Nov. 22, 2010

Center Valley, Pa. - A matchup of the defending champions of the Patriot League and Ivy League went Lehigh's way on Monday evening, as the Mountain Hawks claimed a 60-57 victory at home against Cornell.

Bucknell won in much easier fashion, taking a 20-point halftime lead and coasting from there for a 71-47 victory over Presbyterian as part of the CBE Classic subregional in Harrisonburg, Va. Holy Cross fell in its game at Boston College, 69-54.

Lehigh (2-2) received a huge game from preseason Patriot League Player of the year C.J. McCollum, who recorded his fifth-career double-double with 20 points and a career-high tying 13 rebounds. Lehigh built 11-point lead early in the first half, but Cornell quickly rallied and the game went back-and-forth for most of the evening. With the score tied at 53, McCollum buried a three-pointer with 1:03 left to play to put the Mountain Hawks in front for good. Cornell twice cut the deficit to one point, but Lehigh answered each time with a layup by Jordan Hamilton and a pair of Michael Ojo free throws, which were the last two points of the game with 13 seconds left. Cornell had a pair of three-point attempts to tie the score in the final seconds, but both were off the mark. Ojo scored 11 and Hamilton added nine as Lehigh won its eighth consecutive home game.

While the Mountain Hawks went down to the wire, Bucknell (2-3) took care of business in the first half by building a 40-20 lead at the break against Presbyterian. The Bison effectively put the game away with a 16-4 run to close the first half with the 20-point lead. They built the advantage as high as 27 points in the second half before taking the 71-47 win. Darryl Shazier had an outstanding overall game with 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and just one turnover, while Bryan Cohen had 10 points and a team-high seven rebounds. G.W. Boon, Mike Muscala and Cameron Ayers each scored eight points.

Holy Cross (0-4) played well for the first 25 minutes and trailed by just one point until Boston College pulled away with a 12-0 run to take a 48-35 lead with 13:10 left. The Crusaders got as close as eight points with 5:53 to play before the Eagles put together another 12-0 run to seal the win. Four Holy Cross players scored in double figures, as R.J. Evans tallied 12 points, Andrew Beinert and Devin Brown had 11 and Andrew Keister scored 10.

Five Patriot League teams are in action on Tuesday, including Bucknell playing the second straight game in the CBE Classic when it takes on Ivy League favorite Princeton. Elsewhere, American tries to go to 5-0 when it visits Howard, Army hosts Binghamton, Lafayette heads to Penn and Colgate goes to Columbia.

For recaps and box scores from each game on Monday, click on the links below.

at Lehigh 60, Cornell 57
Box Score

Bucknell 71, Presbyterian 47 (CBE Classic - Harrisonburg, Va.)
Box Score

at Boston College 69, Holy Cross 54
Box Score