Nov. 22, 2009

Center Valley, Pa. - Patriot League men's basketball teams put up a 3-2 record on Saturday, with Bucknell winning its home opener over St. Francis (Pa.) and Lafayette and Army both triumphing on the road. All three teams hold winning records in the early portion of the season. American and Navy fell in their contests.

Army (2-1) got 18 points and a school-record eight steals from Cleveland Richard, and held off a late Princeton rally for a 56-52 win on the road. Lafayette (3-1) outscored NJIT, 35-18, in the second half of a 69-52 road victory. Patriot League leading scorer Jared Mintz tallied 17 points in the contest. Bucknell (3-2) won its third consecutive game, and its opening home affair, by a 70-58 score over St. Francis (Pa.). Patrick Behan had a double-double with 23 points and 12 rebounds as the Bison used an 18-6 second-half run to pull away from a two-point game.

American (0-4) fell behind by as many as 23 points and could not come all the way back in an 81-69 loss at home against Florida Atlantic. The Eagles got a career-high 23 points from Stephen Lumpkins. Navy (1-3) gave up an 11-0 run midway through the second half and never got closer than five points the rest of the way in an 83-72 loss at Long Island. Chris Harris led the Mids with 17 points.

Only Holy Cross will be in action on Sunday, as the Crusaders look for their first win of the year at Rhode Island.

The Patriot League will provide a brief synopsis and links to school recaps and box scores on the men's basketball page every night during non-League play, and continue the expanded recaps once League action begins. School recap and box score links are also available on the men's basketball composite schedule, where any live stat, audio and video links are provided prior to each contest.

The scores from Saturday are listed below, with the links on each school name going to the institution's recap and box score from the contest.

Army 56 at Princeton 52
Lafayette 69 at NJIT 52
at Bucknell 70, St. Francis (Pa.) 58
Florida Atlantic 81 at American 69
at Long Island 83, Navy 72