Bucknell Reaches Third Straight Patriot League Final with 68-47 Victory over Army - BUCKNELL UNIVERSITY OFFICIAL ATHLETIC SITE

Bucknell Reaches Third Straight Patriot League Final with 68-47 Victory over Army

McNaughton's 23 Points Help Bison to 14th Straight Win

John Griffin and the Bison advanced to the Patriot League championship game for the third straight year and seventh time overall.

March 4, 2007

Box Score | Photo Gallery

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Chris McNaughton scored 23 points and Donald Brown had 15 points and nine rebounds to lead second-seeded Bucknell to a 68-47 victory over No. 6 Army in a Patriot League Tournament semifinal game Sunday at sold-out Sojka Pavilion. The win was Bucknell's 14th in a row, extending the team's modern-day record, and it set up a third straight Bucknell-Holy Cross championship showdown.

Bucknell alumni and fans may purchase tickets beginning at 11 a.m. Monday by calling 570-577-1000. To reserve a spot on a fan bus, please call Todd Newcomb at 570-577-1771.

Top-seeded Holy Cross defeated American 55-53 in the other semifinal, and the Crusaders will host the Patriot League championship game on Friday at 4:30 p.m. on ESPN2. Bucknell alumni and fans may purchase tickets beginning at 11 a.m. Monday by calling 570-577-1000. To reserve a spot on a fan bus, please call Todd Newcomb at 570-577-1771.

This will be the 12th meeting in four years between Bucknell and Holy Cross. The two teams have met in the postseason in each of the last three years, with the Bison winning all three. They won a first-round game in 2004, then defeated the Crusaders in the championship tilt in 2005 and 2006, first at Holy Cross, then at Sojka Pavilion. Both teams finished the 2007 league schedule at 13-1, but the Crusaders claimed the No. 1 seed based on the RPI tiebreaker.

Bucknell (22-8) and Army (15-16) were meeting for the second time in eight days. The Bison needed a last-minute 3-pointer from Abe Badmus to escape West Point with a 54-49 win at West Point in the regular-season finale last weekend. The Black Knights again matched Bucknell basket-for-basket for most of the first half, but the Bison finally blew it open with a 25-2 run over a 13-minute stretch in the second half.

Jarell Brown scored 17 points to lead Army. Brown and senior Matt Bell scored 13 points each in the first half, combining for 26 of Army's 32 points. But in the second half the Bison defense shut out Bell and held Brown to only four points. As a team, Army managed only two field goals and eight points over the first 17:47 of the second stanza.

It was just a 43-38 game when Brown made two technical foul free throws with 16:27 to play. That was also the time when Badmus picked up his fourth foul, but even with the former Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year on the bench, Bucknell's defense took over. The Bison shut out Army for the next eight minutes, scoring 14 straight points in the interim.

Brown's tip-in started the run, then McNaughton dropped in a short hook shot and Stephen Tyree put back a teammate's miss to make it 49-38. Brown made 1 of 2 free throws on an Army intentional foul, and on the ensuing inbounds Tyree passed to McNaughton on the right block for another layup. Just over a minute later McNaughton found John Griffin on a kick-out for a 3-pointer, then Tyree picked off a pass near midcourt and went in for a breakaway jam to give the Bison a commanding 57-38 lead.

Brown's step-back baseline jumper ended the run at the 8:25 mark, but McNaughton followed with a 3-point play to ignite another 11-0 surge. Darren Mastropaolo's free throws with 3:28 to play gave the Bison their largest lead of 28 points at 68-40.

Bucknell cleared the bench with under three minutes left, bringing a rousing ovation for seniors Badmus, Brown and McNaughton, each of whom played in their final home game. Already the program's winningest senior class, the trio put the finishing touches on a perfect 35-0 home record against Patriot League teams over the last four seasons.

McNaughton, who broke the Bucknell career games-played record by stepping on the floor for the 124th consecutive time, hit the 20-point mark for the third time this season. In his second game back after missing seven with a hand injury, Brown posted 15 points and nine rebounds for the second straight game.

Griffin finished with seven points, five rebounds and three assists without a turnover for the Bison, while Darren Mastropaolo also had seven points and three assists. Tyree had four points, four rebounds and three assists in 20 bench minutes, and Rob Thomas also gave Bucknell a lift off the bench with Badmus in foul trouble, finishing with two points, a rebound and two steals in 11 minutes of action.

Bucknell made 10 of its first 12 attempts and shot a sizzling 68.2 percent in the first half. With nearly all of the production coming from Bell and Brown, Army hit four 3-pointers and shot 44.4 percent in the opening half and led by a point at 29-28 at the five-minute mark. The Bison outscored the Black Knights 12-3 the rest of the way to grab a 40-32 lead at intermission, then pulled away with the terrific defensive effort in the second half.

The big run came despite a 1-for-11 showing from the 3-point arc in the second half. The Bison made only 4 of 17 from long distance in the game but still shot 53.1 percent overall. Bucknell outrebounded Army 37-21.

In addition to extending its overall winning streak to 14, the win was also Bucknell's 15th in a row over Army, its eighth straight Patriot League Tournament win, its 10th straight home win and its 35th straight home win over league foes. The 14-game run is tied with Ohio State for the third-longest in the nation, trailing only Memphis (19) and Winthrop (18). It is also the longest in-season winning streak in school history. The only two longer streaks in Bucknell annals came during a much different era of basketball, a 17-game run that spanned 1902-04 and a 15-game streak that bridged two seasons, ending in 1902.

Bucknell and Holy Cross split two regular-season meetings this year. The Crusaders handed the Bison their most recent defeat, 65-60 at the Hart Center on Jan. 12, while Bucknell won 48-45 at Sojka Pavilion on Feb. 9.