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Thursday, November 15, 2007
Bucknell shoots down Towson
(Originally posted 12:54 a.m., Links added at 8:26 a.m.)
Throughout the preseason, Bucknell coach Pat Flannery kept talking about how this year's Bison had a bunch of guys capable of shooting the ball. More then maybe any of his previous teams, Flannery insisted.

But through the first 50 minutes of the season, Bucknell fans had to wonder if they were watching the same team Flannery was talking about. After all, the Bison made just 2 of 14 three-pointers while shooting under 40 percent from the field in their opening night win over Albany. And through the first 9:55 of Wednesday night's game at Towson, the Bison were 3 for 10 from the field, 1 for 6 from three-point range.

Then John Griffin did what senior captains are supposed to do. Open on the left side of the arc, his team down 17-11 and seemingly out of sync against Towson's 1-3-1 halfcourt trap, Griffin, who was 0 for 4 at the time, drilled a three-pointer to kick start the 18-4 run that turned the tide in Bucknell's 71-57 win.

Griffin was just getting started. A minute later he his another three to cut Towson's lead to 19-17. And after grabbing a rebound on the defensive end, it was Griffin who fed Patrick Behan for Bucknell's third straight three-pointer and a 20-19 lead.

Towson would go back on top on a Junior Hairston dunk, but at the other end, Griffin hit another three, his third in as many shots, giving the Bison a lead they held the rest of the way. By the time Towson scored again, on a Hairston layup with 2 minutes left in the half, Bucknell had added another Behan trey, a Todd O'Brien jump hook and a foul shot by Griffin to build an 8-point, 29-21 lead.

"Once we got in the seams, the 1-3-1 just collapsed. They didn't know where to fill and it left myself and Patrick open," said Griffin.

It is understandable that it took Bucknell a while to figure out how to attack the Towson zone. Even if they had guys like Rob Thomas, Jason Vegotsky and Darren Mastropaolo healthy, it would be tough for the Bison to simulate a group of long, athletic defenders like Towson put on the floor.

Once the Bison figured it out though, they mastered attacking it. And when Bucknell's hot hand from the arc forced Towson to switch back to man-to-man, the Bison began breaking down Towson in the paint. The result, after their slow start, Bucknell shot 52.7 percent (19-36) from the field over the final 30:05. From three-point range, they were even more accurate, draining 9 of 17 (52.9 percent).

"We made some big shots," said Flannery. "It took these guys a little bit of time to get used to not getting the ball touched and flicked."

In the second half, Towson paid more attention to the perimeter in general and Griffin in particular. But that just opened things up for other guys, like Justin Castleberry, who finished with 16 points, all after the break, to match his career high.

"Me going 0 for the half in the first half kind of helped. I wouldn't have guarded me either after that first half," quipped Castleberry. After the first half, people kind of found me. I was open and lucky enough to knock some down."

Towson, on the other hand, never did get around to knocking some down. After the first 10 minutes of the game, Towson never strung together more than 4 unanswered points. They managed that just once, when Tony Durant hit a bucket and a pair of free throws to cut Bucknell's lead to 62-50 with 4:22 to go. Durant finished with 13 points to lead the Tigers, but 11 of those, like that little 4-0 run, were of the too little, too late variety, coming after the outcome was already decided.

Junior Hairston, coming off a 26-point, 21-rebound showing in Towson's opener, put up another double-double, scoring 12 points and grabbing 10 rebounds. But like Durant, he really was not much of a factor. Most of his points came cherry picking on the break and only two of his boards came after the break.

Flannery credited his team's motion offense with helping keep Towson's big men from having big nights.

"They were chasing us all over the place . . . They were working so hard on defense because we were smart on the offensive end . .. It wore them down a little bit," said Flannery.

As the game went on, the sense of frustration on the part of Towson's stable of run and gun athletes was obvious. After being forced to play defense for long stretches each possession against Bucknell's patterns, the Tigers could not find the patience to figure out the Bison's matchup.

"As soon as we shut down some of the lanes and switched defenses on them, going from man back to the matchup, they stopped cutting as hard. They just threw it in to the post and whatever happened down there they would go with," said Griffin.

With the presence of Josh Linthicum and Todd O'Brien in the paint, what happened down there was seldom positive for the Tigers. O'Brien, the 6-11 freshman from New Holland, Pa., had three blocks and Linthicum, a 6-11 junior, rejected another. Linthicum also had two steals, including one he took coast-to-coast for a dunk that gave Bucknell an 11-point lead with 10:48 to play. Towson never got closer than 9 the rest of the way.

"We thought we could take advantage of their posts," said Towson coach Pat Kennedy. "Their big guys are deceptive. They are both 6-11 and if they get their hands up, they can change your shots."

Linthicum finished with 6 points and 9 rebounds, both career highs. O'Brien added 6 points and 5 boards, effectively giving Bucknell double-double production out of the five spot.

The game was the first of three straight away from Sojka Pavilion for the Bison. Bucknell will visit Villanova Sunday before finishing the road swing with a trip to Wagner Nov. 24.
Box score | Postgame press conference audio | Daily Item | Baltimore Sun | Towerlight (gamer) | Towerlight (notebook)

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Published at 8:26 AM by Hoop Time.
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