January 7, 2015

LEWISBURG, Pa. - There seemed to be a lid on the basket inside Sojka Pavilion on Wednesday evening for the Lafayette men's basketball team as it dropped a 79-69 decision to Bucknell in its third game of Patriot League play.

The Leopards, falling to 1-2 in Patriot League action and 9-5 overall, shot a season-low 38.0 percent, connecting on 27-of-71 shots from the floor. Senior Dan Trist led a quartet of double-figure scorers with 20 points for the Leopards, while classmates Seth Hinrichs and Joey Ptasinski added 12 points and sophomore Monty Boykins chipped in with 10. Sophomore Nick Lindner racked up nine assists in his return to the floor after missing the Navy game with a shoulder injury.

Bucknell won the battle on the glass, 44-35, using defense and rebounding to stifle the potent Lafayette offensive attack. Zach Thomas led all scorers with a game-high 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field, going 4-for-4 from beyond the arc. Chris Hass helped out with a double-double of 15 points and 10 boards, while Steven Kaspar added 10 points to go along with four rebounds, four assists, two blocks and two steals.

A running jump hook from Trist at the 17:30 mark finally put points on the board for either side after a sloppy start on both ends of the floor. Ptasinski's catch-and-shoot at the top of the key minutes later put the Leopards on top 7-2 and Lafayette worked its run to as many as 10-2 before a triple from Hass ended the drought and made it 10-5 with 13 minutes left in the first.

Bucknell began to find its way offensively through the midway point of the half as a trio of buckets from Kaspar pulled the Bison in front at 14-12 with less than 10 minutes remaining. Trist's move into the lane on the ensuing possession ended a 12-2 run for the Bison and tied it up at 14.

Bucknell worked an edge to as many as five at 19-14, but a pair of buckets from Trist and Boykins cut the edge back to just one at 19-18 with just over five minutes to play in the half. However, another run from the Bison, this time of the 8-0 variety, extended the advantage to nine at 27-18, before a three-point play from Hinrichs out of the four-minute media break brought the Leopards to within six at 27-21 with 3:52 left in the first.

The Bison worked their edge over the final minutes of the half, taking advantage of cold shooting from the Maroon and White, to take a 32-26 lead into the halftime intermission.

Both sides came out of the break hitting on all cylinders offensively, as every time Lafayette hit a shot to start a comeback, Bucknell responded to thwart the effort on the other end. With 14:32 on the clock, Hass made a strong drive down the lane and finished at the rim over Trist to give the Bison their largest lead of the game to that point at 11, 43-32.

Lafayette responded with a triple from Ptasinski on the following possession, but a three on the other end from Thomas ended any shift of momentum and Bucknell held onto their advantage through the 12-minute media timeout, leading 50-41with 11:20 remaining in the contest.

Thomas' triple from the left wing at the 10:30 mark extended the edge to 13 and a pair of free throws from Kaspar on the next possession began to open the game up for the home team, holding a 15-point edge at 56-41. The Bison moved that edge to as many as 17 at the 8:05 mark, but a Hinrichs triple in transition with 5:15 left gave Lafayette hope, cutting the edge to 13 at 64-51.

A three-point play from Lindner with less than five to play made the Bucknell lead just 11, but four free throws from Ryan Frazier pushed it back out to 15 again with less than four minutes to play and a finish through the foul from Hass moved the game into its final media timeout with Bucknell in charge, 71-54.

Two triples from Boykins with just over two minutes remaining kept the Leopards around, trailing just 12 with 2:01 left, but the Bison hit their free throws down the stretch to pull away with the 79-69 victory.

Lafayette continues Patriot League action with its longest trek of the conference season, traveling to Boston University on Saturday afternoon. Tipoff is slated for 1 p.m.