Feb. 13, 2007
WHAT: Bucknell (16-8, 10-1) vs. Lafayette (8-17, 2-8)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Thursday, February 15, 2007, 7 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
LIVE ONLINE VIDEO: Patriot League All-Access
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES
Now back in a tie for first place in the Patriot League standings, Bucknell hosts Lafayette on Thursday evening in a game with significant tournament implications. Winners of eight in a row, the Bison need a victory to remain at least tied for the Patriot League lead with Holy Cross. Lafayette has dropped four in a row and now reside in sole possession of eighth place, but the Leopards are just one game behind Army and Navy for the No. 6 spot. While these two teams are at opposite ends of the standings, Lafayette gave Bucknell fits in Easton back on Jan. 17 before the Bison prevailed 67-61. Bucknell continues to get good balance at both ends of the floor. Against Holy Cross on Friday no player scored more than 10 points, but six scored at least six points. Chris McNaughton, in particular, has upped his production, averaging 11.9 points and 8.5 rebounds over his last eight games, and he has posted double-digit rebounds in four of his last eight games. For Lafayette, Matt Betley leads the squad in both scoring (10.6) and rebounding (4.6). The Leopards, who own PL wins over Colgate and Army, are tied for second in the Patriot League in scoring offense (64.8) but rank last in the league in scoring defense (72.8).
with a victory over lafayette, bucknell would ...
-- ... win its ninth game in a row.
-- ... clinch at least the No. 2 seed and home-court advantage through the semifinal round of the Patriot League Tournament.
-- ... win its 17th game in 21 outings since the 0-4 start.
-- ... maintain at least a share of first place in the Patriot League standings.
-- ... win its 33rd straight home game against Patriot League foes (regular season and tournament).
-- ... win all seven PL regular-season home games for the fourth straight season.
-- ... win its 8th straight game against the Leopards.
-- ... win its 7th straight home game against the Leopards.
-- ... improve to 36-4 in Patriot League play since the start of the 2004-05 season (42-4 including PL tournament games) and 25-1 since the start of the 2005-06 season (28-1 including PL tournament games).
bucknell vs. lafayette
Bucknell and Lafayette have met 138 times previously, making the Leopards Bucknell's second most-played opponent (the Bison have played Lehigh 145 times). Since the series began in 1915, Lafayette leads 82-56. Since the start of Patriot League play in 1990-91, however, Bucknell has won 27 of 37 meetings, including the last seven in a row. The Leopards are 0-5 against Bucknell at Sojka Pavilion and have lost six in a row overall in Lewisburg.
bucknell vs. lafayette earlier this season
Donald Brown had a game-high 19 points and Jason Vegotsky scored a season-high 18 to help Bucknell to a come-from-behind 67-61 win at the Kirby Sports Center on Jan. 17. Chris McNaughton pitched in nine points and 11 rebounds for the Bison, who got off to a slow start, turning the ball over on five straight possessions to start the game. Lafayette sprinted to a 13-3 lead and maintained the advantage throughout the entire first half. The lead changed hands four times in the second half, and the Bison made their final 15 free throws of the night to put it away. Andrew Brown scored 14 points to lead the Leopards.
bucknell vs. lafayette last season
The Bison swept the Leopards last season, winning both meetings by a combined 50 points.
-- On Jan. 18 at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell held Lafayette to its lowest point total since 1948 in a 62-32 victory. Kevin Bettencourt scored a game-high 19 points, but the story was Bucknell's defense which forced the Leopards to miss 37 of 48 shots and commit 27 turnovers. Paul Cummins was Lafayette's top scorer with seven points.
-- On Feb. 15 at the Kirby Sports Center, No. 24 Bucknell played its first-ever game as a nationally ranked team and topped Lafayette 69-49 behind 14 points and 11 rebounds from Charles Lee. The Bison closed the first half with an 18-3 run to take control and improved to 21-3 on the season with their 12th straight win. Andrei Capusan led Lafayette with 12 points.
last time out
A heavyweight battle for first place went to Bucknell on Friday night at Sojka Pavilion, as the Bison prevailed 48-45 in an intense defensive struggle. The Crusaders came in with the nation's second-longest winning streak at 12 games and seemed poised to make it 13 straight after racing to a quick 12-2 lead. Bucknell pulled within five by halftime, then took its first lead since 2-0 early in the second half when Abe Badmus, scoreless to that point, produced the team's first seven points of the half. Neither team led by more than four points until the final minute. Leading 43-42 with 1:04 left, John Griffin hit a huge 3-pointer from the right corner to stretch the lead to four, then Badmus corralled a rebound and made two free throws to make it 48-42 with 38 seconds left. The Bison missed four straight free throws, however, and Torey Thomas had a chance at a tying 3-pointer at the final buzzer, but it rimmed in and out.
inside the holy cross boxscore
-- For the second time this season, Bucknell's leading scorer against Holy Cross was reserve guard Justin Castleberry, who scored all 10 of his points in the first half. Castleberry hit both of his 3-point attempts -- he is now 4-for-4 from the arc in the last two games -- and had a number of big plays to get Bucknell back in the game after falling behind by 10 early.
