Bucknell coach: Victory ‘surreal’

OKLAHOMA CITY ? Pat Flannery didn’t need to be pinched. He knew what had happened wasn’t a dream.

And yet the Bucknell University men’s basketball coach had a strange feeling as he shook hands with Kansas University coaches and players following the Bison’s stunning 64-63 victory over the Jayhawks.

“You look at Kansas, and it’s almost surreal,” Flannery said. “Four of their seniors had been in two Final Fours.”

Flannery was quick to add, however, that his 14th-seeded Bison’s victory over the No. 3-seeded Jayhawks was not a fluke.

“We played good basketball,” said Flannery, now in his 11th year at the Lewisburg, Pa., school. “It wasn’t a mistake. Maybe we were a little underrated, and maybe they were overrated.”

Bucknell shocked the Jayhawks despite making only 40 percent of its shots, including a paltry eight of 31 from three-point range. But the Bison had only nine turnovers, and they played defense well enough to force Kansas to miss its last 10 shots.

All 14 of KU’s points in the last eight minutes were at the free-throw line.

Chris McNaughton, a 6-foot-11 sophomore center from Germany, banked in the winning basket with a little jump hook in the lane with :10.5 on the clock.

Asked what he was thinking at the time, McNaughton said: “I mean, what do you think in that situation? Make the shot, and you hope it goes in. It bounced off the backboard and rim and somehow went in.”

Kansas University's Christian Moody, front left, dives for a ball against Bucknell's Chris Niesz in the first half. The Jayhawks' season ended with a 64-63 setback to the Bison on Friday in Oklahoma City.

Moments later, the Bison had to sweat out a last-ditch shot by KU’s Wayne Simien, who took a perfect pass from Michael Lee and launched a turnaround 18-footer that fell off the left front of the rim.

“We tried to meet their guards,” said Bucknell guard Charles Lee, but they ended up getting a good pass. We were lucky.”

Once Simien’s shot bounced off the rim, the Bucknell bench erupted.

“It was just so exciting,” guard Kevin Bettencourt said. “To see how hard we had to work to get to this point. We would not have been satisfied just to be here. We wanted to win. It was unbelievable.”

Bucknell led 62-57 with 1:22 remaining, but KU scored the next six points, thanks in large part to an intentional foul called against Darren Mastropaolo after he lost the ball to Lee.