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Josh Linthicum continues his fine recent play with 18 points, 11 rebounds and 5 blocks.

Bucknell Falls to North Dakota State in First Round of Golden Bear Classic

Linthicum Leads Bison with 18 Points, 11 Rebounds, 5 Blocks

Dec. 28, 2007

Box Score

BERKELEY, Calif. - Ben Woodside scored 31 points and Brett Winkelman had 21 points and 14 rebounds to help the Bison of North Dakota State to a 68-60 victory over the Bison of Bucknell in the first round of the Golden Bear Classic Friday afternoon at Haas Pavilion. Josh Linthicum had a career day with 18 points, 11 rebounds and five blocked shots for Bucknell, which missed its first 17 3-point attempts of the night and could not overcome a 24-point second-half deficit.

Justin Castleberry had 14 points, all in the second half, and Patrick Behan had 10 for Bucknell, which fell to 4-7 on the season and will play either Long Beach State or host California on Saturday at 8 p.m. Eastern. North Dakota State (7-5) will play the winner of the second semifinal game in the championship game at 10:30 p.m. Eastern.

For the second straight game Bucknell dug itself a big halftime deficit, thanks in large part to ice-cold outside shooting, then tried to make a late charge before running out of time. Bucknell went 0-for-13 from 3-point range and 7-for-28 overall in the opening 20 minutes and trailed by as many as 16 on a couple of occasions in the final three minutes.

North Dakota State broke open an 8-8 tie with a 12-2 run, with Woodside scoring eight of the points and assisting on another bucket in that stretch. Todd O'Brien's layup was Bucknell's only field goal over a stretch of 6:17, but the Bison closed within six at 20-14 on a dunk from Linthicum and a backdoor layup by Behan.

NDSU answered with 10 straight points, however, the last six coming on a pair of 3-pointers by Josh Vaughan. Vaughan's second trey made it 30-14 with 2:23 left in the half.

Linthicum's follow jam off a Darryl Shazier miss moments before the final buzzer made it 32-18 at the half. Linthicum had eight points and six rebounds in the first period, but the rest of the Bison combined for only four field goals and 10 points.

The second half began ominously for Bucknell, as leading scorer John Griffin picked up his third foul just seconds into the half and Linthicum was called for his second and third fouls just two seconds apart in the opening minute of the half. Lucas Moorman missed two free throws, but Winkelman grabbed the offensive rebound, scored and was fouled. The 3-point play boosted NDSU's lead to 35-18, and a 10-2 run about five minutes later made it a 21-point deficit for Bucknell.

With 11:17 to play Bucknell finally hit a 3-pointer after 17 straight misses when Castleberry banked one in from the top of the arc as the shot clock expired. North Dakota State scored six straight, the last two on Woodside layups, to take its largest lead of 24 points at 55-31 with 8:21 to play.

Two 3-pointers by Jason Vegotsky and the inside play of Linthicum help kick-start Bucknell's game-ending 29-13 run. Linthicum's follow-up dunk, followed by four straight points from Castleberry got Bucknell within 11 at 61-50. In the final 90 seconds of the game Linthicum and Castleberry both finished 3-point plays, the latter getting the Bison as close as nine points at 65-56.

Two free throws by Woodside and one by Winkelman kept Bucknell from making a serious threat at the lead in the final minute.

Griffin came into the game averaging a team-best 14.7 points per game, but he was held to four on 2-for-10 shooting, and his run of 20 straight games with a 3-pointer came to an end when he went 0-for-7 from the arc. Bucknell finished 3-for-21 as a team from long range and shot 39.7 percent for the game, 53.3 percent in a 42-point second half.

Linthicum was again a bright spot for Bucknell, as he surpassed his career highs in points and blocks and equaled his career best in rebounds. He was 7 of 11 from the field, including three dunks, and 4 of 7 from the foul line. Over his last four games, Linthicum is now averaging 12.3 points, 8.0 rebounds and 2.3 blocks. He became the first Bucknell player to record at least five blocks in a game since current assistant coach Dan Bowen had five against Georgia Southern on Nov. 29, 1998.

Woodside and Winkelman both came in averaging better than 20 points per game for North Dakota State, and that duo combined for 52 of their team's 68 points and 20 of their 28 field goals. Woodside made 12 of 17 shots from the floor en route to his fourth 30-point game of the season.

North Dakota State shot 51.0 percent from the floor, despite making only four 3-pointers in 14 tries.