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Wednesday, February 21, 2007
Bucknell-Lehigh gameblog
Notes and observations from Bucknell's 69-56 win at Lehigh:

  • A very large Bucknell fan contingent on hand in Stabler. Over half the fans on the far side are decked out in orange. Bucknell cheerleaders and Bucky Bison the mascot also made the trip from Lewisburg.

  • John Gourlay, the 7-0 sophomore backup center for Lehigh, is in street clothes tonight, out with an unspecified shoulder injury.

  • Also in street clothes is Bucknell's Donald brown, still out with his broken hand, though again tonight he is wearing no cast or wrap of any kind.

  • Lehigh basketball appears to have hitten campus rock bottom. The pep band tonight consists of a half-dozen musicians. The students number around 50, tops. Even the old L-E-H-I-G-H guys are gone, or at least wearing shirts.

  • Both teams have one three, but at the first media timeout, this is a battle in the paint. The refs are generally letting them play, though Darren Mastropaolo just got called for a questionable foul by the ref behind the play as a guy with full view left play go.


    Bucknell 6, Lehigh 5 15:25 first

  • Pat Flannery got hit with his fifth technical of the season at the 13:59 mark of the first half, the call, by old friend Rich Gialella, came after a no call on a collision at the top of the key between Justin Castleberry and Lehigh's Jason Mgebroff, who was hedging the screen. Flannery erupted and Gialella slapped him with the T.

  • Shooting so far: Bucknell 4 for 12 from the field, 2 for 4 from three-point range, 1 for 4 at the line. Lehigh 5 for 12, 2 for 4 on threes, 3 for 4 at the line.

    Lehigh 15, Bucknell 11, 11:02 first half

  • Billy Taylor will do what he can to keep this close. After the Mountain Hawks led for a stretch of about 5 minutes, Bucknell went back on top with a pair of McNaughton free throws and a John Griffin three at the 9:02 mark. The trey made it 16-15, Bucknell, and brought an immediate timeout by Taylor.

  • Bucknell held lehigh without a field goal for a stretch of around 6 minutes, going on a 14-2 run to build a 25-17 lead before Matt Szalachowski broke the draught with a three at the 4:12 mark.

    Bucknell 25, Lehigh 20 (3:02 first)

    First half stats:

    Bucknell: 7 for 21 from the field (33.3 percent), 5 for 11 on 3s, 13 of 16 at the foul line; 4 turnovers, 20 rebounds
    John Griffin 3 for 6, 3 for 4 on threes, 9 points; MacNaughton 1 for 5 from the field, 4 for 4 at the foul line - 6 points.

    Lehigh: 6 for 26 from the field (23.1 percent), 3 of 11 threes, 8 for 10 at the line. 3 turnovers, 15 rebounds
    Kyle Neptune 7 points

    HALFTIME: Bucknell 32, Lehigh 23

  • The Lehigh pep band has swelled to 8 members at the half

  • Darren Mastropaolo picked up two personals in the first 2:26 of the half, sending him to the bench with four personals.

    Lehigh without a field goal in the first 4:01 of the half. They have been to the line 6 times though, making 4. Bucknell is 2 for 4 from the floor, including a three by Jason Vegotsky

    Bucknell 37, Lehigh 27, 15:59 to play

  • Lehigh's first field goal of the second half is Jose Olivero's second of the game. It came with around 13:50 to play.

  • Olivero's bucket sparked a Lehigh spurt that saw the Mountain Hawks cut Bucknell's lead to 43-41 by trading threes for twos. Phil Anderson hit a pair of treys and Kyle Neptune another in the spurt. Olivero added an old fashioned three-point play.

  • The lehigh spurt came with McNaughton and Badmus both on the bench resting and Mastropaolo still sitting with four personals. MeNaughton returned and hit a short jump hook to stem the tide, kicked out to Vegiotsky for an open three, then beat Mgebroff in the paint.

    Bucknell 50, Lehigh 45 (8:10 to play)

  • The first half fouls went 11 for Lehigh, 6 for Bucknell. With 5:41 to play, second half fouls stand at 3 for Lehigh, 8 for Bucknell. Go figure.

  • Mastropaolo gets his fifth with 4:42 to go while playing straight up and down defense against Zahir Carrington.

  • Bucknell shot 16 free throws in the first half. They didn't get to the line in the second until griffin knocked down a pair with 4:22 to play.

  • Bucknell's 10th comes with 4:05 to play. Lehigh has just 4 fouls at that point.

  • Zahir Carrington becomes the first Lehigh player with four fouls when he holds McNaughton at the 3:40 mark. That is Lehigh's 5th team foul.

    Bucknell 56, Lehigh 50 (3:40 to go)

  • John Griffin with 6 straight Bucknell points -- a one-man 6-1 run, making it 60-50 Bucknell with 2:20 to play. Griffins third score in the spurt, a banker from the top of the key, especially opainful to Lehigh, coming after Bryan White missed an open dunk at the other end.

  • The lack of fouls actually hurt Lehigh. They couldn't send Bucknell to the line for one-and-one until there was just 1:10 left to play. That seventh team foul came on Carrington, who fouled out on the play. McNaughton hit both shots for a 52-52 lead.

  • The final box will show Lehigh with more fouls than Bucknell in the second half. That will be a misleading. Lehigh picked up five fouls in the final 1:10 of the game. Bucknell hit 7 of 9 at the line in that stretch.
    • Published at 7:03 PM by Hoop Time.
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