Patriot League Upset: Colgate Knocks off Lehigh Behind Big First Half
Feb 16, 2013
The Colgate Raiders were on a three-game losing streak coming into today, head coach Matt Lanegel had never beaten Lehigh and they were trying to knock off a Mountain Hawks team that hadn't lost on the road in Patriot League action yet this season.
Colgate dominated the first half of the game and were up 41-25 at halftime. Lehigh refused to go away, though, making an 18-0 run at one point in the second half and eventually tying the game at 56. However, Colgate went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line in the final minute and Lehigh went on a nearly three-minute skid without a single point.
Colgate's Murphy Burnatowski led all scorers with 19 points (and chipped in with five rebounds), while teammate Pat Moore added 17. Gabe Knutson and Anthony D'Orazio led Lehigh with 17 points each, and Holden Greiner posted 12 points, eight rebounds and three steals for the Mountain Hawks.
Colgate started off hot, jumping to an early 22-4 lead that was fueled by a 16-0 run. Lehigh had to take three timeouts before the 11-minute mark. The timeouts weren't helping, as the Mountain Hawks turned it over coming out of the first timeout and never scored out of a single one of those clock stoppages.
Knutson was doing the only work for Lehigh through the first four-and-a-half minutes. Nobody else took a shot from the floor during that stretch, while Knutson went 2-for-5, accounting for all four points.
The Raiders were taking advantage of John Brandenburg's 6'11" frame early on. He and Burnatowksi each had four points early, with the latter contributing a big steal and a dunk to help capture momentum.
Moore exploded with eight points out of Lehigh's first timeout, six coming on two three-point shots.
Outside of Knutson, the rest of the Lehigh team was 0-for-7 from the floor through the first 10 minutes of the game.
Mackey McKnight finally ended the Mountain Hawks drought when he drove to the rim and drew a foul, hitting both free throw attempts. Lehigh was able to make it competitive over the next couple minutes until the under-eight timeout, when it trailed 28-12.
However, the Raiders once again started knocking down shots and built their lead to 38-18 with under four minutes remaining in the first half.
Lehigh closed the gap slightly and trailed 41-25 at intermission. Colgate was attempting to hold for the last possession. At halftime, Moore led all scorers with 12 points. He was followed by Knutson's 11 and Burnatowski's nine.
The absence of C.J. McCollum was noticeable as the Mountain Hawks tallied just three assists in the first half. The Colgate bench also outscored Lehigh 11-0, and the Raiders outrebounded the Mountain Hawks 20 to 12.
Both teams went scoreless through the first two-plus minutes of the second half. Burnatowski then hit his second three of the game. Following a steal and dunk by Lehigh's D'Orazio, Moore knocked down another triple, extending the Colgate lead to 47-27.
Burnatowski remained hot in the second half. Through the first six minutes, he was 3-of-5 from the field with all three makes coming from beyond the arc.
The Mountain Hawks wouldn't go away, though. They scored 18 unanswered, fueled mainly by D'Orazio and Greiner. Greiner had two big steals and dunks during that run, while D'Orazio contributed six points.
Lehigh's big run finally concluded, and both teams continued to battle, with Colgate taking a 56-53 lead after an up-and-under move by Burnatowski. However, D'Orazio answered on the other end to tie the game at 56.
Brandon James gave Colgate a 58-56 lead after hitting two free throws. On the other end, Knutson missed a layup attempt and knocked it out of bounds while trying to corral the rebound—a call he wasn't pleased about.
James then cost the Raiders a possession when he committed an offensive foul. It wouldn't hurt Colgate, though, as Knutson missed a three and Greiner was rejected by Burnatowski.
Following a timeout with 41 seconds to go, Colgate got the ball in Burnatowski's hands. He tried a fallaway jumper and was short. McKnight took possession of the ball for Lehigh, drove down court, tried to make a move under the basket and stepped out of bounds.
Down by two points, Lehigh proceeded to foul. They first sent James to the line, who made both of his free throws. McKnight answered with a layup, and Lehigh had to foul once again. Sending the senior Mitch Rolls to the line.
He sank both of his free throws. McKnight once again got the ball with only 7.7 seconds to go. Using only 4.2 seconds of the clock, he got another layup to go. Rolls was once again fouled and iced the game by making both free throws.
Colgate improves to 10-17, 4-6 in the Patriot League and will travel to West Point to play Army on Wednesday, Feb. 20. Lehigh drops to 18-6, 8-2 in conference, and their four-game winning streak comes to an end.
They will take on the Bucknell Bison on Monday, Feb. 18—a game that will be on the CBS Sports Network—in a battle for first place in the Patriot League conference.
Remembering Jack Bruen: A Great Man Hidden In Anonymity
Jul 15, 2009
After waking up at the break of dawn, I thought I was going to enjoy another informative edition of Mike & Mike in the Morning. Unbeknown to me, today was the day Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic helped raise money for the V Foundation for Cancer Research.
Don't get me wrong, cancer is a horrible disease that causes great agony to people and their families. However, I feel the name of a charitable organization should not be linked to an individual of questionable character.
