McNaughton has big day on Senior Day

Chris McNaughton had a huge 23-point day in his last regular season game at the Sojka Pavillion as the Bison shrugged off a slow start for a convincing 73-63 victory over Towson University. What made the day special for the 6-11 senior was the fact that he did it without fellow senior Donald Brown, who was sidelined earlier in the month with a hand injury at Colgate and Darren Masterpolo who was whistled for his third with last than four minutes gone in the game.

John Griffin had a fine all around game for Bucknell with 15 point and no turnovers on offense. For the Bison, senior day represented a little of the changing of the guard with Josh Linthicum and Patrick Behan and stepping it up for Masterpolo and McNaughton. Abe Badmus, another senior, tied a season best with seven assists.

The defense also had a great performance shutting down the Tiger offense limiting the visitors to 40 percent from the field. Gary Neal who has scored over 2000 points and was averaging over 25 per game was held to one point in the first half and scored 12 points in the last four minutes of the game and finished with 21.

There were some concerns for the Bison coming in against an athletic team like Towson stepping outside the Patriot League. John Griffin summed it best in a post-game interview saying, "Towson was athletic, but we have gotten more athletic since I came here."

NOTES: Badmus and Donald Brown were also honored on senior day along with McNaughton. John Clark, whose career ended with a foot injury, graduated a semester early but was on hand. The weather which was some of the worse the seen in central Pennsylvania in recent years did have somewhat of an effect on the day. Donald Brown's family was unable to make it to Lewisburg and was escorted by the Thomas Family. The game listed as a sellout had many empty seats for a Saturday afternoon contest. This senior class set the record for most wins in fours years winning number 83 Saturday. The Bison finish out their Patriot League schedule with games a Lehigh on Wednesday and Army on Saturday. Bucknell is at home through the Patriot League semifinals.