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Monday, March 05, 2007
(Originally posted Sunday night, links added at 7:01 a.m.)
Bucknell turned a close game into no contest with an impressive defensive performance against Army.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Matt Bell has suffered through some pretty horrible first halves in games at Bucknell. The Army senior, who started all 111 games in his now-ended Army career, was there in 2004 when the Black Knights scored only 9 points before the intermission. He was also on the floor back in January when Bucknell started the game with an 18-2 run and held Army to 15 first half points.
So when the Black Knights got off to a strong start in Sunday afternoon's Patriot League semifinal in Sojka Pavilion, Bell had to be feeling pretty good about his team's chances.
Even though the Bison had outscored Army 12-3 over the final five minutes of the first half, Bell's team was very much in the game, trailing 40-32 at the intermission, especially since Bucknell (22-8) did not seem to have a defensive answer for Bell and his teammate Jarrell Brown, who both at 13 points already at the break.
Boy was Bell wrong.
In a game that was a mirror image of those other blowouts, Bucknell spotted Army (15-16) a Cleveland Richard three-pointer to open the second half, then proceeded to hold the Black Knights without a field goal over the next 11:12, allowing just three more buckets, one in mop-up time to turn the close game into a 68-47 Bison rout.
"They just took over in the second half," said Bell, who closed out his stellar career by becoming the latest in a Long Grey Line of Cadets who have never beaten the Bison.
The win was Bucknell's 15th straight against the Black Knights, who have not beaten the Bison since 2001.
"Usually we come out here and get down by 10 or 15 points in the first four minutes. It's a little dissappointing they were able to take such command in the second half," said Bell, who was 0 for 3 after the break, finishing with the same 13 points he had at the half. Jarrell Brown added a pair of free throws and a late bucket in the second half to finish with a team-high 17.
Credit Bucknell's defense, which made it a point to do a better job of closing out on Army's perimeter shooters in the second half, a move that resulted in a 4 for 21 (19 percent) showing from the field by the Black Knights.
Richard's three came 20 seconds into the half. Between then and the time Bucknell coach Pat Flannery emptied his bench with 2:26 to play, Army scored all of 5 points -- three free throws and a Jarrell Brown jumper at the 8:27 mark that ended an eight minute scoreless stretch. It would be another 6:08 before the Black Knights scored again on a Cory Sinning jumper with 2:19 left on the clock.
"We really had a hard time scoring," said Army coach Jim Crews, who might actually have understated the situation. "We had a few good looks and a lot of not so good looks."
Army, which went 12 for 27 from the field in the first half, finished the second 4 for 21 (19 percent). It might have been worse had they gotten more shots. The Black Knights attempts were limited by their 14 second half turnovers.
"They did a better job of rotating and matching up. They did a better job communicating," said Bell.
"We got better as the game went on," Flannery said.
Adding to Army's woes was a dominating offensive performance by Bucknell's frontcourt duo of Chris McNaughton and Donald Brown who combined for 38 points on 15 for 20 shooting.
"We really didn't have an answer for McNaughton or Brown inside," Bell said.
In most games, Brown's 15 points and 9 rebounds would be what everybody was talking about afterwards. In this case, the 6-6 senior's second straight 15 and 9 performance was no better than third on the list of things that made a big impression.
Sharing top billing with Bucknell's second-half defense was McNaughton, who was pretty much unstoppable in what was likely the last Sojka Pavilion performance of his stellar career. McNaughton finished the game with 23 points, going 10 for 13 from the field on a variety of layups, hook shots and short jumpers.
"In the second half, Chris kind of took over," said Flannery.
Crews tried three different defenders on the 6-11 German -- Doug Williams, Chris Walker and Jimmy Sewell -- all with the same results, or should we say all with the same lack of results.
"(McNaughton goes left. He goes right. . . . He gets great angles on you. If you don't try top get around him, he gets in deep and if you get around him he gets better angles," Crews said.
McNaughton was quick to credit his teammates, who kept feeding him whenever he got position. Eight of Bucknell's 14 assists came on McNaughton buckets.
"They did a great job giving me the ball where I could score," he said.
Two of those 14 assists were credited to McNaughton himself, who would have had plenty more had the Bison's shooters knocked down more of the open threes McNaughton set up by kicking the ball out when he got double-teamed.
Bucknell was just 1 of 11 from the arc in the second half, a stat that is one of the few negatives nitpickers will find with the Bison half of the box score.
Despite those second half woes from three-point range, the Bison still managed to shoot 53.1 percent (26 of 49) from the field against an Army defense that came in ranked number one in the league.
The win is Bucknell's 14th in a row and its 22nd in 26 games after starting the season 0-4. It is also the Bison's eighth straight league tournament win, their 35th straight victory in Sojka against Patriot League opponents and their 10th straight home win overall.
Bucknell will look to extend those first two streaks when it meets Holy Cross in Friday's conference final in Worcester. The home streaks will have to wait until next season, barring a possible NIT game in Sojka should Bucknell lose in the title game.
Box score | Postgame audio (Crews, J. Brown, Bell, Flannery, Badmus, McNaughton, D. Brown) | Daily Item | Patriot-News | Sun-Gazette | Times Herald-Record (gamer) | Times Herald-Record (column)
Bucknell turned a close game into no contest with an impressive defensive performance against Army.
By CHRIS A. COUROGEN
Matt Bell has suffered through some pretty horrible first halves in games at Bucknell. The Army senior, who started all 111 games in his now-ended Army career, was there in 2004 when the Black Knights scored only 9 points before the intermission. He was also on the floor back in January when Bucknell started the game with an 18-2 run and held Army to 15 first half points.
So when the Black Knights got off to a strong start in Sunday afternoon's Patriot League semifinal in Sojka Pavilion, Bell had to be feeling pretty good about his team's chances.
Even though the Bison had outscored Army 12-3 over the final five minutes of the first half, Bell's team was very much in the game, trailing 40-32 at the intermission, especially since Bucknell (22-8) did not seem to have a defensive answer for Bell and his teammate Jarrell Brown, who both at 13 points already at the break.
Boy was Bell wrong.
In a game that was a mirror image of those other blowouts, Bucknell spotted Army (15-16) a Cleveland Richard three-pointer to open the second half, then proceeded to hold the Black Knights without a field goal over the next 11:12, allowing just three more buckets, one in mop-up time to turn the close game into a 68-47 Bison rout.
"They just took over in the second half," said Bell, who closed out his stellar career by becoming the latest in a Long Grey Line of Cadets who have never beaten the Bison.
The win was Bucknell's 15th straight against the Black Knights, who have not beaten the Bison since 2001.
"Usually we come out here and get down by 10 or 15 points in the first four minutes. It's a little dissappointing they were able to take such command in the second half," said Bell, who was 0 for 3 after the break, finishing with the same 13 points he had at the half. Jarrell Brown added a pair of free throws and a late bucket in the second half to finish with a team-high 17.
Credit Bucknell's defense, which made it a point to do a better job of closing out on Army's perimeter shooters in the second half, a move that resulted in a 4 for 21 (19 percent) showing from the field by the Black Knights.
Richard's three came 20 seconds into the half. Between then and the time Bucknell coach Pat Flannery emptied his bench with 2:26 to play, Army scored all of 5 points -- three free throws and a Jarrell Brown jumper at the 8:27 mark that ended an eight minute scoreless stretch. It would be another 6:08 before the Black Knights scored again on a Cory Sinning jumper with 2:19 left on the clock.
"We really had a hard time scoring," said Army coach Jim Crews, who might actually have understated the situation. "We had a few good looks and a lot of not so good looks."
Army, which went 12 for 27 from the field in the first half, finished the second 4 for 21 (19 percent). It might have been worse had they gotten more shots. The Black Knights attempts were limited by their 14 second half turnovers.
"They did a better job of rotating and matching up. They did a better job communicating," said Bell.
"We got better as the game went on," Flannery said.
Adding to Army's woes was a dominating offensive performance by Bucknell's frontcourt duo of Chris McNaughton and Donald Brown who combined for 38 points on 15 for 20 shooting.
"We really didn't have an answer for McNaughton or Brown inside," Bell said.
In most games, Brown's 15 points and 9 rebounds would be what everybody was talking about afterwards. In this case, the 6-6 senior's second straight 15 and 9 performance was no better than third on the list of things that made a big impression.
Sharing top billing with Bucknell's second-half defense was McNaughton, who was pretty much unstoppable in what was likely the last Sojka Pavilion performance of his stellar career. McNaughton finished the game with 23 points, going 10 for 13 from the field on a variety of layups, hook shots and short jumpers.
"In the second half, Chris kind of took over," said Flannery.
Crews tried three different defenders on the 6-11 German -- Doug Williams, Chris Walker and Jimmy Sewell -- all with the same results, or should we say all with the same lack of results.
"(McNaughton goes left. He goes right. . . . He gets great angles on you. If you don't try top get around him, he gets in deep and if you get around him he gets better angles," Crews said.
McNaughton was quick to credit his teammates, who kept feeding him whenever he got position. Eight of Bucknell's 14 assists came on McNaughton buckets.
"They did a great job giving me the ball where I could score," he said.
Two of those 14 assists were credited to McNaughton himself, who would have had plenty more had the Bison's shooters knocked down more of the open threes McNaughton set up by kicking the ball out when he got double-teamed.
Bucknell was just 1 of 11 from the arc in the second half, a stat that is one of the few negatives nitpickers will find with the Bison half of the box score.
Despite those second half woes from three-point range, the Bison still managed to shoot 53.1 percent (26 of 49) from the field against an Army defense that came in ranked number one in the league.
The win is Bucknell's 14th in a row and its 22nd in 26 games after starting the season 0-4. It is also the Bison's eighth straight league tournament win, their 35th straight victory in Sojka against Patriot League opponents and their 10th straight home win overall.
Bucknell will look to extend those first two streaks when it meets Holy Cross in Friday's conference final in Worcester. The home streaks will have to wait until next season, barring a possible NIT game in Sojka should Bucknell lose in the title game.
Box score | Postgame audio (Crews, J. Brown, Bell, Flannery, Badmus, McNaughton, D. Brown) | Daily Item | Patriot-News | Sun-Gazette | Times Herald-Record (gamer) | Times Herald-Record (column)
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