Jim Valvano became a legend as a college basketball coach when his North Carolina State defeated the Houston Cougars to a win the national championship in 1983. Valvano was named NC State's athletic director in 1986.
In 1989, the first edition of Personal Fouls: The Broken Promises and Shattered Dreams of Big Money Basketball at Jim Valvano's North Carolina State by Peter Golenbock was published. The book focused on the 1986-87 season and claims that there was corruption in NC State's program.
A 1989 NCAA investigation found that players sold shoes and game tickets illegally. Subsequently, the program was put on probation for two years and was ineligible for the 1990 NCAA basketball tournament.
During that time, stories of players' drug use and game fixing by members of the team ran rapid.
A state appointed Poole Commission later released a report that concluded Jim Valvano and his coaching staff circled around rules to keep players eligible. During Valvano's ten years as coach of the Wolfpack, only three of his recruits graduated from NC State.
Jim Valvano resigned as athletic director in Oct. 1989 and as head coach on Apr. 7, 1990.
Valvano is not the only college basketball coach to succumb to cancer. Unfortunately, the stories of others are not as well known.
John Francis "Jack" Bruen was born on Mar. 25, 1949 in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. At Power Memorial High School, Bruen played with Lew Alcindor, otherwise known as Kareem Abdul-Jabaar.
After high school, Jack Bruen started for three years as the point guard at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. For two of those years, he served as captain. Bruen set school records for most assists in a season and best season assist average.
After graduating from Catholic University, Bruen became an assistant at Dematha Catholic High School under coach Morgan Wootten.
Jack Bruen was always know for his fiery personality. In his first year at Dematha, he was the head freshman coach. In his very first game, Bruen was ejected after arguing the initial call of the game.
In 1982, Bruen was named head coach at his alma mater. He was taking command of a team that posted 11 consecutive losing seasons. In Jack Bruen's first year coaching Catholic University, the team recorded a winning season and defeated a team that was ranked No. 1 in Division III.
Bruen finished his seven-year tenure at Catholic with a record of 110-72. The 1985-86 team captured the first national ranking the school ever had.
In 1989, Bruen was named the head coach at Colgate University. At that time, Colgate nor the Village of Hamilton, New York were places to be.
The Colgate Inn was the only hotel in town. Hamilton didn't even get its first McDonald's until 1994.
Legend has it that in Hamilton, the only time it is not snowing is when it is sleeting outside.
Before Bruen arrived at Colgate, the joke was that the public address announcer stated the names of the fans at the game instead of the starting lineups because it took less time.
In time, Bruen did the impossible by establishing the Raiders, still known back then as the Red Raiders, as a winning team in the Patriot League.
The Raiders played Navy for the conference championship in 1994. Led by Adonal Foyle, Colgate won both the regular season and conference tournament championships in the Patriot League in 1995 and 1996.
The Raiders lost in the first round of the NCAA tournament each time, but the negative results could not detract from the excitement erupting in Hamilton.
Jack Bruen had Colgate playing an up-tempo style, and the team worked hard and played tenacious defense for 40 minutes.
Everything was going smoothly for Jack Bruen until the unbelievable occurred in 1997.
During that summer, Bruen began to complain of stomach pains. In October, doctors diagnosed Bruen with pancreatic cancer. To make matters worse, the cancer had already spread to his liver.
For people with that type of cancer, the prognosis was grim. 50 percent die within six weeks of the diagnosis and few live more than six months to a year.
Jack Bruen was determined to remain the head coach despite his terminal illness. He wouldn't allow questions about his cancer to be asked during press conferences.
He would never lose his self-deprecating sense of humor. Despite aggressive chemotherapy that left him weak and hoarse, Bruen only missed one road game.
At the season progressed, more and more of Bruen's former players from Catholic and Colgate would appear at the games.
Many of those players were at Colgate's home game versus Marist on Dec. 13. The players and fans more than made up for the energy Jack Bruen was laking. Colgate was victorious 80-69.
Six days later at the age of 48, Bruen died at his home. He left behind a wife, an eight-year-old son, and a daughter who was a senior at Virginia Tech.
Jack Bruen's career record at Colgate 109-127. His true impact as a basketball coach cannot be measured in pure numbers. He cared about his players on and off the court.
Foyle was a great player for the Raiders, but Bruen made sure he focused on his classwork. In 1996, Adonal Foyle was named the Patriot League Scholar Athlete of the Year in 1996.
Jack Bruen acted like a second father to Tucker Neale, the all-time leading scorer at Colgate. In 1992, Neale's aunt died from cancer. The next year, Neale's roommate was stabbed to death.
Bruen offered all the time off and help Neale needed and even told Neale a story about a tragic loss he had when he was in high school. In an quote about Bruen obtained by Buster Olney in 1997, Neale said that "Besides my father, his is the only shoulder I've ever cried on."
For the people that Jack Bruen touched during his life, he will never be forgotten. It is just unfortunate that the controversial or flamboyant tend to be remembered more vividly than those that were selfless and inspirational.