-- While Castleberry starred early in the game, John Griffin did all of his scoring damage late. Griffin scored seven points on 3-for-10 shooting, but all three of his buckets came in critical moments in the last 9:04. His first points of the night came on a short bank shot to break a 35-all tie. With the Bison down by three with 5:03 left he gobbled up an offensive rebound and stuck back a baseline jumper. After two Darren Mastropaolo free throws gave Bucknell a narrow 43-42 lead, Griffin drained a monumental 3-pointer that stretched the lead to four.
-- Mastropaolo continued his strong play with seven points, five rebounds and two assists. He tied his career high with five made free throws (in six attempts) and went 4-for-4 from the stripe in the final 8:16.
-- Abe Badmus went scoreless against Holy Cross in the first meeting of the year between the two teams, and he did not score in the first half on Friday against the Crusaders. He came out on fire in the second half, however, scoring seven points in the first 1:40 of the period. His 3-pointer capped his own personal 7-1 run and gave the Bison their first lead since 2-0.
-- Bucknell held Holy Cross to only four second-half field goals in 18 attempts. The Crusaders started 5-for-6 from the field en route to a quick 12-2 lead, but they went just 9-for-35 the rest of the way.
-- Freshman Patrick Behan scored a career-high six points on 3-for-4 shooting. The Bison trailed 35-31 midway through the second half when he hit back-to-back baskets to tie the score.
-- The 93 combined points were the third-fewest in Sojka Pavilion history, behind only the 86 scored in Bucknell's 50-36 win over Colgate earlier this year and the 91 scored in Bucknell's 53-38 win over Army on Jan. 24, 2003. It was also the lowest-scoring game in series history. It was the first time the Bison won a game when scoring less than 50 points since a 44-43 victory over Lafayette on Feb. 19, 1986.
chase for pl tournament seeding heats up
With each team having either three or four league games remaining on its schedule, there is still plenty to be decided when it comes to seeding for the Patriot League Tournament. At the top of the standings, Bucknell and Holy Cross are both tied for first place at 10-1. Both have already clinched home games for the quarterfinal round of the tournament, and both have a "magic number" of 1 (one more win or one more Lehigh loss) to lock up home court advantage through the semifinals. The battle for the No. 1 seed rages on, however (see tiebreaker procedures below). At 6-4, Lehigh seems to have a firm grasp on third place, but there is a logjam in the 4-8 positions. American and Colgate, both 4-7, are currently tied for the all-important No. 4 spot and the last quarterfinal home game, while Army and Navy are both just a half-game back at 3-7. Lafayette (2-8) is now in eighth but could still move well north in the standings.
patriot league tournament tiebreakers
In the case of ties in the Patriot League final regular-season standings, the following process will be used until all ties are broken and the seeding process is completed (ties will be broken in rank order beginning with the highest seed): The first tiebreaker is head-to-head competition. The higher seed will go to the team that has won the most Patriot League contests played against the other team(s) involved in the tie. If a tie still exists, a comparison of records will be made between the tied institutions starting at the highest possible seed and continuing through the lowest seed if necessary. If a tie still exists, the Patriot League office will use the RPI according to the Collegiate Basketball News men's RPI Report, published on the day following the final regular-season Patriot League game to determine the higher-seeded team.
what's left
For those Patriot League prognosticators out there, here is a look at each team's RPI (according to RPI guru Ken Pomeroy, through Monday's games) and remaining conference games.
