LEWISBURG — Let the madness begin. March Madness, that is.
The Bucknell University men’s basketball team is the Patriot League champion for the third time after defeating Lafayette 72-57 Friday afternoon in a tense, closer-than-expected game played before a raucous, ear-splitting, standing-room-only crowd of more than 4,000 howling fanatics at Sojka Pavilion.
As the Patriot champion, Bucknell (25-8) automatically qualifies for its fifth NCAA tournament — it was league champion in a previous conference twice — which begins next week. When, where and who the Bison play will be decided by a tournament committee and announced at 6 p.m. Sunday on CBS-TV.
The Patriot League championship win didn’t come easily.
“I was biting my knuckles throughout the game,” said longtime fan Marian Myers, of Coal Township. “I knew they were good enough to win, but the other team kept it close. Too close.”
Myers’ husband, Dan, has been a Bucknell supporter for 50 years, following the team both home and away.
“I wouldn’t miss a game,” he said, “especially a championship game, and this was a good one.”
It was good because Lafayette, a team that was not expected to even make the Patriot League championship, fought Bucknell hard until late in the second half.
As always, the Sojka Psychos, those orange-body-painted, orange-haired students who cheer their team on no matter what the score, led the chorus when the Bison finally, after 35 minutes of play, spurted to a 10-, then 15-point lead.
A sea of shouting orange-shirted fans joined the psychos as the clocked ticked down. One could feel a collective sigh of relief from the crowd when the game ended, and a crush of students charged onto the basketball court.
Barry and Sherri Lankin, of Milton, said they held their breath until the end.
“Lafayette, they wouldn’t go away,” Sherri Lankin said. “I knew that because of our defense we’d win, but I was scared most of the game.”
Standing next to the Lankins was Jordan Maxley, of Lewisburg.
“The crowd, the students, they just energized me and wouldn’t let me get down,” he said. “Every time I thought, ‘Oh, they’re gonna blow it,’ those crazy kids with their signs and grease paint would jump up and down, yell, and shatter my ear drums. I loved every minute of it, although right now, I’m a little hard of hearing.”
Senior leadership made all the difference, said Andrew Augustine, of Lewisburg,
“The game was closer than it probably should have been,” he said, “but that’s why when you have good, smart-thinking seniors. They can carry you to a win. I had great confidence in them. And, we’ll need them at their best when we play in the tournament.”
As the team received awards after the game for winning the championship, fans in the stands, hugged and shouted, “We did it. Wasn’t this exciting?”
But now the real excitement begins.
Because the Bison are going to the Big Dance.
“I don’t care if they send us west, I’m going to their next game” cried Theresa Williams, of Lewisburg, a longtime Bison fan. “This is March Madness. It’s the NCAA tournament. The Big Dance. I say bring ’em on, because whomever we play is going to have a fight on their hands.”
— E-mail comments to rdandes@dailyitem.com
News
Orange crush came later than fans expected
- News
-
-
Police detail threats in kidnap case
MILTON — More details have emerged about the incident in which a Sunbury man was charged with pointing a handgun at and threatening to shoot the father of a 3-year-old girl, whom he subsequently kidnapped from their home on Timberhaven Drive in Kelly Township, Union County, according to authorities.
-
Up to 100 pilots to compete Saturday
SELINSGROVE — Up to 100 pilots from Pennsylvania and Canada will be flying into the Penn Valley Airport on Saturday to test their skills in a barnstorming event.
-
Missing teen found safe
UPDATE: Mackenzie Greco has been found safe in Mount Carmel Township.
More information will be posted as it becomes available.
-
Court Dockets
A roundup of news from local district and county courts.
-
Former TWA Flight 800 investigators want new probe
MINEOLA, N.Y. — Former investigators are pushing to reopen the probe into the 1996 crash of TWA Flight 800 off the coast of New York, saying new evidence points to the often-discounted theory that a missile strike may have downed the jumbo jet. The New York-to-Paris flight crashed July 17, 1996, just minutes after the jetliner took off from John F. Kennedy Airport, killing all 230 people aboard, including 16 students and five chaperones traveling to Europe from the Montoursville Area High School.
-
Today's Top Videos
-
Northumberland County receives grant to convert courthouse furnace
HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Energy Development Authority today approved a grant of more than $114,000 to Northumberland County to assist in the project to convert the County Courthouse to a natural gas heating system.
-
Police Log
A daily roundup of police news from around the region.
-
Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way refuses funding for Boy Scouts
SUNBURY — The Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way board voted Tuesday to withhold $11,000 in discretionary funding to the Susquehanna Council of Boy Scouts of America after the national Scouting organization voted last month to allow openly gay youths as members, but not openly gay adults.
-
Senator: IRS handing out $70M in employee bonuses
The Internal Revenue Service is about to pay $70 million in employee bonuses despite an Obama administration directive to cancel discretionary bonuses because of automatic spending cuts enacted this year, according to a GOP senator.
-
10 Things to Know Today
Your daily look at late-breaking Your daily look at late-breaking news, upcoming events and the stories that will be talked about today:
-
USTA seeks 8 percent rate hike
LEWISBURG — Seniors and people with disabilities will soon have to dig deeper into their pockets as the Union-Snyder Transportation Alliance seeks approval to raise rates up to 50 cents per trip.
-
Sunbury man jailed on kidnapping charge
MILTON — A Sunbury man was charged by police with kidnapping after he allegedly took a 3-year-old girl at gunpoint Monday night from her home in Union County.
- U.S. war games send signal to Assad
-
PennDOT withholds funding plan from public
The Pennsylvania Department of Transportation has built a website that compares competing plans to spend billions of dollars in new transportation money, but it’s refusing to release similar information to the public, which will pay for chosen projects.
-
Reputed Mafioso tip triggers new Hoffa body search
The FBI saw enough merit in a reputed Mafia captain’s tip to once again break out the digging equipment to search for the remains of former Teamsters union leader Jimmy Hoffa, last seen alive before a lunch meeting with two mobsters nearly 40 years ago.
-
GSVUW won't use discretionary funds for Scouts
The Greater Susquehanna Valley United Way Board voted Tuesday not to release discretionary funding to the Susquehanna Council of Boy Scouts of America.
-
Troopers become teachers at Camp Cadet
SELINSGROVE - More than 50 cadets marched onto the Susquehanna University football practice field and stood at attention while Milton state trooper Matt Burrows explained the importance of self-discipline.
- More News Headlines
-
Police detail threats in kidnap case
