Bucknell: 2017-18 Patriot Men's Basketball Champions

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- There was no dramatic comeback this time. Just a steady, overpowering performance that propelled Bucknell to its second straight Patriot League Tournament championship.

Stephen Brown scored 22 points and reserve Nate Sestina added as Bucknell won the Patriot League title with an 83-54 victory over Colgate on Wednesday night.

The top-seeded Bison (25-9) head to the NCAA Tournament for the eighth time in program history and sixth time as the Patriot League representative. Four of those six titles have come in the last eight years.

The second-seeded Raiders (19-13) lost to Bucknell for the third time this season. The second matchup, on Feb. 12 at Bucknell, saw the Bison make an amazing comeback from eight down in the final 21 seconds.

Those kind of heroics weren't necessary this time. The Bison took the lead for good midway through the first half and never looked back. The lead was 35-21 at halftime and eventually ballooned to 33.

"You have to give our guys a lot of credit," said Bucknell coach Nathan Davis, a former assistant at Colgate. "Our focus defensively was outstanding. After the first three or four minutes of the game, our purpose offensively really improved."

The Bison finish the season with a 15-1 record at home. They have won 18 of 19 entering the NCAA Tournament.

Brown, who made five 3-pointers, was named tournament MVP. Bucknell shot 46 percent from beyond the arc (13-for-28).

"The players and coaches kept encouraging me to keep shooting," Brown said. "They kept trusting the work that I put in, and eventually they started to fall."

Will Rayman, Colgate's leading scorer coming in and a second-team all-Patriot League pick, scored 17 points. Jordan Burns added 12 for the Raiders.

Nana Foulland had 12 points for the Bison. Zach Thomas, the Patriot League regular-season MVP, scored just five points but grabbed 12 rebounds.

Colgate was playing in the league championship game for the first time in 10 years and gunning for its first Patriot League championship since 1996.

"Their defense led to offense and their offense was really good," Raiders coach Matt Langel said of the Bison. "They were disciplined. They scored in transition some, they kicked the ball inside. They took what we gave them: They're so dangerous from so many spots."

BIG PICTURE

Bucknell tied Holy Cross for most Patriot League Tournament titles in league history and could make a case for currently being the premier program in the conference. The Bison are the first team to win back-to-back tournament titles twice (2005-06).

Colgate didn't have enough firepower for the Bison this season. With three starters back next season -- including Rayman -- they may yet successfully challenge the Bison for league supremacy.

TURNING POINT



Bucknell came away with three points on three straight possessions to turn a three-point deficit into a six-point lead in the first half. Mackenzie buried a 3-pointer from the corner, Brown hit another from the top of the key, and then Sestina converted a three-point play. The Bison never trailed again.

HIGHLIGHT REEL

With the Bison holding an 11-point lead in the first half, Rayman tried to save the ball from going out of bounds under the Bucknell basket. But he slapped the ball right into the abdomen of Sestina, who dunked it over Dana Batt to bring the home fans to their feet.

UP NEXT

Bucknell will find out Sunday where it's headed for the NCAA Tournament.

Colgate has an outside shot at an NIT or CBI berth.

Bucknell: 2016-17 Patriot Men's Basketball Champions

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Zach Thomas waved his arms in the air as he walked toward the baseline and exhorted the rowdy Bucknell students to cheer even louder.

Nana Foulland yanked him back to the huddle. The Bison still had 68 anticlimactic seconds to wait before the students would burst toward them for a court-storming celebration that ignited a Patriot League party.

Kimbal Mackenzie scored 18 points to help send Bucknell into the NCAA tournament with an 81-65 victory over Lehigh in the conference championship game Wednesday night.

The Bison (26-8) are back in the tournament for the first time since 2013 and seem ready to shake up the brackets one more time. Bucknell beat Kansas in 2005 and Arkansas in 2006 to earn a reputation as March upset masters.

Let the scouting reports on basketball's big boys wait until after Sunday's field is announced.

"Until then, I'm going to enjoy this," coach Nathan Davis said. "I'm not going to worry about it a whole lot."

Bucknell was knocked out of the NCAA tournament in the first game each of the last two trips. But Foulland and Thomas, who had 17 points and nine rebounds, had the electric home crowd ready to taste the tournament from the opening tip.

The crowd of 4,254, sixth largest in Sojka Pavilion history, stormed the court and mobbed the players to set off a March celebration. Bucknell students danced and snapped selfies on the court as the public address announcer urged them to head back to the bleachers for the traditional cutting of the nets.

Bucknell opened the second half on a 12-0 run that turned Sojka Pavilion into a zoo, complete with a dancing Bison (mascot) and a gyrating shark. The Mountain Hawks (20-12) were the endangered species, and lost in the Patriot League tournament championship game for the second straight season.

"We had great individual careers but we never made it to the [NCAA] tournament. That hurts," senior guard Austin Price said.

While so many conference tournament games this week were played in half-empty arenas in major cities, Bucknell's 4,000-seat Sojka rocked from the moment the doors opened to hundreds of students lined up outside all the way to the postgame madness on the court.

The two schools are separated by 125 miles, and the student sections engaged in dueling insults and sarcastic signs that gave this championship game a true big-game flavor.

Lehigh won both games against Bucknell during the regular season and had counted on 3-point shooting (39 percent; 23rd nationally) to pull off the road upset. The Mountain Hawks hit just two 3s in the first half and a 30-25 lead was more mirage than a needed spark toward snipping the nets.

Foulland, the Patriot League player of the year and defensive player of the year, was in foul trouble in the first half and sat out the last 4 minutes. The Bison still scored on their next three possessions when he was benched and Avi Toomer made a 3 a tick before the horn for a 35-35 halftime lead.

Bucknell was just getting started.

The top-seeded Bison gave the frenzied, orange-dressed crowd a reason to go wild on a steal from Foulland that led to an easy bucket and he quickly added his own monster dunk. Mackenzie buried a corner 3 that capped a 12-0 run to open the second half.

"It makes it feel like they can never come back," Thomas said.

The Bison, who won the Patriot League title outright for the third straight season and sixth time in the last seven years, got a three-point play from Mackenzie late in the game that shook off a late Lehigh push. The championship celebration was on deck.

Tim Kempton had 22 points and 17 rebounds for Lehigh.

BIG PICTURE


Bucknell has won six straight games and has not lost consecutive games all season. The Bison entered 24th in the country in field-goal percentage (48.1) and could prove to be a tough out in the tournament.

The Mountain Hawks had won six straight games. Former Lehigh great and Portland Trail Blazers star CJ McCollum rooted on the Mountain Hawks on Twitter ("Come on fellas").

FEELING LOW

The Mountain Hawks missed 10 of 14 3s and made only 7 of 15 free throws. Both ugly numbers were well off their season averages.

UP NEXT

Bucknell will likely earn a double-digit seed in the NCAA tournament.

Lehigh has not made the NCAAs since 2012, when it knocked off Duke, and could settle for an invitation to one of the minor March postseason tournaments.

Bucknell: 2012-13 Patriot League Champions

As you enter Sojka Pavilion, a mural of photographs showcases Bucknell's 2005 men's basketball team that reached the Round of 32 of the NCAA Tournament.

As you climb the stairs to the second level, a gigantic poster of Chris McNaughton's rising hook shot over Kansas' Wayne Simeon in the final seconds of the Bison's historic 64-63 victory over the Jayhawks hangs from the ceiling.

Along the upper concourse, there are more team photographs, and banners showcasing Bucknell's East Coast Conference titles, Patriot League championships and trips to the NCAA Tournament adorn the upper balcony.

It's a walk down memory lane for Bucknell basketball fans, showcasing the Pat Flannery-coached teams that put the tiny Lewisburg college on the national basketball map.

Wednesday's Patriot League championship victory over Lafayette rekindled those days, from the orange-clad fans shouting "Ray

Bucknell" and "I believe we will win," to the make-up of the Bucknell team on the court.

My walk down memory lane started with the man in the middle.

Mike Muscala is a beast in the post for Bison, and the 6-foot-11, 239-pound senior from Roseville, Minn., simply took over the game in the second half when Lafayette sliced a 12-point lead to three with 7 minutes.

It was McNaughton all over again.

Muscala scored 14 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, including six in a 14-2 run that broke the game open after Lafayette made it 41-38 with 7:12 left.

The Patriot League Player of the Year, Defensive Player of the Year and Tournament MVP also collected 11 rebounds, his nation-leading 22nd double-double of the year.

"When he gets it going …," Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen said. "He put us on his back for a stretch of 3-4 minutes."

Added Lafayette coach Fran O'Hanlon: "Every time they needed a basket, they went to the big guy. He was tough to stop.

"They can score on so many levels. They can score outside, they can score inside. They're just a solid basketball team."

Perhaps the biggest shot Muscala made was a fade-away, left-handed hook shot from the left baseline that ended what had been a 18-11 Lafayette run.

It was McNaughton all over again.

"I kind of prefer my left hand in the post," Muscala said. "It felt good coming off my hands."

Like Flannery's teams that both won their first-round NCAA contests in 2005 and 2006 (Arkansas), this year's Bucknell team has that dominating man in the middle, good balance, good senior leadership, plays good defense and gets key contributions from unheralded players.

Wednesday, sophomore guard Steven Kasper shut down Lafayette star Tony Johnson, junior Ben Brackney came off the bench to hit two key first-half 3-pointers and freshman Ryan Frazier contributed several key minutes and shot 3-for-4 from the foul line down the stretch.

Whether or not this year's club will further rekindle those old memories by making their own NCAA lore remains to be seen. But don't bet against Paulsen's club.

The Bison are in the Big Dance for the fourth time in nine years, having lost their opener in the 2011 tournament to Connecticut.

That experience, plus last year's run to the Sweet 16 of the NIT, plus a tough non-league schedule that featured wins over Purdue, George Mason and LaSalle and a close loss to Missouri, makes Bucknell a team to watch when the NCAA Tournament starts next week.

"I think we were in awe (2 years ago), and that year we hadn't beaten a high-level team," Paulsen said. "We challenged ourselves with our schedule in our non-league.

"I don't know if we'll win or lose, but I know we won't be in awe and we won't play on our heels. A team is going to have to play pretty well to beat us."