Bucknell (10-1, RPI 97): Lafayette, @Lehigh, @Army
Holy Cross (10-1, RPI 65): @Navy, Colgate, @Lehigh
Lehigh (6-4, RPI 221): @Colgate, @Lafayette, Bucknell, Holy Cross
American (4-7, RPI 214): Army, @Navy, Lafayette
Colgate (4-7, RPI 257): Lehigh, at Holy Cross, Navy
Army (3-7, RPI 229): @American, @Navy, Lafayette, Bucknell
Navy (3-7, RPI 213): Holy Cross, Army, American, @Colgate
Lafayette (2-8, RPI 279): @Bucknell, Lehigh, @Army, @American
senior class closing in on victory record
The current Bucknell seniors -- Abe Badmus, Donald Brown and Chris McNaughton -- are a game away from tying the school record for victories by a class. Should the Bison defeat Lafayette, they can go for the outright record on Saturday against Towson, which is fittingly Senior Day at Sojka Pavilion.
Class Wins
1987 82
2007 81
2006 79
1989 78
1986 77
1993 77
1988 74
streaking
Bucknell has now pieced together a winning streak of seven games or longer in four straight seasons. Its current eight-game streak is tied for the seventh-longest active streak in the nation (through Monday).
Team Streak
Florida 16
Memphis 13
South Alabama 12
Winthrop 11
Central Connecticut 11
Ohio State 9
BUCKNELL 8
Georgetown 8
streaking, part ii
Bucknell's current eight-game winning streak is tied for the third-longest in the Pat Flannery era. The longest overall winning streak in school history is 17 games (1902-04), and the longest within a season is 12 games (1907-08 and 2005-06).
Longest Bucknell Winning Streaks Under Pat Flannery (Since 1994-95):
12 1/7/06-2/18/06
11 12/4/04 - 1/23/05
8 1/17/07-pres.
8 1/13/96 - 2/7/96
7 1/30/04 - 2/22/04
among the best
At 10-1 in Patriot League play, Bucknell and Holy Cross rank among the nation's best in terms of conference records. Through Monday, the Bison and Crusaders were two of 14 Division I teams to have won at least 90% of their league contests.
Team (Conf.) Record Pct.
Memphis (C-USA) 11-0 1.000
Winthrop (Big South) 11-0 1.000
Florida (SEC) 10-0 1.000
Central Connecticut (NEC) 13-1 .929
Davidson (Southern) 13-1 .929
Vermont (America East) 11-1 .917
Bucknell (Patriot) 10-1 .909
Holy Cross (Patriot) 10-1 .909
Nevada (WAC) 10-1 .909
Ohio State (Big 10) 10-1 .909
Oral Roberts (Mid-Con) 10-1 .909
Wisconsin (Big 10) 10-1 .909
Texas A&M (Big 12) 9-1 .900
Texas A&M Corpus-Christi (Southland) 9-1 .900
righting the ship
Bucknell got off to a frustrating 0-4 start this season, with two of the losses coming in overtime to Wake Forest and Penn State. Since then, however, the Bison are 16-4, with three of those setbacks coming to teams (Northern Iowa, Texas Tech, Holy Cross) with a combined 50-27 record. Since the 0-4 start, Bucknell has quality non-league wins over Xavier and George Mason. Five times they have come back from double-digit deficits to win (Saint Francis, Cornell, Lafayette, Colgate, Holy Cross), and six times they have won by 14 or more points, including four of the last seven.
badmus shines on "d"
Abe Badmus has long been considered one of the top defensive players in the Patriot League, and he won the league's inaugural Defensive Player of the Year Award as a sophomore in 2005. The 6'0" guard certainly has to be considered one of the favorites again this season, particularly given his recent defensive play. A prime example came in Friday's win over Holy Cross, when he was assigned to Crusader star Keith Simmons, a 6'5" wing and the league's leading scorer, for much of the second half. Badmus and company helped limit Simmons to three second-half field-goal attempts, with his only make coming with 12 seconds left in a six-point game.
glasswork
During its current eight-game winning streak, Bucknell has outrebounded its opponents 268-185 (+83). The Bison have walked away with the rebounding edge in nine of their 11 Patriot League games thus far, including eight straight.
patriot league success
No Patriot League team has won more regular-season conference games than Bucknell since the start of league play in 1990-91. The Bison carry an impressive 152-68 (.691) conference ledger and have now clinched their 15th winning or even conference record in 17 years. The Bison won a league-record 23 straight contests against conference foes from Feb. 23, 2005 to Jan. 12, 2007. Bucknell has an active streak of 32 straight wins at home against conference opponents, with their last home league loss coming on March 2, 2003 against Colgate.
who's got next?
Bucknell takes a break from Patriot League play on Saturday, hosting Towson in an O'Reilly's ESPNU BracketBusters game at 2 p.m. Following the Towson game, the Bison wrap up the 2006-07 regular season with road games at Lehigh on Wednesday and Army the following Saturday.
