard, where Bucknell had a 37-21 advantage at the intermission, and in the box score. Bucknell shot 57.1 percent (12 of 21) in the first half, 6 of 10 from the three-point arc, and held Lehigh to 8 for 26 (30.8 percent) shooting, 3 of 11 three-point tries.
The first half dominance was particularly evident in Chris McNaughton's line. The 6-11 senior started Bucknell's scoring with a free throw on the Bison's first possession and kept it up the entire half, posting 12 of his 15 points in the first half. McNaughton added 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
It was vintage McNaughton; the kind of performance expected when the coaches and sports information directors around the league voted him the preseason player of the year The big German did it with power, throwing down a pair of thunderous dunks, the first on a nifty spin move that left Lehigh's Phil Anderson picking up his shorts, the second on an equally pretty feed from Donald Brown.
McNaughton also did it with finesse, stepping outside the arc to knock down a key three during that decisive early run. All told, McNaughton was 5 for 7 from the field. In his spare time he helped limited the three-man combination Lehigh tried at center to 8 points on 3 for 9 shooting with four turnovers. The only fault in his game was a 4 for 8 performance at the foul line.
"I'm playing with a little more intensity than some of the games earlier in the season," said McNaughton.
Brown was nearly as dominant, also scoring 15 points, 12 in the second half when Lehigh started sending more defenders at McNaughton. The 6-6 senior from Long Island also added 7 boards, 3 assists, a block and 3 steals to his line.
"We're seniors. We're counting games. There are not a whole lot left. We don't want to leave anything out there," McNaughton said.
Bucknell's third senior, Abe Badmus, also had a stellar night, hitting a pair of threes en route to 9 points and playing shut-down defense on Lehigh standout Jose Olivero, who spent much of the night listening to derisive chants of "airball, airball" from the Bucknell student section.
Olivero, who came in as the league's third-leading scorer, averaging 16.2 points per game finished with 9 points after going 4 for 15 from the floor, 1 of 5 at the arc.
"Abe Badmus is a great defender," said Lehigh coach Billy Taylor, who credited the job Badmus did early on Olivero with taking his star out of the game the rest of the night.
"(Olivero) forced a couple early, got out of rhythm, and never got into the low, even when he had open looks," said Taylor. "Same for Kyle Neptune."
Actually, it was worse for Neptune, who was 0 for his first 11 before finally making his only field goal of the game with 6:23 to go and the game already pretty much decided. It was that kind of night for Lehigh, which finished the game 17 of 54 (31.5 percent) from the field. Take away Hall's 6 for 12 showing and it would have been even uglier. The rest of the Hawks were 11 of 42 (26.1 percent), 1 for 13 from the arc.
"We came out and played with a good sense of urgency. The kids were into it from the get-go. Defensively we set the tone early," Bucknell coach Pat Flannery said.
Lehigh had a brief moment of glory at the start of the second half, taking advantage of some easy misses by Bucknell and some opportune bounces on the offensive glass to put together a 7-0 spurt, cutting the Bucknell lead to 27-28. That was the Mountain Hawks last -- and really, only -- hurrah.
Pat Flannery called a quick timeout, then the Bison came out and reestablished the double-digit margin with a Donald Brown layin that started an 8-0 run.
"Coach said 'O.K., that was their turn, now it is our turn again," McNaughton said.
The two teams will meet again Feb. 21 at Lehigh, where the Mountain Hawks are just a disputed call and a few seconds from being unbeaten. Maybe then it will be Lehigh's turn. But round one in Lewisburg was all Bucknell.
Box score | Postgame audio (Marquis Hall, Billy Taylor, Flannery-McNaughton-Brown) | BU photo gallery | Patriot-News |Daily Item | Sun-Gazette | Morning Call
Bucknell took over sole possession of second place with an impressive win in Sojka.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Maybe next time. Maybe with a healthy Jason Mgebroff. Maybe in their own barn.
Not here, though; not this night. Not in Sojka Pavilion, where Bucknell has now won 30 straight league games. Not with the Bison raining threes and dominating the inside like they were dressed in leather and carrying whips. Not with Jose Olivero struggling to score and Kyle Neptune struggling to even find iron.
Lehigh might yet prove to be a contender in the Patriot League; there is a lot of ball yet to be played. But on this Tuesday night in Lewisburg, the Mountain Hawks didn't even look like pretenders, losing 62-44 to a Bucknell team that was, in a word, dominant..
