Men’s Basketball: BU Falls At Bucknell

By: Matt Doherty

With a chance to claim a share of first place in the Patriot League standings, BU men’s basketball fell short on Sunday afternoon with an 80-59 loss to the Bucknell Bison.

The game started out just how the Terriers wanted, trading buckets and keeping pace with the Bison. The Terriers even held a lead late in the first half when Kamali Chambers nailed a three pointer to put BU up 27-25 with 3:41 remaining in the half.

But then Bucknell made their move. The Bison scored the game’s next 16 points spanning across the end of the first half and the opening minutes of the second half to take a 41-27 lead.

The pesky Terriers fought back, though, as back-to-back three pointers and a couple of Kyle Foreman layups cut the Bucknell lead to just 47-41.

But once again Bucknell made their move. This time the Bison scored 14 straight points highlighted by four three pointers to open a 20 point advantage with under nine minutes left in the contest.

Bucknell never looked back on their way to a Senior Day victory and a one game lead in the Patriot League standings.

The three starting seniors led Bucknell on the offensive end. Leading scorer and potential Patriot League Player of the Year Chris Haas scored 21 points, Ryan Frazier had 16 points of his own, and Dom Hoffman put together a 15 point, 8 rebound stat line.

As a team Bucknell shot 11-23 3FG (48%) from behind the arc with Frazier knocking in four of them.

For the Terriers, it was a shooting day they would like to forget. BU went just 19-58 (33%) from the field and 8-27 (29%) from three.

John Papale was the only Terrier in double figures with 11 points. Key scorers Eric Fanning and Cheddi Mosely were never able to get going, as they were to held to a combined 13 points on 3-17 shooting.

BU also turned the ball over 15 times and missing his third consecutive game was Nathan Dieudonne, whose absence was certainly felt as the Terriers were outrebounded 43-34.

The loss not only snaps the nation’s second longest winning streak at 7 games but it is disappointing for BU as the Terriers would have been tied atop the Patriot League if they pulled out the victory. BU (10-6)* is now third in the league after Lehigh (11-5) beat Lafayette on Sunday.

With just two games remaining for all Patriot League teams before the highly anticipated league tournament, the final week will be important for seeding.

BU has clinched a first round bye but needs to take care of business this week to secure a top four seed and have a home game in the second round.

Luckily for the Terriers, they play their last two regular season games at Case Gym with Army (8-8) coming to town on Tuesday and Holy Cross (5-11) coming in on Senior Day on Saturday.

*records are for Patriot League play only