Forgotten in the foul calls (10 vs. 4 in the second half) and the foul trouble (big men on bench, just as I feared) might be the sequence at the end of the first half, when Bucknell came back from a double-digit lead. It was kicked off by a boneheaded freshman-like turnover by KR that was converted into a hoop on the other side and got Sojka up and around. Bucknell fed off that energy – it was curiously lacking most of the half – and cut it to within 3. It could have easily been tied, too, had that member of the Bison made that final shot.
This game was lost on mental toughness and momentum management, pure and simple. We would do everything right and keeping everything together for a long stretch, and then one play would puncture the balloon and we couldn’t regain the momentum. The silver lining is that this is the opportunity to be a really good lesson for this team. You’re good, guys, but in order to be champions, you have to win games like this one.
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This reply was modified 9 years, 11 months ago by
lfnadmin.
