Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Visits St. Bonaventure Saturday in Last Game Before Start of PL Play
1/4/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 4, 2008
WHAT: Bucknell (5-8) vs. St. Bonaventure (5-8)
WHERE: Reilly Center, Olean, N.Y.
WHEN: Saturday, Jan. 5, 4 p.m.
TV: None
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
INTERNET VIDEO: gobonnies.com
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES
Probable Starters
Bucknell:
G, 11 John Griffin, Sr., 13.2 ppg
G, 10 Justin Castleberry, Jr., 10.8 ppg
C, 42 Josh Linthicum, Jr., 6.0 ppg
F, 15 Stephen Tyree, So., 4.5 ppg
F, 21 G.W. Boon, Fr., 5.9 ppg
St. Bonaventure:
G, 10 Tyler Relph, Sr., 9.1 ppg
G, 1 Zarryon Fereti, Sr., 13.8 ppg
C, 50 D'Lancy Carter, Jr., 6.1 ppg
F, 5 Michael Lee, Sr., 17.8 ppg
F, 24 Hillary Haley, Fr., 7.8 ppg
With a Victory over St. Bonaventure, Bucknell Would ...
-- ... improve to 6-8 on the season.
-- ... defeat the Bonnies for the first time since 1990.
-- ... win at the Reilly Center for the first time ever.
-- ... snap a four-game road losing streak and improve to 2-4 on the road this season.
-- ... go 2-0 against the Atlantic 10 this season.
About the Game
In its final tuneup prior to the start of Patriot League play next week, Bucknell pays a visit to the Reilly Center to take on St. Bonaventure in a battle of two 5-8 teams. Very similar on the stat sheet, both teams have struggled offensively of late. The Bison have lost three of their last four, averaging 55.3 points per game in that span. The Bonnies have dropped four of their last five, averaging 53.6 points over that span. Bucknell is coming off a 53-47 home setback to a very strong Ohio team that already boasted wins over Maryland and St. John's. John Griffin (13.2 ppg) and Justin Castleberry (10.8) continue to pace the Bison in the scoring department. Bucknell got a major boost with the return of senior co-captain Darren Mastropaolo on Wednesday. Mastropaolo had missed the first 12 games while rehabbing a knee injury suffered in an August pickup game. St. Bonaventure has been idle since Dec. 30, when it fell 64-59 at Binghamton. Earlier in the season the Bonnies had beaten Binghamton 97-80 at home. Their other victories are against Loyola Marymount (61-50), Presbyterian (79-72), Canisius (80-64) and Albany (58-54). Bucknell also has a won over Albany, while both teams have lost to Ohio. Michael Lee leads the Bonnies in scoring (17.8), rebounding (8.1) and steals (23), while Zarryon Fereti (13.8) also scores in double digits.
How to Get the Game
The Bucknell-St. Bonaventure game can be heard locally on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong and Doug Byerly on the call. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off. The audio feed is available free of charge via BucknellBison.com and SportsJuice.com, while live streaming video is available for a fee via gobonnies.com.
Patriot League Back on Sirius
The Patriot League announced recently that for the second straight season, Sirius Satellite Radio will feature a league game of the week beginning in January. Bucknell's Jan. 18 game at Holy Cross (channel 121) and the Jan. 26 gome game against Colgate (channel 110) are part of the package. The February schedule, in addition to channel assignments, will be announced at a later date. All seven games of the Patriot League Tournament will also be available on Sirius. In addition, the Jan. 11 home game vs. Navy will also air through Navy's contract with Sirius on channel 110.
Bucknell vs. St. Bonaventure
The Bison and Bonnies have met four times previously, coming in home-and-home series in 1988-89/1989-90 and 1994-95/1995-96. In the first set, both teams won on their home floor. St. Bonaventure took the initial meeting 75-73 in Olean on Dec. 3, 1988, and a year later the Bison won 95-82 in Davis Gym. The Bonnies swept the most recent pair, winning 88-75 in Lewisburg in Pat Flannery's first season in 1994-05, followed by a 60-55 home win the following year.
