Dream Dies for Bucknell

There were 41.4 seconds of a dream remaining for Bucknell, and Coach Pat Flannery sent in the scrubs.

Brows furrowed all over the Ford Center. Wisconsin’s lead was a mere eight.

The team that shocked Kansas was three three-point baskets from the Sweet 16, but it looked as if Flannery were conceding.

“I was torn,” he said after Wisconsin’s 71-62 victory Sunday. “I just didn’t want any of those kids to leave here and not get on the floor.”

Moments later, down by nine, Bucknell’s John Griffin attempted a three-pointer and drew a foul.

“Everybody on the bench was yelling at me, ‘We’ve got a shot! We’ve got a shot!’ ” Flannery said.

And back in went the first team.

“I’m the last guy to give up,” Flannery said.

Griffin made three free throws to cut the lead to six. But Bucknell (23-10) got no closer, and the Bison had to let go of their dream after Wisconsin’s victory sent the sixth-seeded Badgers (24-8) into a Syracuse Regional semifinal against North Carolina State on Friday.

With five scholarship players, one senior on the roster and a skilled 6-foot-11 sophomore center named Chris McNaughton who played his way onto the NBA radar with 23 points on 10-for-14 shooting, Bucknell might be heard from again.

With no Bucknell band on hand, the Oklahoma State band donned Bucknell T-shirts and played the Bison fight song to cheer them on.

Bucknell dug out of a 20-8 hole at the outset and took a one-point lead midway through the second half.

Bucknell still trailed by only four with six minutes left before Wisconsin’s Mike Wilkinson, who had 23 points and nine rebounds, took control inside, scoring seven points in a 1 1/2 -minute span to help stretch the lead to 11 points, 63-52, with 3:46 left.

For Bucknell, the difference between a scintillating upset of Kansas and a trip home to Lewisburg, Pa., was partly that Kevin Bettencourt, who made five three-point baskets against Kansas, made one against Wisconsin.

“They did a good job on us,” Bettencourt said. “It was tough. They got in there and really contested shots.”

There was no great difference between the teams on the stat sheet, other than the 22 free throws Wisconsin made to Bucknell’s 11, with the Badgers’ Alando Tucker scoring 15 of his 17 points from the line.

Bucknell is gone, but the Bison -- who also beat Pittsburgh this season -- left an impression.

“Tell your coach not so schedule us,” Wisconsin Coach Bo Ryan said he told Flannery’s players after the game.