Bucknell's NCAA trip ends vs. Wisconsin
After defeating Kansas in one of the greatest upsets in tournament history on Friday night, the Cinderella story for the Bucknell Bison men's basketball team ended Sunday with a 71-62 loss at the hands of the Wisconsin Badgers.
The Badgers were too much for Bucknell, shooting 46.7 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from 3-point land. Bucknell sophomore forward Chris McNaughton and Wisconsin senior forward Mike Wilkinson led the way with 23 points each, but it was Bucknell's inability to shoot 3-pointers that did the team in. The Bison finished 5 of 15 from beyond the arc and only led once as the Badgers cruised.
The Bison electrified college basketball on Friday night by becoming the first No. 14 seed since Weber State in 1999 to win its opening game. The 64-63 victory over Kansas was one of the tournament's most exciting games so far. A McNaughton hook shot with 10.5 seconds emerged as the game-winning field goal.
The victory gives legitimacy to the Patriot League's automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. Bucknell's win was the first NCAA tournament victory in PL history.
Golfers overachive in weekend tourney
The AU Men's Golf team returned from the Bradford Creek Intercollegiate with a surprising 10th-place finish.
Three AU golfers shot +1 for the tournament and tied for 21st place in the individual standings while shooting 586 (+10) as a team. The finish was much higher than expected, since the team battled stiff competition that included powers East Carolina and Old Dominion.
Freshman Alex Wenzel shot the low round for the Eagles with a first-day 70 (-2) as he and sophomores Adam Kolloff and Todd Shagin each carded totals of 145 to finish 21st.
East Carolina won the tournament with a team total of 568 (-8), eight shots better than its nearest competitor. ECU's Robin Smith placed first in the individual standings, carding an astounding 137 (69-68) to finish 7 strokes below par and 3 strokes ahead of the competition.
Hampton beats Men's Tennis in thriller
Hampton outlasted the AU Men's Tennis team on Sunday, winning 4-3 in a match that took nearly five hours.
The Eagles got off to a rocky start with both doubles pairings losing hotly contested matches. The No. 1 spot of AU junior duo Sebastien Proisy and Nicolas Frayssinoux was defeated, 9-7, and junior Juancarlo Vazquez and freshman Mark Doumba lost their match, 8-5.
In singles competition, AU picked up victories from sophomore Jeffrey Schnell and Doumba, who dominated their competition with 6-0, 6-0 victories. Proisy also picked up an exciting victory for the team, scoring a 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 win over Hampton's Jason Lambert.
The momentum seemed to be building for the Eagles until the most pivotal match of the day, a contest between AU senior Juan Jaysingh and Hampton's Fernando Uehara. Uehara finally emerged with an incredible 7-6 (7-5), 5-7, 7-6 (7-2) win to send the Eagles home as the losers.
The team's next match is Thursday against Lafayette.
Women's tennis drops another match
The AU Women's Tennis team fell to Richmond, 6-1, on Saturday.
The Eagles' (1-8) lone victory in singles play came by default for sophomore Brynne Ward. The Spiders handled AU in singles competition, winning each match in straight sets. Junior Brandi Kligman and sophomore Rachael Honig were defeated, 6-0, 6-0, while sophomore Julia Colarusso was defeated, 6-0, 6-2.
Sophomore Tessa Hollyn-Taub won the most games for the Eagles but lost her match, 6-3,6-2, while sophomore Merrisa Hollinger was defeated, 6-1, 6-1.
In the doubles competition, AU was defeated soundly as the pair of Colarusso and Hollyn-Taub was defeated, 8-2, while Honig and Kligman were blasted, 8-0. The Eagles did pick up one win in doubles as Hollinger and Ward won by default.
The team's next match is Wednesday against Mount St. Mary's.
