Three Bison Earn Men's Basketball All-Patriot League Nods

Bettencourt, Lee Named to Second Team, McNaughton to All-Freshman Unit

Kevin Bettencourt followed up his 2003 Patriot League Rookie of the Year selection with a second-team all-league citation in 2004.

March 3, 2004

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell sophomore guards Kevin Bettencourt (Peabody, Mass./Peabody H.S.) and Charles Lee (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard H.S.) were named to the All-Patriot League Second Team on Wednesday, while rookie center Chris McNaughton (Leutershausen, Germany/Dientzenhofer Gymnasium) earned a spot on the league's all-freshman team.

The results of the All-Patriot League voting, conducted by the league's head coaches, were announced by the league office on Wednesday. Bucknell tied for the league lead with three overall selections.

Bettencourt enters this weekend's Patriot League Tournament as the Patriot League's No. 2 scorer, averaging 15.3 points per game. The 2003 Patriot League Rookie of the Year also ranks second in the league in both free-throw shooting (.830) and 3-pointers made (69), as well as fifth in steals and sixth in assists.

Bettencourt has eight 20-point games this season, including a career-high 42-point outing at Saint Francis (Pa.) on Dec. 6, when he broke league and school records with 11 3-pointers. He earned four Patriot League Player of the Week honors this season, the most of any league player.

Charles Lee copped all-league honors for the first time in his career.

The emergence of Lee as a "go-to" player was a key factor in Bucknell's late-season surge. The second-year guard entered Patriot League play averaging 5.2 points per game, but he upped that figure to 13.8 ppg in league play, which ranked fifth in the league. Overall he averages 9.7 ppg while shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 81.4 percent from the foul line, which is third-best in the league. He also ranks sixth in the loop in rebounding (5.1), fifth in steals (1.56) and eighth in assists (2.74).

McNaughton developed into one of the league's elite big men in his very first year of college basketball. He leads the Patriot League in field goal percentage at 66.2 percent - a figure that would rank third nationally but he is four field goals shy of meeting the NCAA minimum. McNaughton also ranks 10th in the league in scoring (11.4) and fifth in rebounding (5.3).

Chris McNaughton leads all Patriot League rookies in rebounding.

McNaughton has scored in double figures 18 times this season, including a high of 22 points at Northwestern on Dec. 3. He also scored 20 against Penn and Lafayette.

The 2004 All-Patriot League Team is dominated by guards. All five first-team selections are senior guards, with player of the year Austen Rowland of Lehigh joined by American's Andres Rodriguez, Holy Cross' Jave Meade and Lafayette's Justin DeBerry and Winston Davis.

Bucknell saw its streak of 20 consecutive seasons with at least one first-team all-league selection come to an end. That had been the longest such streak in the country among Division I teams. The last time the Bison did not have at least one first-team pick was in 1983.

Bettencourt and Lee are two of four guards on the second team. Colgate's Mark Linebaugh and Holy Cross' Keith Hamilton were also picked, along with Lafayette's Mike Farrell, who is the only frontcourt player to earn an all-league spot.

Joining McNaughton on the all-freshman team are Colgate's Kendall Chones, Lehigh's Jose Olivero, Holy Cross' Keith Simmons and the freshman of the year, Andre Ingram of American.

Lehigh's Billy Taylor was named the Patriot League Coach of the Year after guiding the Mountain Hawks to a regular-season co-championship and the No. 1 seed at the Patriot League Tournament.

Bucknell tied for third with Lafayette with a 9-5 conference record and heads into the tournament as the No. 4 seed. The Bison will face fifth-seeded Holy Cross, the three-time defending champion, in the opening round on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.