Feb. 17, 2010
Box Score | Lafayette-Lehigh Tickets | Official Leopard Gear
LEWISBURG, Pa. - The adage says that it is hard to win on the road in conference play, and the Leopards found it even tougher on Wednesday without leading scorer Jared Mintz in the lineup. Bucknell won a 78-67 decision in a battle of second-place teams. Mintz, who was averaging 15.6 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, missed the game due to an ankle injury sustained in practice on Monday.
With the loss, Lafayette (15-11, 6-5) falls to fourth place in the Patriot League standings while Bucknell (12-15, 7-4) remains tied with Navy in second place after Wednesday night's action.
Lafayette had two players in double figures led by Jim Mower with 12 points and Michael Gruner adding 10. The Leopards hit 36 percent from the field and 73 percent from the line and were outrebounded 46-35.
Bucknell led from the tip with Joe Willman, who came in averaging 5.3 points per game, scoring the Bison's first 10 points (nearly eclipsing his career high of 11) in the first five minutes of the game. G.W. Boon followed with a three at 14:30 to make it 13-2, and the Bison never looked back, leading by as many as 21 points in the opening stanza. Lafayette never cut to the Bucknell margin to fewer than eight points in the half and Bucknell led 45-29 at halftime.
In the second half, Lafayette managed to whittled the lead to 12 on a Nick Petkovich three at 15:45 and then to 11 points when J.D. Pelham hit a three at 14:13 to make it 52-41. A breakaway dunk by Mower off a pass from Jeff Kari made it 54-43 under the 12-minute mark.
Lafayette finally cut the Bucknell advantage to 10, 62-52, with seven minutes left in the game on a baseline jumper by Darion Benbow. The Leopards committed a foul and Bryson Johnson missed the front end of a one-and-one, but Bucknell freshman Mike Muscala corralled the rebound and converted the easy putback. Bucknell led 64-52 and never let Lafayette any closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Muscala, who did not play in the first-round meeting on Jan. 20, was the Bison's go-to guy in the paint, scoring a season-high 23 points as one of four players in double figures. Willman finished with a career-high 14 points. Boon chipped in 15 points while Cohen netted 10 for the Bison.
Freshman Levi Giese grabbed a career-high five rebounds and tied his career-high of six points on a pair of three-pointers. Alex Orchowski also hit his first three of the season.
Lafayette hosts Lehigh on Sunday at 2 p.m. in a game televised nationally by CBS College Sports. Sunday will feature events celebrating 100 years of Lafayette basketball.
NOTES:
Lafayette has never won at Sojka Pavilion which opened in 2002-03.
