Courtesy: UAlbany Sports Lewisburg, Pa. – Patrick Behan scored a team-high 16 points to lead Bucknell to a 55-52 season-opening win over UAlbany on Saturday, Nov. 10 before a crowd of 4,056 at Sojka Pavilion. It was the first time in the past four seasons that the Great Danes have not won their season lid-lifter.
Late in the second half, the Great Danes made it a one-point game as junior Jerel Hastings was fouled on a jumper in the lane, and converted the free throw that followed, to set the score at 36-35 with 13:05 on the clock. After back-to-back scores by Bucknell’s G.W. Boon put the Bison back in front, senior guard Jon Iati hit his third 3-pointer of the game to tie the score at 38-38 with 11:57 left to play.
After nearly three scoreless minutes, Bucknell broke the tie at 9:15 as Behan layed the ball into the basket in the paint. The Bison added to their lead as junior guard Justin Castleberry hit two free throws, but Josh Martin responded with a 3-pointer for UAlbany at 7:39 to keep the Great Danes within one, 42-41.
UAlbany (0-1) took its first lead of the game, 49-48, at 1:43 as Lillis hit a jumper from just inside the arc as the shot clock expired. Coming out of the ensuing Bucknell timeout, Griffin hit a three to put the Bison back on top by two, 51-49, with just over a minute left to play.
Castleberry scored the final points for Bucknell, hitting a jumper with 13.5 seconds on the clock and making two free throws with five ticks left. Martin hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for UAlbany to set the final three-point margin.
“This is a tough place to play,” said UAlbany head coach Will Brown, whose team defeated Bucknell, 55-49, in the last year's opener at SEFCU Arena. “They are so well coached, they have a methodical style and they wait for you to break down. Their shooting percentage wasn’t much better than ours, but they made the big plays when it mattered.”
Bucknell jumped out to an early 8-2 lead on back-to-back baskets by Stephen Tyree and Patrick Behan, which followed two made free throws by John Griffin. Griffin went to the stripe prior to tip-off, as UAlbany was issued a technical foul during warm-ups. Senior Brian Lillis scored the first points for the Great Danes at 17:59.
Bucknell (1-0) added to its lead, taking a 24-16 advantage into a media timeout at 3:11 of the first half, as Behan made back-to-back baskets. Tyree missed a jumpshot just outside the lane, but gathered his own rebound and handed off to Behan under the basket at 4:53 to put the Bison up, 20-16. Behan added two more at 3:43 on a spinning move to the hoop.
Iati scored six of his eight first-half points in the closing minutes of the first stanza, as he hit back-to-back three pointers to pull the Great Danes within 28-22 at the halftime break.
“We all agreed that we came out more not to lose instead of playing to win,” offered Lillis, who scored a career-high 20 points on 9-of-15 shooting and added four assists. “We lost this together. We need to do whatever we have to do to win. I’d rather score zero [points] and get a win than score 20.”
UAlbany pulled within two, 28-26, scoring the first points of the second half, and held Bucknell scoreless for the first three and half minutes of the stanza. The Bison broke their scoring drought at 16:33, as junior center Josh Linthicum hit two free throws.
Iati finished with 11 points for the Great Danes. Senior Brent Wilson grabbed a team-high seven rebounds. Castleberry scored 11 points while Tyree grabbed a game-high 13 boards for Bucknell.
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