Lalugba, Bettencourt Earn Patriot League All-Star Nods

Lalugba Earns First-Team Spot, Bettencourt is Rookie of Year

Boakai Lalugba is now a two-time First Team All-Patriot League selection.

March 5, 2003

LEWISBURG, Pa. - Bucknell senior forward Boakai Lalugba (East Orange, N.J./Essex Catholic) and freshman guard Kevin Bettencourt (Peabody, Mass./Peabody) were recognized by the Patriot League men's basketball coaches with selections to the All-Patriot League Team on Wednesday.

Lalugba was named to the All-Patriot League First Team for the second straight season, giving the Bison a first team all-star for the 20th straight year. That is believed to be the longest active streak in Division I.

Bettencourt walked off with Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors, joining Gordon Mboya (1994) and Dan Bowen (1997) as Bucknell players to win that award. Bettencourt, who was also named to the Patriot League All-Rookie Team, won a record nine of the 15 rookie of the week awards in 2002-03.

Bettencourt ranks second on the Bison and first among Patriot League freshmen in scoring at 10.9 ppg. His 295 points through 27 games is the fifth-highest total for a freshman in Bucknell history. Bettencourt had two 20-point outings during the regular season (against American and Army), the highest single-game output by a rookie since Mboya tallied 20 against Iona in 1993-94.

Lalugba is nearing the end of a brilliant career in Orange and Blue. Despite playing only two years of high school ball before coming to Bucknell, he became just the 13th Bison to earn first-team all-conference honors at least twice.

A team co-captain, Lalugba has led the Patriot League in rebounding all year (9.7 rpg), and he is the only league player to rank in the top 10 in scoring, rebounding, field goal percentage, blocks and steals. He ranks 22nd nationally in rebounding and tied for sixth in double-doubles with 16. Lalugba was named Patriot League Player of the Week three times this season and was selected to the all-tournament teams at Arizona State and George Washington (MVP).

The athletic power forward known across the league for his acrobatic dunks has become the first Patriot League player, and only the second at Bucknell, to accrue 1,300 points, 700 rebounds and 100 steals in a career. He currently ranks ninth on Bucknell's career rebounding list (717) and 10th in total points (1305).

Lalugba also ranks fifth on Bucknell's all-time list in blocked shots (88), fifth in career field-goal percentage (.534), eighth in steals (121) and first in free-throw attempts (551).

Joining Lalugba on the all-league first team were Patriot League Player of the Year Patrick Whearty of Holy Cross, Jave Meade of Holy Cross, Steven Miles of American and Zlatko Savovic of Lehigh.

Named to the second team were Lafayette's Justin DeBerry, Holy Cross' Brian Wilson, Lehigh's Matt Logie, Colgate's Mark Linebaugh and American's Glenn Stokes.

Alongside Bettencourt on the all-rookie team were Lehigh's Mitch Gilfillan, Colgate's Alvin Reed, Navy's David Hooper and American's Raimondas Petrauskas.

Bucknell has now had 18 first-team All-Patriot League selections in 13 years, in addition to seven second-team choices and five all-rookie picks.

The fifth-seeded Bison (13-14, 7-7) open the 2003 Patriot League Tournament Saturday at 2:30 p.m. against No. 4 Lehigh at the Show Place Arena in Upper Marlboro, Md.