Bucknell vs. The Atlantic 10
Bucknell is 33-86 (.277) all-time against the teams that currently comprise the Atlantic 10. In addition to their 1-3 record against St. Bonaventure, the Bison are 5-29 vs. Temple, 3-17 vs. St. Joseph's, 7-2 vs. George Washington, 5-8 vs. Fordham, 4-15 vs. La Salle, 3-5 vs. Duquesne, 3-5 vs. Rhode Island, 1-0 vs. Saint Louis, 1-0 vs. Xavier, 0-1 vs. Richmond and 0-1 vs. Dayton. Bucknell has never played Charlotte or Massachusetts. Bucknell is 4-1 against the A-10 since the start of the 2004-05 season, however, including two wins over St. Joseph's, a big victory at Xavier last season, and a 67-66 win over La Salle earlier this year. Pat Flannery is 6-5 against the A-10.
Connections
Even though the two teams have not met in 12 years, Bucknell and St. Bonaventure have a few interesting connections. St. Bonaventure director of athletics Steve Watson is the brother of John Watson, a 1989 Bucknell graduate and a four-year letterman in the Bison men's basketball program. John Watson was a two-year captain and helped lead Bucknell to two NCAA Tournament appearances. Also, current St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt was a longtime assistant under the late Skip Prosser at both Loyola (Md.) (1993-94) and Xavier (1994-2001). Prosser's son, Mark, is in his fifth season on Bucknell's coaching staff.
Last Time Out
Bucknell and Ohio met for the very first time on Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion, and the Bobcats prevailed 53-47 in a tense defensive struggle. Bucknell made only 2 of 17 first-half field-goal attempts, yet went to the locker room tied at 16-16 thanks to its own strong defense and good free-throw shooting. Reserve guard Bert Whittington came up big down the stretch for Ohio, though, scoring 15 of his game-high 20 points in the second half. Whittington scored eight points in a 12-0 run that put the Bobcats up by seven with 10 minutes to play, and after the Bison rallied to take the lead back, he hit a critical 3-pointer with 1:37 to play that stretched a one-point Ohio lead to four.
Inside the Ohio Boxscore
-- Bucknell's first four field goals of the night were 3-pointers, and the Bison did not make a 2-point basket until Josh Linthicum's dunk at the 16:49 mark of the second half.
-- Justin Castleberry was the lone Bison to score in double figures, finishing with 11 points. Castleberry made two 3-pointers, extending his streak to 15 games in a row with at least one trey. Castleberry scored seven of his 11 points in a three-minute stretch in the second half when Bucknell scored eight straight points to recover from a seven-point deficit.
-- G.W. Boon made his second straight start and finished with nine points and three rebounds. The freshman is averaging 10.5 ppg in his two starts this season.
-- Top scorer John Griffin turned an ankle about seven minutes into the second half. He returned to the game, but not before Ohio outscored Bucknell 10-0 in his absence.
-- Ohio outrebounded the Bison 32-29, but Bucknell had a 12-11 edge on the offensive glass.
Mastropaolo Returns
Less than five months removed from surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament, hard-working senior co-captain Darren Mastropaolo returned to the floor on Wednesday against Ohio. Mastropaolo checked in for the first time at the 15:23 mark of the first half and scored his first points of the season at the free-throw line moments later. All told, Mastropaolo played 18 minutes and scored six points on 2-for-3 shooting from the field, 2-for-2 from the line. He also had a rebound and an assist. Mastropaolo, who had played in 95 career games prior to this season, injured his knee in a summer pickup game.
Crashing the Boards
Josh Linthicum punctuated the Long Beach State win with two big put-backs in the final two minutes, and he now ranks second in the Patriot League in offensive rebounds per game (2.46), trailing only Holy Cross center Tim Clifford. Linthicum ranks 10th in the league in overall rebounds at 4.9 per game.
Slow Starts
Bucknell has struggled out of the gates several times this season, and the Bison are shooting 34.9% overall and 29.7% from 3-point range in the first halves of games. In the second halves, however, Bucknell is shooting 44.3% from the field and 33.1% from the arc. The Bison have been held under 20 points at halftime five times this season.
Who's Got Next?
Bucknell begins its 18th season of Patriot League play on Friday at home against Navy (ESPNU, 7 p.m.). The Bison have won six straight against the Midshipmen, but Navy leads the all-time series 29-23. Navy is 6-8 on the season heading into Saturday night's home game with Longwood.
