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Sunday, February 18, 2007
(Originally posted Sat, at 5:07 p.m., links added at 6:55 a.m.)
In their final regular season game in Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell's seniors were the key to a record-setting win.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Bucknell had an answer for Gary Neal. Towson had none for Chris McNaughton.
In a nutshell, that was the tale of Bucknell's 73-63 BracketBusters win Saturday afternoon in Sojka Pavilion.
In a fitting celebration of Senior Day, the Bison's two available seniors put on a show in their final regular season home game. McNaughton was nearly unstoppable, shredding the undersized Towson defense for a season-high 23 points. The other healthy senior, Abe Badmus, threw a blanket over Neal, rendering the Colonial Athletic Association's leading scorer ineffective until the game was already decided.
After the game, Towson coach Pat Kennedy lamented the absence of his own 6-9 center, Tommy Breaux, who stayed back home in Maryland due to illness.
"We had to go with a substitute and they took advantage of it," Kennedy said.
The way McNaughton played, especially early, when the game was still in doubt, it is hard to imagine Breaux doing much to slow him. Not with Kennedy electing to try to guard McNaughton with one man much of the first half. McNaughton had it going on all cylinders, knocking down 11 of the first 13 shots he took, including a pair of long jumpers from just inside the three-point arc.
"We kept throwing it inside," said McNaughton, who also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, dished off three assists and blocked three shots -- all without picking up a single personal.
Badmus' contribution is harder to spot in the box score. His seven assists were huge, but his defensive effort on Neal was what really made an impression. Neal, the nation's third-leading scorer coming in, was held to 21 points, 4.5 below his 25.5 ppg average. Twenty of those points came in the second half, none while the game was still in question.
Towson (14-14) tried everything to get Neal open looks, running him through more picks than a banjo players convention. Every time he popped out the other side of a screen, there was Badmus in his pocket, sticking to him like lint. Neal was 0 for 4 in the first half, 0 for 6 before he finally hit his first field goal, a putback off his own miss with 15:40 to play.
"Gary was moving slow today. His movements were too slow," Kennedy said. "No. 5 (Badmus) did a real nice job on him."
Neal knew he was in for a long afternoon by the time he took his third shot of the game, a 16-foot jumper that was blocked cleanly by Badmus.
"Abe did a great job of pushing him out of his comfort zone and when he did drive, there was a lot of help there," said Flannery.
Neal did manage to get it going late in the game, scoring 12 of his points during a six-minute stretch that saw Towson cut Bucknell's 23-point lead to 13 with just over 5 minutes to go. Jason Vegotsky and John Griffin answered with a pair of threes to push Bucknell's lead back to 17 before Flannery emptied his bench in the final 2 minutes.
The win, a record 83rd of their career for the BU seniors, is Bucknell's 10th in a row, means the Bison (18-8) can put together a third-straight 20-win season with victories in their two remaining regular season games. Bucknell is at Lehigh Wednesday, then closes the regular season at Army on Saturday.
The Bison are guaranteed at least two home games in the postseason if they can win in the opening round and still have a chance at gaining the home court edge for the league final if they sweep and Holy Cross splits in its final two conference games.
Box score | Postgame audio (Kennedy, Flannery, McNaughton, Badmus) | Gameblog | Daily Item | Sun-Gazette
In their final regular season game in Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell's seniors were the key to a record-setting win.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Bucknell had an answer for Gary Neal. Towson had none for Chris McNaughton.
In a nutshell, that was the tale of Bucknell's 73-63 BracketBusters win Saturday afternoon in Sojka Pavilion.
In a fitting celebration of Senior Day, the Bison's two available seniors put on a show in their final regular season home game. McNaughton was nearly unstoppable, shredding the undersized Towson defense for a season-high 23 points. The other healthy senior, Abe Badmus, threw a blanket over Neal, rendering the Colonial Athletic Association's leading scorer ineffective until the game was already decided.
After the game, Towson coach Pat Kennedy lamented the absence of his own 6-9 center, Tommy Breaux, who stayed back home in Maryland due to illness.
"We had to go with a substitute and they took advantage of it," Kennedy said.
The way McNaughton played, especially early, when the game was still in doubt, it is hard to imagine Breaux doing much to slow him. Not with Kennedy electing to try to guard McNaughton with one man much of the first half. McNaughton had it going on all cylinders, knocking down 11 of the first 13 shots he took, including a pair of long jumpers from just inside the three-point arc.
"We kept throwing it inside," said McNaughton, who also pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, dished off three assists and blocked three shots -- all without picking up a single personal.
Badmus' contribution is harder to spot in the box score. His seven assists were huge, but his defensive effort on Neal was what really made an impression. Neal, the nation's third-leading scorer coming in, was held to 21 points, 4.5 below his 25.5 ppg average. Twenty of those points came in the second half, none while the game was still in question.
Towson (14-14) tried everything to get Neal open looks, running him through more picks than a banjo players convention. Every time he popped out the other side of a screen, there was Badmus in his pocket, sticking to him like lint. Neal was 0 for 4 in the first half, 0 for 6 before he finally hit his first field goal, a putback off his own miss with 15:40 to play.
"Gary was moving slow today. His movements were too slow," Kennedy said. "No. 5 (Badmus) did a real nice job on him."
Neal knew he was in for a long afternoon by the time he took his third shot of the game, a 16-foot jumper that was blocked cleanly by Badmus.
"Abe did a great job of pushing him out of his comfort zone and when he did drive, there was a lot of help there," said Flannery.
Neal did manage to get it going late in the game, scoring 12 of his points during a six-minute stretch that saw Towson cut Bucknell's 23-point lead to 13 with just over 5 minutes to go. Jason Vegotsky and John Griffin answered with a pair of threes to push Bucknell's lead back to 17 before Flannery emptied his bench in the final 2 minutes.
The win, a record 83rd of their career for the BU seniors, is Bucknell's 10th in a row, means the Bison (18-8) can put together a third-straight 20-win season with victories in their two remaining regular season games. Bucknell is at Lehigh Wednesday, then closes the regular season at Army on Saturday.
The Bison are guaranteed at least two home games in the postseason if they can win in the opening round and still have a chance at gaining the home court edge for the league final if they sweep and Holy Cross splits in its final two conference games.
Box score | Postgame audio (Kennedy, Flannery, McNaughton, Badmus) | Gameblog | Daily Item | Sun-Gazette
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