Under the Radar Game of the Day: Bucknell at Lehigh

Bucknell at Lehigh, 7:00 PM Eastern, Service Electric 2 Sports (PA)/patriotleague.tv

The Under the Radar Game of the Day heads to Bethlehem, PA tonight as the top team in the Patriot League, Bucknell, faces a tough road test at Lehigh.  The Bucknell Bison enter tonight’s game at 19-6 overall and 11-1 in conference play.  They have won 7 consecutive games since suffering their lone conference loss, at home back on January 11 to this same Lehigh team.  The Bison just played two nights ago, defeating Holy Cross at home 82-68 behind 27 points from Zach Thomas and 17 points and 7 assists from Kimbal Mackenzie.  Bucknell will need strong efforts from the two of them, as well as teammates such as Nana Foulland and Stephen Brown, if they want to pick up their 12th conference win and move a step closer to locking up the top seed in the Patriot League tournament, which comes with home court advantage throughout.

The Lehigh Mountain Hawks enter play tonight at 13-10 overall and 7-5 in conference play.  They are currently tied with Loyola for fourth place in the conference standings, but only one game behind Navy and Boston U (and only one game ahead of Holy Cross and Colgate).  Finishing in the top four is imperative in this conference as it will guarantee at least a quarterfinal round home game in the league tournament.  The Mountain Hawks defeated American on the road over the weekend, 70-55, behind 15 points and 12 rebounds from Tim Kempton.  Kempton also led his team in scoring in the earlier win at Bucknell, with 20 points.  Austin Price, Kahron Ross and Pat Andree were all in double-digits in that game as well.  If Lehigh can hit the Bison with another tough, balanced scoring attack tonight, they have a chance to pull off the upset and score the season sweep over the conference leaders.