Bison Men Withstand Late Army Charge, Prevail 65-62

Lalugba Leads All Scorers With 25 Points; Bison Back in Second-Place Tie

Boakai Lalugba had 16 of his 25 points in the second half to lead the Bison past Army.

Feb. 9, 2002

Box Score

WEST POINT, N.Y. - Boakai Lalugba scored a game-high 25 points and sank the go-ahead basket with 1:22 remaining to lift Bucknell to a 65-62 victory over Army at Christl Arena on Saturday afternoon.

The Bison (10-13, 6-4 Patriot League) let an 11-point halftime lead slip away but used solid defense and clutch free-throw shooting in the final minute to coax their third road victory of the season. With the win, Bucknell became the first team to win 100 regular-season Patriot League games. The Bison are a league-best 100-49 all-time.

Army, which dropped both games with Bucknell this season by three-point margins, fell to 10-13 overall and 4-6 in the Patriot League.

After racing to a 15-point first-half lead and taking a 29-18 lead into the locker room, Bucknell had to withstand some red-hot shooting from the Black Knights after intermission. The Bison never trailed in the game, but Army tied the score for the first time at 35-all after J.P. Spatola's 30-foot 3-pointer capped a 17-6 run to start the half.

Bryan Bailey answered with a trey at the 14:30 mark, and Bucknell maintained the lead for the next 12 minutes. Charles Woodruff, who finished with 24 points, capped an 8-2 run and tied the game at 60 with a layup with 2:18 remaining in regulation.

Bailey and Woodruff missed shots on their team's next possessions, and Lalugba finally broke the deadlock when he put back a Brian Werner miss with 1:22 remaining. On Army's next possession, Werner intercepted a pass in the backcourt and was fouled from behind on a breakaway with 35 seconds remaining.

Werner made 1 of 2 free throws to make it 63-60. Josh Wilson's reverse layup with 23 seconds left cut it to 63-62, and Army immediately fouled Bailey on the inbounds. Bailey made both charity attempts to restore the three-point lead.

Chris Spatola, who leads the Patriot League in scoring and 3-pointers made, misfired from deep on the left wing with eight seconds left, but the carom went out of play off a Bison player with three ticks remaining. Chris Spatola took the sideline inbounds pass but was forced to spin away from the basket, and his off-balance 40-footer fell well short as time expired.

Army was ice cold in the opening half, shooting only 27.6 percent from the floor. The Spatola brothers were a combined 0-for-10, while Woodruff provided the bulk of the offense, scoring the Black Knights' first 12 points. Andy Smith's jumper with 3:53 remaining in the half was Army's first basket by anyone other than Woodruff.

Bailey scored 10 of his 23 points in the opening half and tied his career-high with nine rebounds. Bailey moved from 25th to 21st on Bucknell's all-time scoring list with 1,045 points, passing Sekou Hamer '96, Mark Atkinson '87 and Gordon Mboya '97.

Bucknell shot 41.2 percent from the field and outrebounded the Black Knights 36-33. Army shot 44.6 percent and 63.0 percent in the second half. Chris Spatola finished with 11 points on 4-of-15 shooting.

For Bucknell, the win had added importance in the Patriot League race, as first-place American lost to Lafayette and second-place Holy Cross fell to Colgate. Bucknell now joins Holy Cross and Lafayette in a three-way tie for second place, just a single game behind American.

The Bison can move back into the conference lead when they host American Wednesday evening at 7 p.m.