It was a game that was close for about five minutes. Then Bucknell broke it open with a 14-2 run and never looked back. The Bison hit six threes in the first half -- four in the first 10 minutes while they built a solid lead they would hold all night. By the half that lead was 16 points, and would have been worse if the Bison had shot better than 50 percent at the foul line.
"We just came out stagnant," said freshman point guard Marquis Hall, whose 18 points were the lone bright spot for the Mountain Hawks (9-13 overall, 4-2 Patriot), who have now lost 10 of 11 on the road this season. "They just wanted it more than us the first half and it showed."
It showed on the scoreboard, where Bucknell had a 37-21 advantage at the intermission, and in the box score. Bucknell shot 57.1 percent (12 of 21) in the first half, 6 of 10 from the three-point arc, and held Lehigh to 8 for 26 (30.8 percent) shooting, 3 of 11 three-point tries.
The first half dominance was particularly evident in Chris McNaughton's line. The 6-11 senior started Bucknell's scoring with a free throw on the Bison's first possession and kept it up the entire half, posting 12 of his 15 points in the first half. McNaughton added 11 rebounds for his first double-double of the season.
It was vintage McNaughton; the kind of performance expected when the coaches and sports information directors around the league voted him the preseason player of the year The big German did it with power, throwing down a pair of thunderous dunks, the first on a nifty spin move that left Lehigh's Phil Anderson picking up his shorts, the second on an equally pretty feed from Donald Brown.
McNaughton also did it with finesse, stepping outside the arc to knock down a key three during that decisive early run. All told, McNaughton was 5 for 7 from the field. In his spare time he helped limited the three-man combination Lehigh tried at center to 8 points on 3 for 9 shooting with four turnovers. The only fault in his game was a 4 for 8 performance at the foul line.
"I'm playing with a little more intensity than some of the games earlier in the season," said McNaughton.
Brown was nearly as dominant, also scoring 15 points, 12 in the second half when Lehigh started sending more defenders at McNaughton. The 6-6 senior from Long Island also added 7 boards, 3 assists, a block and 3 steals to his line.
"We're seniors. We're counting games. There are not a whole lot left. We don't want to leave anything out there," McNaughton said.
Bucknell's third senior, Abe Badmus, also had a stellar night, hitting a pair of threes en route to 9 points and playing shut-down defense on Lehigh standout Jose Olivero, who spent much of the night listening to derisive chants of "airball, airball" from the Bucknell student section.
Olivero, who came in as the league's third-leading scorer, averaging 16.2 points per game finished with 9 points after going 4 for 15 from the floor, 1 of 5 at the arc.
"Abe Badmus is a great defender," said Lehigh coach Billy Taylor, who credited the job Badmus did early on Olivero with taking his star out of the game the rest of the night.
"(Olivero) forced a couple early, got out of rhythm, and never got into the low, even when he had open looks," said Taylor. "Same for Kyle Neptune."
Actually, it was worse for Neptune, who was 0 for his first 11 before finally making his only field goal of the game with 6:23 to go and the game already pretty much decided. It was that kind of night for Lehigh, which finished the game 17 of 54 (31.5 percent) from the field. Take away Hall's 6 for 12 showing and it would have been even uglier. The rest of the Hawks were 11 of 42 (26.1 percent), 1 for 13 from the arc.
"We came out and played with a good sense of urgency. The kids were into it from the get-go. Defensively we set the tone early," Bucknell coach Pat Flannery said.
Lehigh had a brief moment of glory at the start of the second half, taking advantage of some easy misses by Bucknell and some opportune bounces on the offensive glass to put together a 7-0 spurt, cutting the Bucknell lead to 27-28. That was the Mountain Hawks last -- and really, only -- hurrah.
Pat Flannery called a quick timeout, then the Bison came out and reestablished the double-digit margin with a Donald Brown layin that started an 8-0 run.
"Coach said 'O.K., that was their turn, now it is our turn again," McNaughton said.
The two teams will meet again Feb. 21 at Lehigh, where the Mountain Hawks are just a disputed call and a few seconds from being unbeaten. Maybe then it will be Lehigh's turn. But round one in Lewisburg was all Bucknell.
Box score | Postgame audio (Marquis Hall, Billy Taylor, Flannery-McNaughton-Brown) | BU photo gallery | Patriot-News |Daily Item | Sun-Gazette | Morning Call
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