Patriot League Quarterfinal and Semifinal Recaps
Quarterfinals (at Holy Cross)
No. 1 Holy Cross 76, No. 8 Army 42
My Holy Cross correspondent Tom Severo saw his Crusaders run their winning streak to 15 games in front of a home crowd on Friday, but not after a first-half scare from an eighth-seeded Army squad.
The Black Knights hung right with the first-place Crusaders in the first half – actually tallying a better shooting percentage than the home team – and headed into the break down by only a basket, 29-27.In the second half, however, the home team finally poured it on. The HC jumped out to a 14-3 run to begin the final 20 minutes, putting a large cushion between the two squads. Holy Cross shot the lights out in the second half, hitting 17-of-26 shots (65 percent), while the team’s excellent defense finally kicked in as well, holding Army to 4-of-22 shooting (18 percent).
Four Crusaders reached double figures in the game, lead by another solid overall game for Patriot League Player of the Year Kevin Hamilton. Hamilton tallied 16 points, four rebounds, three assists and two steals and was helped along by Greg Kinsey (13 points), Torey Thomas (12 points) and Keith Simmons (11 points, all in the second half). Matt Bell was the lone Black Knight in double figures (as usual) with 13, as Army’s pitiful season mercifully came to a close.
No. 4 Lehigh 77, No. 5 Colgate 60
On Friday night, Lehigh’s Joe Knight had a pretty solid evening. The junior guard scored a Patriot League Tournament and Hart Center record 45 points – including a school-record 10 three-pointers – in almost single-handedly leading his team to victory.
The Raiders jumped out to a 13-3 lead and led by 10 points with 4:32 remaining in the first half, as Lehigh couldn’t manage a field goal for the first 7:41 of the opening half. Knight began to heat up near the end of the first half, hitting three consecutive three pointers, and the Hawks must have felt lucky going into halftime down by only one point.
Knight then took over the game in the second half. He scored 24 of Lehigh’s first 26 points of the second stanza and in one 9:50 span scored 30 points, helping his team to finally break away from the Raiders and cruise to victory.
For the Raiders, Kyle Roemer led the way with 18 points while senior Andrew Zidar scored 11 points and grabbed six caroms in his final game in a Colgate uniform. No other Lehigh player scored more than eight points on the evening, but Knight made sure that that would not be necessary for a Mountain Hawk victory.
Quarterfinals (at Bucknell)
No. 2 Bucknell 70, No. 7 Lafayette 34
Just as Joe Knight was setting offensive records in Worcester, the Bucknell Bison were setting defensive records in Lewisburg, holding Lafayette to a Patriot League Tournament low in points. The 36-point margin was also the largest in Patriot League quarterfinal and Bucknell school history.
Against the Leopards, Bucknell jumped out quickly and never looked back. In the opening 20 minutes, the Bison drained more field goals (12) than Lafayette would hit for the entire game (11). The Leopards, meanwhile, didn’t score a point until 6:39 had elapsed off the clock.The second half saw more of the same, as Bucknell kept hitting shots and Lafayette kept missing them. The game was never in doubt in the final 20 minutes, as a quick 5-0 run to begin the half gave the Leopards the closest view of the lead (13 points) they would get in the second half. The lead grew to 38 points before a late Lafayette bucket provided the final margin.
Charles Lee, who almost outscored Lafayette by himself in the first half (16 to 12), finished with a game-high 19 points and 11 rebounds. Abe Badmus was the only other Bison player in double figures with 13 points, but that was balanced by the 12 Bucknell players who scored at least one point. Lafayette, meanwhile, received points from only six players, with Jamaal Douglas leading the team with 12.
No. 3 American 85, No. 6 Navy 83 (OT)
Against the Midshipmen, the American Eagles were lucky to come out alive. Despite blowing a chance to win the game in regulation, the Eagles escaped from the opening round thanks to a career-high 30 points from Matej Cresnik.
Cresnik scored 20 of his 30 points in the opening half, but was nearly matched by 16 points from Navy’s Greg Sprink. The Eagles shot an excellent 56 percent in the first half, but the team could not keep up the momentum in the final 20 minutes.
In the frantic second half, Navy clawed its way back thanks to 56 percent shooting, but in the waning moments of regulation it seemed all for naught. But with nine seconds left and his team up by three, American’s Andre Ingram missed two free throws, allowing Navy’s Corey Johnson to hit a desperation 30-footer as time expired to send the game into OT.
In the extra frame, it was slow going for both teams. The game was decided by Linas Lekavicius, who drove the lane and bucketed the game-winning lay-up with 10 seconds remaining. Navy’s David Hooper had a chance to win it for the Middies, but he misfired from 25 feet and didn’t get a foul call, despite the Navy protests.
Cresnik, Ingram (13 points), Lekavicius (12) and Raimondas Petrauskas (13) all reached double figures for American, while Navy was led by Sprink (20), Matt Fannin (20) and David Hooper (17).
Semifinals
No. 1 Holy Cross 57, No. 4 Lehigh 53 (OT) (at Holy Cross)
Tom Severo left the Hart Center happy again on Sunday afternoon, albeit after a much closer game than in the opening round. The game was not a very pretty one from an offensive perspective, as neither team shot better than 28 percent for the entire contest.
