17 February, 2007
by Elliot Smilowitz
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1st |
2nd |
Final |
| Towson (14-14) |
21 |
42 |
63 |
| Bucknell (18-8) |
36 |
37 |
73 |
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Bucknell earned the Patriot League’s only win in the ESPNU BracketBuster, taking down Towson 73-63 at Sojka Pavilion. On Senior Day, it was senior center Chris McNaughton who led the way, scoring 23 points.
Towson opened an early 8-3 lead, but Bucknell responded with a 16-1 run and the game would never again fall within single digits. Bucknell opened several leads of 23 in the second half. After the benches were emptied, Towson outscored Bucknell 11-2 in the final minute to make the score appear closer than the game was.
Towson star scorer Gary Neal scored 21 points, but he did it on 6-of-16 shooting from the field. C.C. Williams pitched in 12 points for the Tigers. John Griffin had 15 points for Bucknell, including 4 three-pointers.
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| Keys to the Game |
| Key sequence |
McNaughton took control early. He grabbed an offensive rebound and scored a put-back with 9:28 to go in the first half, then he grabbed a defensive rebound and put in a lay-up on the other end, giving Bucknell a 17-10 lead and sending Towson scurrying into a timeout.
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| Key sign it was over |
Midway through the second half, with Bucknell nursing a big lead, the Bison backups continued piling on, as Pat Behan scored a lay-up with 12:19 and Justin Castleberry hit a lay-up seconds later to make it a 55-32 game.
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| Key performance |
McNaughton had a big performance on his Senior Day, scoring 23 points, grabbing 8 rebounds and blocking 3 shots.
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| Key statistic |
Bucknell shot 56.5 percent from the floor in the first half, while Towson shot 28.6 percent.
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| Notes |
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Bucknell had 19 assists to 12 turnovers. Towson had 5 turnovers, but just 9 assists.
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Abe Badmus filled up the box score for the Bison with 4 points, 4 rebounds, 7 assists, a block and a steal.
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| – |
With the game no longer in doubt in the waning moments, George Medrano, Josh Linthicum, Zach Evans and Rob Thomas found their way into the lineup.
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| – |
Bucknell heads to Lehigh Wednesday night, before finishing off the regular season at Army next week.
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