Feb. 19, 2004
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Only four games remain in the 2003-04 regular season, and the jockeying for Patriot League Tournament seedings heats up this weekend as first-place Lafayette and sixth-place Army invade Sojka Pavilion. As the stretch run begins, no league team is hotter than Bucknell, which has won five straight and eight of nine. The Herd's only loss in that span came at Lafayette (81-72) on Jan. 25, and the two in-state rivals are set to clash again on Friday night in one of the biggest games of the year in the Patriot League. After making it through the first round of league play unblemished at 7-0, the Leopards are looking to go wire-to-wire for the No. 1 seed. The league's highest-scoring team is now 9-1 in league play, with its only loss coming at Colgate on Feb. 6. On Sunday, Bucknell will take on an improving Army club that last weekend completed a season sweep of Colgate with a 68-63 win in Hamilton, N.Y. The Bison have beaten the Black Knights six straight times, including a record-setting 56-23 win at West Point last month, and Army is looking for its first win in Lewisburg since 1997.
key stats
* Bucknell leads the Patriot League and ranks 35th nationally in rebound margin at +4.9.
* Bucknell has won seven straight home games and is 5-0 in PL play at Sojka Pavilion.
* Bucknell's freshmen and sophomores have accounted for 84.8% of the team's scoring this season.
* The Bison this weekend take on the league's highest scoring team in Lafayette (76.7) and the league's lowest scoring team in Army (51.9).
* Bucknell ranks second in the league in field-goal percentage (.457) but last in 3-point percentage (.299). Inside the arc, the Bison shoot 53.6% as a team.
* Two of the Patriot League's top three scorers square off Friday, as Bucknell's Kevin Bettencourt (2nd, 15.7) and Lafayette's Justin DeBerry (3rd, 15.6) do battle. Only three points separate the two players.
on a roll
With the Patriot League's youngest lineup really hitting stride, the Bison are enjoying their best prolonged stretch in five years. While the current five-game winning streak is the longest since 1999-2000, Bucknell's 8-1 run marks its best nine-game record since late in the 1998-99 season. That year, the Bison finished 16-13, 9-3, and advanced all the way to the Patriot League championship game before falling 67-63 at Lafayette.
streaking
Bucknell's five-game winning streak matches the second-longest streak in Pat Flannery's 10-year tenure as head coach. The longest run under Flannery's watch was an eight-game streak in 1995-96.
Longest Bucknell Winning Streaks Under Pat Flannery (Since 1994-95):
8 1/13/96 - 2/7/96
5 1/11/97 - 1/25/97
5 1/9/99 - 1/23/99
5 1/31/99 - 2/17/99
5 1/15/00 - 1/26/00
5 2/9/00 - 2/23/00
5 1/30/04 - pres.
streak busters
Coincidentally, each of Bucknell's last four winning streaks of five games or more have all been snapped by Lafayette. The Leopards will have a chance to be spoilers again on Friday night.
a great month
On Jan. 14, the Bison lost at Lehigh 75-70, and fell to 3-11 overall and 0-2 in the Patriot League. Since then they are 8-1 and have moved into sole possession of third place in the loop, just two games back of frontrunner Lafayette and one behind Lehigh. Bucknell is 4-0 in the month of February.
home sweet home
Bucknell this weekend wraps up a key stretch with 6 of 7 games at home, with last Saturday's affair at Navy marking the team's lone road tilt over a 33-day span. The Bison have won seven straight at home and are now 8-2 at Sojka Pavilion this season.
senior salute
Prior to Sunday's game against Army, the Bison will honor five senior players - Jeremiah Bennett, Jack Namvou, Matt Quinn, Davorin Skornik and Roland Webber - along with senior manager Karli Perrine.
patriot league powers
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 116-62 (.652) conference ledger and have clinched at least a .500 PL record for the 12th time in 14 years in the league.
last time out
Kevin Bettencourt scored a game-high 17 points, including a pivotal 3-pointer in the final two minutes, and Bucknell overcame a late six-point deficit to defeat Navy 54-52 at Alumni Hall on Saturday (see boxscore, page 28). Bucknell snapped a 13-game losing streak to Navy in Annapolis, although the Midshipmen nearly kept the streak alive by successfully using a slow-down offense to turn the game into a defensive struggle. But after falling behing 44-38 with 6:45 to go, it was Bucknell's defense that turned the tide. Three straight steals leading to fastbreak layups capped a 10-0 run, giving the Bison a 48-44 lead at the three-minute mark. After Navy pulled within 50-49 on a Chika Onyekanne 3-pointer, Bettencourt drained a triple of his own just seconds later to restore the four-point margin. Charles Lee, who had nine points, 10 rebounds and five assists, corralled a loose ball after Navy point guard Kwame Ofori lost his balance trying to penetrate for the tying shot as time expired.
bucknell vs. lafayette, part one
Back on Jan. 25 at Kirby Sports Center, Marcus Harley stepped off the bench and scored 14 points to lead a balanced Lafayette attack, and the Leopards stayed unbeaten at 5-0 in the Patriot League with an 81-72 win (see boxscore, page 26). Chris McNaughton had 16 points and 10 rebounds, and Kevin Bettencourt also scored 16 to lead Bucknell, which trailed only 73-69 with the ball with two minutes to play. But two missed free throws proved costly, and Lafayette canned 6 of 8 from the line down the stretch to seal the verdict. The Leopards outscored Bucknell 23-7 from the line.
bucknell vs. army, part one
A record-setting defensive effort highlighted Bucknell's eerie 56-23 victory over Army on Jan. 23 at Christl Arena (see boxscore, page 25). The Bison limited the Black Knights to a Patriot League record-low seven field goals, including just two in the second half. Since the implementation of the shot clock in 1986, Bucknell's 23-points allowed were just two shy of the NCAA record, set by Coastal Carolina in a 61-21 win over Georgia Southern in 1997. It was the fewest points allowed by BU since 1942, and the fewest scored by Army since 1941. Abe Badmus had one of the better games of his young career with 13 points and nine rebounds. Charles Lee added 13 points and John Clark a career-high 12 for Bucknell, which posted the 33-point win despite not getting a field goal from leading scorer Kevin Bettencourt and not converting a field goal at all for the game's final 10:07. Josh Wilson had six points for Army, which shot just 19.4% for the game and 9.5% in the second half.
patriot league honors keep pouring in
Kevin Bettencourt on Monday captured the Patriot League Player of the Week honor for a league-high fourth time this season, and it was the third straight week that a Bucknell player copped the honor (Charles Lee won it on Feb. 9 and Bettencourt on Feb. 2). Bettencourt averaged 16.0 ppg in narrow victories over Lehigh and Navy last week, and made crucial plays in the closing seconds of each. Against Lehigh, he hit the winning free-throw with 7.6 seconds left in a 64-63 triumph, and against Navy his huge 3-pointer with 1:46 left answered a Navy trey and gave Bucknell a four-point lead.
