12 January, 2008
by Jake Wilson
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1st |
2nd |
Final |
| Navy (7-9, 0-1 Patriot) |
46 |
31 |
77 |
| Bucknell (6-9, 1-0 Patriot) |
39 |
46 |
85 |
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| Keys to the Game |
| Key sequence |
Navy led 48-40 early in the second half when Greg Sprink — who led all scorers at the time with 18 points — picked up his fourth personal foul and went to the bench. With Sprink sidelined, Bucknell would outscore its guests 23-8 over the next 10-plus minutes to turn the eight-point deficit into a 63-56 lead. Jason Vegotsky got the run going with a pair of three-pointers, and John Griffin capped off the spurt with six straight points, including a four-point play at the 7:37 mark.
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| Key sign it was over |
Kaleo Kina’s three-pointer drew the Midshipmen to within 77-70 with 1:50 left, but Justin Castleberry was perfect on two attempts from the line. Griffin blocked Chris Harris’s three-point attempt, and though a Rob Thomas turnover gave the ball back to Navy, Kina was off the mark this time from the outside. An offensive foul on Justin Castleberry gave the visitors a glimmer of hope, but Sprink misfired on a three, and two Vegtosky free throws gave Bucknell a double-digit lead at 81-70 with just 33 seconds left.
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| Key performance |
Stephen Tyree had an excellent all-around game for the Bison, finishing with 10 points on perfect 4-for-4 shooting, while tying for a game high with seven rebounds and posting a game-best six assists in 30 minutes, during which time he committed just one turnover.
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| Key statistic |
In the second half, Bucknell found its shooting touch, going 14 of 25 (56.6 percent) from the floor and 5 of 11 from three. By contrast, Navy struggled mightily with its shooting, connecting on just 10 of 34 attempts (29.4 percent) and 5 of 18 (27.8 percent) from the outside.
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| Notes
– Sprink and Kina led Navy with 26 and 24 points, respectively, but the pair combined to shoot just 18 of 45 (40.0 percent) from the floor and 8 of 23 (34.7 percent) from three.
– Justin Castleberry led Bucknell with 19 points, while Vegotsky added 14 and Griffin finished with 13.
– The Bison didn’t do themselves any favors at the line, where they were just 18 of 30 (60.0 percent).
– Rob Thomas returned from injury to score six points and recorded four rebounds and three assists in 15 minutes.
– The win extended Bucknell’s league home winning streak to 36 games.
– The Bison will welcome American to Sojka Pavilion on Wednesday, January 16, for a 7:00 pm ET tipoff, while the Midshipmen play their league home opener against Lehigh scheduled for the same date and time.
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