Bucknell escapes Stabler, 59-54.

[ngineer]

The Bison came from behind to edge the Mountain Hawks at Stabler Arena. Very hard fought and competitive game. Bodies flying all over the place. Bucknell's key was some strong offensive rebounding late in the second half. Lehigh did not have enough 'bulk' underneath and lost some key rebounds down the stretch. The other key was foul shots. Bucknell shot 15/25 while Lehigh only had 8 foul shots, making 6. Bucknell appeared to be a little more physical than Lehigh, but the Mountain Hawks played very well and have a lot of positives to build off for the rest of the season. Bucknell showed they are beatable tonight. Lehigh just didn't get it done at the end. Lehigh next plays Holy Cross on Saturday night which will determine second place for the end of the first half of the season. PL tournament will be played on top seeds arenas so finishing high has incentive.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

How was the crowd? I kept track of the game on the internet but couldn't get a feel of how big the or loud the crowd was? Lehigh's always been a football/wrestling school and bball was always considered "something to do". With the Joe Knight fiasco it's important that all Lehigh fans remain upbeat and supportive and with the teams showing tonight i think it's realistic to believe they're one of the big 3 with HC and Bucknell. Now beat the Crusaders!!

[ngineer]

How was the crowd? I kept track of the game on the internet but couldn't get a feel of how big the or loud the crowd was? Lehigh's always been a football/wrestling school and bball was always considered "something to do". With the Joe Knight fiasco it's important that all Lehigh fans remain upbeat and supportive and with the teams showing tonight i think it's realistic to believe they're one of the big 3 with HC and Bucknell. Now beat the Crusaders!!

Crowd was great. Announced attendance was around 3,500. Bucknell had a decent contingent--probably about 500. I watched the game on the internet through Lehighsports.com through which you can sign up for audio and video feeds through Yahoo sports. Crowd was very positive and gave both teams a good hand at the end of the game. If Lehigh keeps playing the way they have for the past week or so, they will be right there at the end in the Tournament.

[Go Lehigh TU Owl]

The Bucknell-Lehigh game was the lead sports story on one of the local Scranton channels. The crowd looked good with strong student support. Bucknells coach seemed just relieved to get out of there with a W when they interviewed him. Holy Cross is up next and hopefully the players can refocus for the weekend because that game is bigger then tonights game. They need to split with HC and BU at home to give themselves confidence the rest of the way. Temple scored a big win tonight over 12-3 Xavier so not all was lost in bball tonight for me. After an embarrassing loss on Saturday to Umass on Chaney's 74th bday when they seemed to hit rock bottom they responded in a big way tonight. They're at 10-7 with a big game against Maryland comming up. Maybe just maybe, Temple and Lehigh can both sneak in the tourney this year, both have about the same chances, Temple maybe a little better.

[kardplayer]

I watched the game on the internet too. I would say that Bucknell fans travelled very well for this one. Based on sheer noise volume, I would think they were close to a 1/3 of the 3500 attendees.

At the times when I was doing other things and listening to the video feed, it was hard to tell from the crowd noise whether Bucknell had done something well or Lehigh had.

The shame in this loss is that its a game the team could have won. With the top 2 regular season teams getting to host the first two rounds of the tourny, it would have been good to "hold serve" here.

All in all, a tough week for Lehigh - Lafayette was Saturday (W), Bucknell was last night (the aforementioned L), and Holy Cross (the other top team in the PL) is this weekend. A win over Holy Cross allows us to say we're part of the triumvirate at the top of the league. A loss and we're tweeners - playing for the "right" to go to the #2 school instead of the #1...

[ngineer]

I watched the game on the internet too. I would say that Bucknell fans travelled very well for this one. Based on sheer noise volume, I would think they were close to a 1/3 of the 3500 attendees.

At the times when I was doing other things and listening to the video feed, it was hard to tell from the crowd noise whether Bucknell had done something well or Lehigh had.

The shame in this loss is that its a game the team could have won. With the top 2 regular season teams getting to host the first two rounds of the tourny, it would have been good to "hold serve" here.

All in all, a tough week for Lehigh - Lafayette was Saturday (W), Bucknell was last night (the aforementioned L), and Holy Cross (the other top team in the PL) is this weekend. A win over Holy Cross allows us to say we're part of the triumvirate at the top of the league. A loss and we're tweeners - playing for the "right" to go to the #2 school instead of the #1...

Since everyone gets in the League tournament, don't the #3 &4 seeds also get home games for the first round, followed by the highest seed thereafter having home court?

[kardplayer]

Since everyone gets in the League tournament, don't the #3 &4 seeds also get home games for the first round, followed by the highest seed thereafter having home court?

Nope, they do basically "mini-tournaments" at the #1 and #2 schools...

#1 plays #8, #4 plays #5 on Saturday at the #1 school, with the winners playing on Sunday at the #1 school (even if #1 loses)

#2 plays #7, #3 plays #6 on Saturday at the #2 schools, with the winners playing on Sunday at the #2 school (even if #2 loses)

The semi-final winners play each other on Friday afternoon/night at the higher ranked school.

This makes the season much more meaningful to a lot more teams, as a few teams should have a shot at the #2 seed, even if #1 is dominant. It also is hoped to help attendance at the tournament since there are 2 teams to draw their local fans instead of just one. I think it also allows the Women's tournament to take place on Saturday/Sunday instead of the Friday/Saturday format they had previously...

[ngineer]

Nope, they do basically "mini-tournaments" at the #1 and #2 schools...

#1 plays #8, #4 plays #5 on Saturday at the #1 school, with the winners playing on Sunday at the #1 school (even if #1 loses)

#2 plays #7, #3 plays #6 on Saturday at the #2 schools, with the winners playing on Sunday at the #2 school (even if #2 loses)

The semi-final winners play each other on Friday afternoon/night at the higher ranked school.

This makes the season much more meaningful to a lot more teams, as a few teams should have a shot at the #2 seed, even if #1 is dominant. It also is hoped to help attendance at the tournament since there are 2 teams to draw their local fans instead of just one. I think it also allows the Women's tournament to take place on Saturday/Sunday instead of the Friday/Saturday format they had previously...

Thanks. That certainly makes Saturday's game with HC all the more important.

[Pard4Life]

This format is so much better than the idiotic trek to Show Place Arena in Maryland... that's what we had to do to get American into this league... give them a virtual home game three years in a row. Low and behold, they got to the title each year.

Can't wait till Lafayette gets schollies and takes back the league. :rotateh: