Bucknell Embarks on Tough Road Trip as Patriot League Race Enters Final Weekend

Second-place Bison visit Holy Cross on Friday, Colgate Sunday

Donald Brown and the Bison are one game out of the league lead entering play this weekend.

Feb. 25, 2004

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The race for the Patriot League regular-season title comes down to the final weekend, with the top four teams separated by a mere two games in the standings. Bucknell is the league's hottest team. A home sweep of then-first-place Lafayette and Army extended the Bison's winning streak to seven, and the Herd has won 10 of 11 heading into this weekend's tough road trip to Holy Cross and Colgate. Bucknell and Lafayette are tied for second at 9-3, one game back of frontrunning Lehigh. American lurks two back at 8-4. While Holy Cross and Colgate are under .500 in Patriot League play, both are extremely dangerous, particularly on their home floors where they are a combined 14-7 this season. The Crusaders are the three-time defending league champs, while Colgate was picked third in the Patriot League preseason poll but has struggled without injured forward Howard Blue. Bucknell finished 10-2 at home, including nine straight wins, but the Bison must finish strong on the road, where they are just 2-9 this season. The Bison defeated both the Crusaders and the Raiders at Sojka Pavilion four weeks ago.

key stats
* Bucknell leads the Patriot League and ranks 35th nationally in rebound margin at +5.7.
* Bucknell's freshmen and sophomores have accounted for 81.0% of the team's scoring this season.
* Bucknell ranks second in the league in field-goal percentage (.466) but seventh in 3-point percentage (.307). Inside the arc, the Bison shoot 54.5% as a team.
* In two wins last weekend the Bison had a combined 34-23 assist-turnover ratio. Holy Cross and Colgate both have positive A-T ratios this season, while Bucknell ranks sixth in the Patriot League in that category.
* Friday's game pits the league's two-best defensive teams. Holy Cross allows only 58.3 ppg, while Bucknell yields 60.3 ppg.

on a roll
With the Patriot League's youngest lineup really hitting stride, the Bison are enjoying their best prolonged stretch in five years. Bucknell's 10-1 run marks its best 11-game record since late in the 1998-99 season.

streaking
Bucknell's seven-game winning streak is 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. The longest overall winning streak in school history is 17 games (1902-04), and the longest within a season is 12 games (1907-08). The current seven-game streak is tied for the 11th-longest in-season streak and is tied for the 16th-longest overall winning streak in school history.

longest bucknell winning streaks under Pat Flannery (since 1994-95): 8 1/13/96 - 2/7/96 7 1/30/04 - pres. 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

breaking down the race
With only two "shopping days" left before the Patriot League Tournament, the battle for seedings still remains extremely unsettled. Depending on this weekend's outcomes, Bucknell could finish anywhere from first to fourth. In determining tiebreakers, first head-to-head record is considered, then a comparison of records against the rest of the league, starting at the top. If the tie still cannot be broken, then the RPI rankings are used.

Team              RPI*   Remaining Games    Combined PL Record
Lehigh (10-2)     189    @CU, @HC           9-15
Bucknell (9-3)    206    @HC, @CU           9-15
Lafayette (9-3)   111    USNA, AU           8-16
American (8-4)    186    @USMA, @LC         12-12
Holy Cross (5-7)  240    BU, LU             19-5
Colgate (4-8)     271    LU, BU             19-5
Army (3-9)        312    AU, USNA           8-16
Navy (0-12)       320    @LC, @USMA         12-12
*Source: rpiratings.com

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 10-1 and have moved into a tie for second place in the loop, just one game back of frontrunner Lehigh. Bucknell is 6-0 in the month of February.

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 118-62 (.656) conference ledger and have clinched at least a .500 PL record for the 12th time in 14 years in the league.

beating the best
In the last two weeks Bucknell has twice beaten the Patriot League's first-place team. On Feb. 11, Lehigh came to Lewisburg in a first-place tie with Lafayette, but left in second place after falling to the Bison 64-63. Nine days later Bucknell trounced first-place Lafayette 79-61.

deja vu for black knights
It's safe to assume that Army does not want to face Bucknell in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament, given what happened in the two regular-season matchups this year. Last Sunday in Lewisburg the Bison destroyed the Black Knights 75-25, breaking the 35-year-old school record for largest margin of victory while holding Army to eight field goals. On. Jan. 23 at West Point, Army managed only seven field goals, including just two in the second half, in a 56-23 loss. In both games Bucknell just missed the NCAA record for fewest points allowed in the shot clock era (since 1986). That record is 21, set by Coastal Carolina against Georgia Southern in 1997.

fewest points allowed, game (since 1986)
1.  21  Coastal Carolina (61) vs. Georgia Southern, 1/2/97
2.  23  Bucknell (56) vs. Army, 1/23/04
    23  Dayton (60) vs. Miami (Ohio), 1/29/01
4.  24  LSU (68) vs. Nicholls State, 11/22/02
5.  25  Bucknell (75) vs. Army, 2/22/04
    25  N.C. State (75) vs. Texas-Pan American, 1/7/97
    25  Wisconsin-Green Bay (69) vs. Valparaiso, 3/2/92

more on the army game
* Bucknell held Army to 3-for-17 shooting in the first half and took a 41-9 halftime lead. Army had field goal droughts of 10:31 in the first half and 16:03 in the second half.
* For the game the Bison held the Black Knights to 17.8% shooting from the field (8-45) and 10.0% from 3-point range (2-20).
* A dozen different Bison entered the scoring column, led by Matt Quinn's 13 points, and 11 players grabbed at least one rebound. Bucknell shot 60.4% from the field and held a 41-23 rebounding edge.

senior sendoff
Bucknell started all five of its seniors - Jeremiah Bennett, Jack Namvou, Matt Quinn, Davorin Skornik and Roland Webber - in Sunday's home finale against Army, and the group contributed mightily to the record-setting win. The senior class combined for 37 points on 15 of 24 (.625) shooting.

bucknell vs. holy cross, part one
Back on Feb. 1 at Sojka Pavilion, Kevin Bettencourt scored a game-high 29 points to lead Bucknell to a 77-67 win over Holy Cross. Charles Lee scored all 14 of his points in the second half and Chris McNaughton (12) and Donald Brown (11) also scored in double figures for the Bison, who shot 57.5% from the field against the Patriot League's top-ranked defense. Nate Lufkin led the Crusaders with 12 points. Bucknell had been 0-9 when trailing at the half but erased a 32-31 halftime deficit with two key second-half runs. The game was tied at 53 when Bucknell scored nine straight points to put the game away.

bucknell vs. colgate, part one
Charles Lee recorded his first career double-double with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Kevin Bettencourt matched his point total to lead Bucknell to a 61-53 win over Colgate on Jan. 30 at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell sprinted to an early 21-8 lead, fell behind by a point for one possession in the second half, then iced it with some clutch defense and free-throw shooting down the stretch. Kendall Chones led Colgate with 19 points. He made 8 of 14 shots from the field, but the rest of the Raiders made only 9 of 34. Colgate also struggled from the free-throw line, missing 9 of 11 during one stretch in the second half.