The Patriot League is one of the only tournaments that has seen the favorite win every game. This trend continued on Saturday in the semifinals as 1 seed, Bucknell and 2 seed Lafayette won to advance to Wednesday's Championship Game. The two teams will meet for the 2nd time in 3 years with the winner taking the automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
In the first semifinal, Lafayette opened up a very close game in the second half behind the play of Tony Johnson who scored 24 points, pulled down 8 rebounds and dished out 5 assists. A year removed from pulling one of the major upsets in the NCAA Tournament by defeating Duke, Lehigh will fall short of the Big Dance this year.
In the second semifinal, Bucknell finally shook a very scrappy and well coached Army team by a score of 78-70. After Army took a 61-59 lead, the Bison, playing on their home court, went on a 10-1 run giving the top seed some breathing room. Army remained valiant but could not cut into Bucknell's lead who were able to knock down key free throws down the stretch. The Bison ended the game 24-28 from the charity stripe. Mike Muscala was huge in the ball game scoring 21 points and grabbing 14 boards.
Bucknell and Lafayette split the regular season games with the Leopards ending an 8 game winning streak by the Bison.
Patriot League Championship Game
1)Bucknell vs. 2)Lafayette March 13, 2013 7:30pm
(photo courtesy of BucknellBison.com)
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