Army West Point Athletics
Army West Point
14-11, 5-9PL
Bucknell
15-12, 10-4PL
Three-Point Shooting Leads Bucknell Past Men's Basketball
February 15, 2015 | Men's Basketball
Chris Hass and Zach Thomas each hit five threes, with Hass leading all scorers with 26 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the floor. Thomas put in 17 and Nana Foulland scored 16 to support the Patriot League leading Bison, who improved to 15-12 overall and 10-4 in the Patriot League. Collectively, Bucknell (15-12, 10-4) shot 52.9 percent (27-for-51) from the field in the win.
Army (14-11, 5-9 Patriot) was excellent on the offensive end as well, shooting 49.2 percent in the game (29-of-59), but made 4-of-16 shots from beyond the arc. In addition to Plomb and Wilson, Dylan Cox scored in double figures with 15 points and led Army on the glass with nine rebounds. The Black Knights held a 32-31 edge in rebounding and forced Bucknell into 15 turnovers, while giving it away nine times themselves.
"I'm proud of how our guys competed tonight," head coach Zach Spiker said. "Bucknell is a talented team, a first-place team in the league, and I think you saw why. They made timely plays that ended up making the difference. They got a couple offensive rebounds on free throws and when they needed to make a play it usually was a three."
Army was down 11-8 in the early going before a 9-2 run forced Bucknell to call timeout with the Black Knights ahead 17-13. A steal by Cox led to a transition three by Plomb after he started the run with a jumper, then hit two free throws and Ferguson scored inside.
After the timeout, Hass and Thomas each hit their second three-point attempts to ignite an 11-2 run for Bucknell. The Bison led 24-19 at the eight-minute mark after hitting their first five threes. Wilson ended the run with a runner off the glass and Nathan Dodge tied the game on Army's next possession with a three.
The visitors rode their hot-shooting to a 34-29 halftime lead and went into the locker room after connecting on 7-of-8 from beyond the arc. Army forced Bucknell into nine turnovers in the opening 20 minutes and was plus-four in points off turnovers and plus-four in second-chance points.
Army's defense supported an 8-2 run to start the second half and the Black Knights held Bucknell without a field goal for the first four minutes of the period. On the offensive end, Dodge hit a three and Wilson had a jumper and two free throws prior to John Azzinaro's deep three for the Bison.
After Scott Mammel's layup, J.C. Show banked in a straightaway three to send Bucknell to a 9-of-11 start from three-point land. Midway through the period, Army trailed Bucknell 50-47 after Wilson knocked down a deep two.
Thomas buried his fourth three, Mo Williams made a free throw and missed the second, but Plomb was there to grab and then slam home the miss. Bucknell went the other way and Hass connected on his fourth trey to make it 56-50 with a little more than eight minutes remaining.
Wilson countered with a jumper and then Plomb came up with a steal and fed Cox for an easy layup to pull Army within a basket (56-54). The three-point barrage continued for Bucknell as Thomas and Hass each hit again from downtown to increase Bucknell's lead to 62-54 with 6:34 left.
Trailing 66-58 after Hass' layup with five minutes to go, Cox converted an acrobatic layup between two defenders, then came up with a steal on the ensuing inbounds play that led to an easy deuce. Foulland's dunk pushed Bucknell's lead back to six at 68-62, which remained the score after two straight empty trips by both sides.
With 2:30 on the clock, Army took over after an offensive foul and Plomb was fouled on a jumper. He hit both free throws and Army was down 68-64 with a little more than two minutes to play. The Bison took the shot clock down to one second when Foulland flipped the ball high off the window and got it to drop, extending the lead back to six.
Wilson missed twice on Army's next possession, Kaspar made a free throw and then Hass hit a pair with a minute left after Cox missed a layup. The Bucknell lead was 73-64 and it eventually held on for the three-point win.
Army hits the road to take on Colgate on Wednesday night in Hamilton, N.Y. Opening tip is scheduled for 7 p.m. and the game can be seen on the Patriot League Network.
Game Notes: Kieffer Jordan appeared in his first game since Jan. 3 ... the loss was Army's first of the year in a three-point decision (5-1) ... Bucknell swept the season series with Army ... Army is now 8-2 on the year when winning the rebounding battle ... Ferguson blocked four shots, which is the most for him in a Patriot League game this season ... Army's all-time leader in rejections now has 146 to his name.
