Lafayette vs. Bucknell; The showdown for #1 at the Kirb... | Lafayette Leopards Fan Group's Blog

Lafayette (12-6, 3-0 Patriot League) hosted Bucknell (8-9, 3-0 Patriot League) Wednesday night at the Kirby Sports Center in Easton, PA. My Dad, brother, and I walked down Cattell St., and as I was entering the Kirby Sports Center, it felt like a real showdown type atmosphere, and as soon as we bought our tickets and entered to the court, I felt amazed. Watching the players warm up, I thought this is going to be a great game, with Bucknell being undefeated along with Lafayette in PL play, and Lafayette which isn't that great at basketball, but now is 12-6 already eclipsing last season's win mark. So began the game, and so began the three point barrage from Lafayette. But nothing could change their offense...just look at some of these stats courtesy of PennDot.com

"In a surprising reversal of fortunes, the Leopards are now Patriot League favorites.

Picked to finish last by its contemporaries, Lafayette completed an unimaginable coup d'état of the league's upper echelon with a surprisingly easy 80-68 win over perennial Patriot power Bucknell before a home crowd of 3,008 Wednesday night.

The Leopards (13-6, 4-0) relegated a showdown featuring the league's two remaining unbeaten teams into a one-man show, with Brown playing the leading role.

The gutsy guard connected on 9 of 14 shots, including 7 of 12 from beyond the 3-point arc, to finish with 28 points.

Senior guard Bilal Abdullah, who scored a career-high 34 points last weekend at Navy, netted 14 points and a season-high eight assists. Senior forward Matt Betley chipped in 13 points and a team-high six rebounds.

Lafayette now owns wins over the top three teams in the preseason poll: Holy Cross, Bucknell and Colgate. Until this season, none of the players on the Leopards' roster had beaten Holy Cross or Bucknell.

"It's a great feeling we've all been through some low times the past couple years so this year's been a treat for us," Brown said. "It hasn't been like this for a while; it's definitely a great feeling."

"I think this one feels better than Holy Cross, because every time we've played Bucknell they've never let up, they just keep it coming," added Abdullah. "Although we didn't blow them out by a huge margin, we beat them we showed we could play with them."

And so Lafayette now looks favored to win. I can see it...can you?

Anthony E.

Lafayette Sports Fan