Feb. 13, 2008

Box Score

WASHINGTON, D.C. - John Griffin scored 24 points and reached two major milestones, but it wasn't enough as Bucknell fell 68-64 at American on Wednesday night at Bender Arena. Griffin became the 33rd 1,000-point scorer in Bucknell history and just the third in program history to record 200 career 3-pointers, but Garrison Carr scored 24 for the first-place Eagles in their fourth straight victory.

Griffin hit a career-high eight 3-pointers, giving him 16 in his last three games. Stephen Tyree also scored in double figures with 11 points for the Bison, who fell to 10-14 overall, 5-5 in the Patriot League. American (15-10, 7-3), now has a 1.5-game lead on Lafayette, which lost 76-75 to Colgate.

Bucknell trailed by 10 in the final half-minute before two Griffin 3-pointers made things interesting. His high-arcing trey from the right corner made it a 65-62 game with 17 seconds left. Brian Gilmore made 1 of 2 from the line, then Darryl Shazier lost control in the lane and turned it over. Derrick Mercer iced it with two free throws with 6.8 seconds left.

Bucknell endured a cold-shooting start and fell behind 35-24 at intermission. The Bison started the game 4-for-16 from the field but trailed only 20-17 until American took advantage of an offensive rebound and two Bison turnovers to gain some breathing room.

Frane Marcusovic put back a Gilmore miss, then Carr picked up a loose ball near midcourt and hit a pull-up 3-pointer. Another Carr steal led to two free throws with 5:41 left in the half, giving American its first 10-point lead at 27-17.

Four straight Rob Thomas points got the Bison within six, but the Eagles closed the half on a 6-1 run, with all the points coming from the free-throw line. Gilmore made four in a row, then Mercer was fouled driving to the basket with six-tenths of a second left, and he hit two from the line to give the Eagles their largest lead of 11 points.

American then got the first five points of the second period on a Carr 3-pointer and a Mercer leaner, and it was 40-24 two minutes into the half.

Bucknell replied quickly, scoring 12 straight points in only 3:12. Tyree had the first four points of the run and Griffin closed it with back-to-back 3-pointers. The latter, off a kick-out pass from Thomas, cut the deficit to 40-36 with 14:27 left.

But the Bison didn't score again for more than four minutes, and Carr hit two contested 3-pointers, the first one coming after two Bucknell players fought over a defensive rebound and lost possession. Carr's trey at the 9:29 mark put American back up nine at 47-38.

Griffin's transition 3-pointer - his 1,000th career point - pulled the Bison within 47-41, but the light-scoring trio of Bryce Simon, Marcusovic and Travis Lay accounted for all the points in a 6-0 run that put American back up 53-41 with 5:28 to play.

Griffin's eight 3-pointers moved him into a tie for second on Bucknell's career list with Mike Bright (206). His previous career high was six treys earlier this year at Villanova.

Tyree also had seven rebounds and six assists for the Bison, who shot 43.1 percent from the field and 39.1 percent from the arc (9-23).

American shot 46.2 percent overall and 30.4 percent from 3-point range.

Bucknell and American split the season series, with the Eagles snapping an eight-game losing streak to the Bison dating back to Jan. 28, 2005.

Next up for the Bison is a Saturday home game against Holy Cross. The 6 p.m. contest will be televised live on ESPN2.