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Saturday, February 17, 2007
Towson-Bucknell gameblog
News and notes compiled during Bucknell's 73-63 BracketBusters win over Towson.

  • It takes three straight wins to win the Patriot League title. Sounds simple, yet three league teams have yet to string together three Ws in a row this season. Lehigh, winners of two straight, will try to take their name off that list when they visit Lafayette Sunday. The Leopards, losers of five in a row, and Colgate, which lost two straight headed into Saturday evening's game at Marist, are the two other teams that have done it.

    American accomplished the feat once, winning four straight back in late November and early December. Navy did it twice back around the same time. Only Army, Bucknell and Holy Cross have managed to win at least three in a row in conference play. All three of Army's league wins came in an eight-day span against Lehigh, American and Navy -- all three at home.

  • There are currently eight active Division I players with 2,000 career points. Towson's Gary Neal is the third of the eight Bucknell has faced this season. Albany's Jamar Wilson scored 12 of his career 2,012 against the Bison in their season opener. Texas Tech's Jarrius Jackson scored 18 against the Bison. Jackson has scored 2,045 (point totals through Feb. 13).

  • Pitiful crowd on hand to honor Bucknell's seniors. The student sections at either end are about half full and there are numerous empty seats on both sides of Sojka Pavilion.

  • Tough start for the Bison, who had three turnovers and a missed shot on their first four possessions and saw Darren Mastropaolo pick up three personals in the first 3:35 of the game. At the other end, it appears to be open season on Chris McNaughton, who has been mugged the first two times he touched the ball without any whistles.

  • Neal's first shot, a long,long three, rims out at the 12:56 mark.

    Bucknell 10, Towson 8 11:59 first half

  • Bucknell shooting well -- 4 for 6 from the field, 1 for 2 on threes, to start the game. Four turnovers have hurt the Bison. Towson is 2 for 10, 0 for 5 on threes, 4 for 4 at the line.

  • Two buckets, back-to-back, by McNaughton give Bucknell a 17-10 lead and brings Towson coach Pat Kennedy off the bench for a quick timeout with 8:40 to play. McNaughton is now 3 for 4 with 4 rebounds.

  • Neal's second shot, a jumper just outside the foul line, is blocked by Badmus, who gets the ball back at the other end and is mugged by Towson's Rodney Spruill, who is hit with an intentional foul call. Badmus makes both shots for a 19-10 BU lead.

  • Neal's first points come from the free throw line with 7:47 to play in the first half. Neal makes one of two, hitting as the Bison students chanted "No means no," missing as they chanted "How old was she."

  • Kennedy is making the mistake of trying to guard McNaughton with one guy. Towson simply does not have such a guy on its roster, as evidenced by McNaughton's 5 for 6, 11 points thus far.

    Bucknell 24, Towson 13, 5:56 first half)

  • With 3:54 to go in the half, Kennedy calls another timeout after long jumpers by McNaughton and Patrick Behan push the BU lead to 28-13. Towson is now 4 for 21 from the field. Neal is 0 for 4.

    HALFTIME: Bucknell 36, Towson 21
    Stats: Bucknell 13 of 23 - 56.5 percent from the field, 2 of 8 from three-point range, 8 of 11 at the foul line. 7 turnovers, 9 assists, 20 rebounds

    Towson 8 of 28 (28.6 percent), 0 of 8 from the arc, 5 of 6 at the stripe, 4 turnovers, 3 assists, 12 rebounds

    Bucknell individual leaders: McNaughton 8 for 10, 17 points, 6 rebounds, 2 blocks
    Towson: Winstonn Tubbs, Dennard Abraham and Spruill each with 6 points, Tubbs has 5 rebounds

    Gary Neal: 0 for 4, 0 for 2 on threes, 1 for 2 at the foul line, 1 point, 1 reb., 2 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 steals

  • Towson opened the second half in a 2-3 zone, which Bucknell scored against on three of its first four possessions of the second half. The third score, a Mastropaolo reverse layup, resulted in Kennedy calling another timeout, unwilling to wait for the first media stoppage.

  • Neal's first field goal of the game came when he put back his own miss with 15:42 to play. Neal was 0 for his first 6 shots, including one blocked by McNaughton on Neal's first try of the second half. That was McNaughton's third block, a career high. Neal followed his first bucket with a long fadeaway jumper on Towson's next possession.

    Bucknell 45, Towson 27, 14:50 to play

  • Towson closed to within 17 on a three-point play by Abraham, but Bucknell answered with a quick 6-0 spurt, prompting Kennedy to burn Towson's last timeout with 11:59 to play, Bucknell up 55-32. A media timeout came 17 seconds later.

  • Once he got started, Neal put on a little bit of a show, scoring 12 straight points for Towson, including a pair of threes, the first two treys for the Tigers on 15 tries.

    Bucknell 63, Towson 46, 6:57 to play)

  • Eight of Neal's points came during a 12-2 Towson run that cut Bucknell's lead to 13 (64-51) with about 5:10 to play.

  • Pat Flannery emptied his bench with about 2 minutes to go. Kennedy kept his starters on the floor to the end, going on a late 11-4 run that made the final look closer than it really was.

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    • Published at 2:20 PM by Hoop Time.
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