The opening 20 minutes featured six ties and eight lead changes, as neither team could pull away thanks to plenty of missed opportunities. The second half saw Lehigh go ahead by as many as seven points with 7:10 to go, but the Crusaders – not exactly used to playing from behind this season – mounted a charge to get back into the game, led by two thunderous dunks from Keith Simmons that got the Hart Center faithful back into the game. But neither team could hit a game-winning shot at the end of regulation – an ongoing theme throughout the contest – and so the crowd was treated to an extra five minutes of basketball.
The extra five minutes were not pretty, as neither team was able to connect on a single field goal. Instead, the game came down to free throws and, surprisingly, the Crusaders came out on top. The worst free throw shooting team in the league made eight of its nine free throw attempts in the extra session, including 6-of-6 shooting from Kevin Hamilton, to hold off a Lehigh squad that made all four of its attempts.
Hamilton once again led the Crusaders with 16 points, helped out by 11 points apiece from Simmons and John Hurley. Hurley and Nate Lufkin helped to patrol the interior for the HC, as Hurley grabbed nine rebounds and Lufkin contributed seven caroms and four blocks to go along with seven points.
As hard as he tried (taking 14 shots), Joe Knight could not repeat his magic from Friday, still managing to led the team – but this time with only 11 points. Mike Fischman also played well for Lehigh in the place of injured Jason Mgebroff, hauling in a game-high 10 boards.
No. 2 Bucknell 53, No. 3 American 35 (at Bucknell)
In the other semifinal, the Bucknell defense continued to roll along. Fresh off allowing a Tournament-low 34 points against Lafayette, Bucknell set a Tournament semifinal record by keeping the Eagles to only 35 points, marking the first time that Bucknell kept consecutive opponents below 40 points since the 1945-46 season.
The Bison needed the tenacious defense in the first half, as the team’s offense was atrocious. Bucknell hit only 6-of-23 shots in the opening 20 minutes, and yet somehow managed to take a two-point edge into the break, thanks in large part to American’s equally inept (7-of-20) shooting. In one stretch, Bucknell hit only one field goal in nearly 10 minutes, but American couldn’t take advantage – the Eagles didn’t hit a field goal in the final 7:26 of the half.
Unfortunately for the Eagles, the second half saw American’s offense stay stagnant while Bucknell’s finally came to life. The Bison hit 10-of-19 shots in the second half, led by nine points from Chris McNaughton and seven from a resurgent Chris Niesz. After a lay-up by Matej Cresnik brought American back within a bucket at the beginning of the half, the Eagles went almost six minutes without a field goal as Bucknell extended the lead from two to nine.
From there, Bucknell used its huge interior advantage to subdue the Eagles. The Bison held a huge 44-22 edge in rebounding over the visitors, outscoring American 16-4 in the paint and 13-1 in second chance points.
Niesz and McNaughton led the way for Bucknell with 11 points apiece, while Charles Lee chipped in 10 points and nine rebounds from the guard position. For American, Cresnik was the only player in double figures with 12 points – in fact, he was the only Eagle to score more than five points in the contest.
Patriot League Championship Preview and Prediction
The Hart Center will surely be raucous on Friday afternoon, when the Crusaders welcome Bucknell to Worcester for a nationally-televised showdown with an automatic berth in the NCAA Tournament on the line. The game features the top two defenses in the Patriot League and, as evidenced by both teams’ quarterfinal and semifinal efforts, one can expect another defensive struggle on Friday. The Bison, who have never won a Patriot League postseason title, and the Crusaders, who have won three of the last four Patriot League Championships, will face off at the Hart Center at 4:30 p.m.
The Bison come into the game the hottest that they have been since the beginning of league play, having held their last nine opponents to 60 points or below. Charles Lee – who was named to the all-Tournament team last season – has been one of the best players once again in this postseason, averaging 14.5 points and 10 rebounds in the team’s wins over Lafayette and American. Lee, along with center Chris McNaughton, will certainly will be looked upon to provide instant offense against Holy Cross.
The Crusaders, meanwhile, come in as one of the hottest teams in the entire nation, having won 16 consecutive games and 18 of their last 19. The HC can win games both with its offense and defense, as evidenced by the 76 points put up against Army in the quarterfinals and the 53 points the Crusaders held Lehigh to in their semifinal victory. The constant on both ends of the court for Holy Cross is Kevin Hamilton, who has averaged 16 points, 4.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals in the team’s two postseason wins.
The key for Bucknell will be getting out to a good start and quieting the Hart Center crowd, which will surely be fired up after not getting a chance to root on their team last season. For Holy Cross, it all begins on the defensive end. If the Crusaders can stifle Bucknell early, then they can set the tempo of play and allow the team’s plethora of guards to slowly pick away at the Bison defense.
After such a fun season, it is good to see the top two teams in the Patriot League fighting it out for the postseason title. If Bucknell were to win, then the league may have an outside shot of sending two teams to the Big Dance, as Holy Cross might warrant one of the final at-large bids. But worry not, Holy Cross fans; you won’t be needing a committee to send you dancing this season.
Prediction: Holy Cross 58, Bucknell 51
