Jan. 11, 2008
LEWISBURG, Pa.-Bucknell (6-9, 1-0 in the Patriot League) outscored Navy (7-9, 0-1 in the Patriot League), 46-31, in the second half to rally for an 85-77 victory on Friday night in front of 4,126 fans at Sojka Pavilion in the Patriot League opener for both teams. The win was Bucknell's 36th straight on its home floor against Patriot League foes, while Navy dropped its eighth-straight game in Lewisburg.
"It was a good college basketball game played by two teams that came ready to play," said Navy head coach Billy Lange. "Bucknell hadn't been making shots recently, but they made them tonight and I wasn't surprised."
Justin Castleberry led four Bison in double figures with 19 points, while Jason Vegotsky added 14 points. Greg Sprink led Navy with 26 points, while Kaleo Kina added a career-high 24.
Navy (7-9, 0-1 in the Patriot League) played a terrific first half despite playing without the services of starting point guard Chris Harris for most of the first stanza. Harris picked up two fouls in the first two minutes of the game, his second on a silly offensive foul 45 feet from the basket, and was limited to eight first half minutes.
The Mids, however, didn't let Harris' early foul trouble bother them jumping out to a 28-18 lead and taking a comfortable 46-39 lead into the locker room as Kina and Sprink combined for 33 points. The 46 points was the most points scored in a half by a Bucknell opponent in the seven-year history of Sojka Pavilion.
The game turned in Bucknell's favor at the start of the second half when Sprink picked up two fouls in the first 110 seconds, the second one coming when he reached in on John Griffin 35 feet from the basket and just 16 seconds after hitting a jumper that put Navy up 48-40.
Bucknell cut Navy's lead to three at 55-52 with 12:49 left on lay-ups by G.W. Boon and Todd O'Brien. After O'Brien's basket, Harris committed an offensive foul on Navy's next possession and then picked up his fourth foul on the defensive end 24 seconds later sending him to the bench with 12:20 remaining in the contest.
With both Harris and Sprink on the bench with four fouls, the Bison went on a 10-1 run over the next 5:12 to take a 63-56 lead. The run was capped by John Griffin's four-point play.
Lange got Harris and Sprink back in the game after Griffin's basket, but a Vegotsky three-point field goal increased Bucknell's lead to 10 and Navy never got closer than five points the rest of the contest.
"I knew at the half that the only way we could get back in the game was to play better defense and I think we did that," said Bucknell head coach Pat Flannery. "They had trouble guarding us on the other end."
Navy returns home to take on Lehigh on Wednesday night at 7 p.m. in the Patriot League home opener. Bucknell travels to Worcester next Friday night for a 9 p.m. contest at Holy Cross.
