Bucknell crushes Lafayette

Lafayette entered Wednesday night’s home game against Bucknell attempting to end a five-game losing streak.

However, from the very beginning of the game, Bucknell took an early lead and never looked back. The final score of the game was 78-55, and Bucknell showed why they are currently on top in the Patriot League standings.

“Obviously in this game, [Bucknell] get off to such a great start,” Lafayette Head Coach Fran O’Hanlon said. “It’s a hard team to play catch-up against.”

In the first five minutes of the game, Bucknell had just a one-point lead of 11-10. But after the first media timeout, Bucknell went on a 17-3 run and extended their lead to 28-13 with 9:04 remaining in the first half.

After a lucky tip-in to end the half by Kyle Stout for Lafayette, Bucknell led at the half 40-23.

At the start of the second half, Lafayette showed a small glimpse of a comeback. With 17:36 remaining, Lafayette cut the lead down to 12 after a deep Stout Jumper.

But as they did consistently all night, Bucknell quickly responded and cruised easily to a 23-point victory.

“We knew it was going to be a tough game,” O’Hanlon said. “They are as good as anybody.”

Bucknell had a complete team win, as nine different players were on the scoreboard. Zach Thomas and Kimbal Mackenzie each led the way with 14 points, while Stephen Brown and John Azzinaro chipped in with 11 a piece.

“They have everything,” O’Hanlon said. “They have a rim protector, they have a great point guard, they shoot the ball extremely well and they are deep.”

The two main keys in this game for Bucknell were their defense and offensive rebounding. Remarkably, Bucknell only shot around 32 percent from the field, but their 22 offensive rebounds and 18 forced turnovers resulted in extra shot attempts and transition opportunities.

Lafayette, only shot 34% from the field as well, but had a -10 rebounding margin, and committed 18 turnovers.

Hunter Janacek led the way for Lafayette with 11 points for the game, while Matt Klinewski added 10 of his own. In a night where Eric Stafford was out hurt with a groin injury, the depleted Lafayette Leopards lacked the necessary offensive firepower to defeat a tough Bucknell team.

“Right now we are down to 8 or 9 guys,” O’Hanlon said. “Its hard for our practices to be competitive.”

But as Lindner and O’Hanlon preached after the game, there are no excuses, and it is up to the Leopards to turn it around.

“It's up to us right now,” Lindner said. “It’s on nobody else to get us out of this.”


The leopards play against Loyola Maryland at 2 p.m. this Saturday. Loyola Maryland is 4-5 in the league and 10-10 overall.



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