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The NCAA Tournament will be welcoming one team from the Patriot League, and it’s down to the final two entrants. The top-seeded Bucknell Bison hope to exact some revenge on conference foe the Lehigh Mountain Hawks to punch its ticket.
The Bison finished three games ahead of the rest of the pack in the Patriot League but had trouble head-to-head against Lehigh so this should be an interesting matchup. The winner could be one of the tougher low-major entrants into March Madness and would love to make a Cinderella run.
One team’s run will end here and both will be scratching and clawing for the victory with everything on the line.
This war on the floor will go down Wednesday, March 8, 2017, at 7:30 p.m. ET at the Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. The game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.
We'll have NCAA basketball odds at BookMaker.eu available for this and every game on the college basketball Wednesday schedule.
College Basketball Odds
Bucknell is 25-8 straight up and 7-3 against the spread. The Bison has not played in a neutral site game this season that had a betting line, so it will be interesting to see how it fares. Bucknell has covered in six of seven games against the spread on the year.
Lehigh is 20-11 straight up and 1-3 against the spread. The Mountain Hawks have also yet to play a game that had a spread at a neutral site. Lehigh has been favored in every game with a spread this season, but will likely be the underdog in this one.
Previous Meetings
While Bucknell had the much better overall record and performance within the conference, Lehigh had its number. The Mountain Hawks won the first matchup at Bucknell by a score of 82-71.
Lehigh jumped out to an early lead, and while Bucknell rallied back to take a lead late in the second half, the Mountain Hawks steadied themselves and pulled out the victory.
Lehigh then won the second matchup, too, this one coming at home. The final score in that one was 79-71. Austin Price scored 25 points to lead the way, hitting five three-pointers. Lehigh shot better and had the advantage on the boards to pull out the win.
Player to Watch
Tim Kempton -- Lehigh’s leading scorer has dominated in both previous matchups against Bucknell this season, putting up 20 point in the first meeting on January 11th and finishing with 24 points against the Bison on February 8th.
The senior center is averaging a double-double this year with 20.4 points and 10.2 rebounds a game. He finished with 31 points and 13 rebounds in Lehigh’s double-overtime win over Boston University on Sunday.
He scored a season-high 36 points against American in January and has scored 30 points or more in five games this season. Kempton has been the engine of this offense all season and will look to make a big impact in this championship game as well.
Free College Basketball ATS Picks
Bucknell has been one of the best small-conference teams in the country all season, but for some reason it has not been able to handle Lehigh. The Mountain Hawks won both at home and on the road and would love to pick up one more victory to improve to 3-0 against Bucknell and punch its ticket to March Madness.
While Lehigh’s past success must be taken into account, it seems hard to imagine Bucknell loses three times to the same opponent in the same season when it has the better overall record. The Bison have been the best team in the Patriot League throughout the year and deserves to make it to the NCAA Tournament.
It will exact some revenge in this one to make it there, but it should be close.
College Basketball Odds: Bucknell 78, Lehigh 75
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