Bucknell Men's Basketball Tries to Make it Two Straight Wins Saturday vs. Wagner

Nov. 26, 2008

WHAT: Bucknell (1-3) vs. Wagner (3-1)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Saturday, November 29, 2008, 7 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
TV: None
STREAMING VIDEO: Bison Vision
LIVE STATISTICS: GameTracker
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES

With a Victory over Wagner, Bucknell Would ...

... win its second straight game and improve to 2-3 on the season.

... defeat the Seahawks for the first time since Dec. 8, 1984.

... improve to 58-16 all-time at Sojka Pavilion.

About the Game
Bucknell breathed a big sigh of relief after earning victory No. 1 on the season on Tuesday against Old Dominion, now the Bison look to make it two straight at home when red-hot Wagner comes to Sojka Pavilion on Saturday night. Bucknell has been working overtime recently, playing three straight OT games for the first time in program history. After frustrating losses to Boston University and Saint Francis (Pa.), the Bison finally flipped their overtime fortunes with an exciting 83-82 victory over a good ODU squad that was picked third in the Colonial Athletic Conference preseason poll. Justin Castleberry scored a career-high 31 points in that game, propelling him from 12th all the way to third among the Patriot League scoring leaders at 16.3 points per game. Freshman Bryan Cohen, who had 12 points and nine rebounds in the ODU game, also scores in double figures at 13.3 ppg, while point guard Darryl Shazier, who just missed a triple-double on Tuesday, leads the league in assists at 6.0 per game. Meanwhile, Wagner has won three games in a row after a six-point home loss to Lafayette on opening night. The Seahawks have beaten Saint Peter's (59-44), Stony Brook (65-62) and Loyola Marymount (72-51) in succession to get to 3-1 on the year. Llewchean Radford leads the team in scoring (16.5) and rebounding (9.8), while Jamal Smith averages 14.3 ppg and 6.0 rpg. Joey Mundweiler, who scored 25 points in Wagner's 64-55 win over Bucknell last season, comes in with an averge of 11.3 ppg. Wagner is coming off a 23-8 season (15-3 NEC) in which it set a school victories record.

How to Get the Game
The Bucknell-Wagner game will not be televised, however live video can be purchased through Bison Vision at BucknellBison.com. The game can be heard locally on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong and Ed Sigl 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.

Bucknell vs. Wagner Series Notes

This will be the ninth all-time meeting between the Bison and Seahawks. Last year's game on Staten Island was the first since the 1984-85 season. Wagner leads the all-time series 5-3, including a 3-0 mark on its home floor.

The two teams first met in 1955-56 on Staten Island, with the Seahawks claiming a 78-56 victory. Bucknell won 83-56 the following year at the Hofstra Christmas Tournament before Wagner won three of the next four, all before 1968.

Last season at the Spiro Sports Center, Joey Mundweiler scored 25 points to lead Wagner to the 64-55 win. Patrick Behan had 17 points for Bucknell, but the Bison dug themselves a big early hole thanks to a 5-for-27 shooting performance in the first half. The Bison trailed 29-13 at halftime and could not get closer than 10 in the second half.

Bucknell vs. The Northeast Conference
Bucknell is 39-29 (.574) all-time against the teams that currently comprise the Northeast Conference. The Bison are 14-10 against Saint Francis (Pa.), 12-8 vs. Mount St. Mary's, 6-3 vs. Robert Morris, 4-2 vs. Saint Francis (N.Y.), 3-5 vs. Wagner and 0-1 vs. Central Connecticut State. Bucknell has never played Long Island, Monmouth or Fairleigh Dickinson.

Cohen Named Patriot League Rookie of the Week
Freshman guard Bryan Cohen earned his first Patriot League Rookie of the Week honor on Monday. Last week Cohen registered his first two career double-figure scoring games, pocketing 10 points against Boston University and 22 at Saint Francis (Pa.). In the latter game, he scored nine points in the final six minutes of regulation to help the Bison overcome an eight-point deficit and rally to force overtime.

Last Time Out
Dave Paulsen's first coaching victory at Bucknell was a thrilling one, as the Bison prevailed over a strong Old Dominion team, 83-82 in double overtime. There were 21 lead changes in the game, including eight in the two overtime periods alone. Bucknell had many stars in this one, but senior guard Justin Castleberry stood out among them. Castleberry dropped a career-high 31 points, including a driving layup with 15.6 seconds left that put the Bison ahead. Castleberry also grabbed the defensive rebound at the other end after Jonathan Adams missed a jumper with two seconds left. Bucknell led by as many as 11 early in the second half before the Monarchs rallied. For complete recap and boxscore, please see Page 23.

Inside the Old Dominion Boxscore

Bucknell had its most complete offensive showing of the season, shooting 46.4% from the floor and committing only 11 turnovers in the 50-minute game. After struggling at the free-throw line in their first three games, the Bison made 12 of 15 (.800) against ODU, including 4-for-4 in the overtime periods.

Justin Castleberry scored seven of Bucknell's nine points in the second overtime session. All told he went 9-for-16 from the floor, 5-for-11 from 3-point distance and 8-for-9 from the foul line. He registered Bucknell's first 30-point games since John Griffin had 31 in a 91-85 overtime win at Colgate last February.

Sophomore point guard Darryl Shazier had his best game at the collegiate level, just missing the first triple-double in program history. Shazier had 14 points, nine rebounds and nine assists in 46 minutes — all career highs. Defensively he held ODU point guard Darius James to six points (5.0 below his average) on 3-for-12 shooting.

Patrick Behan scored a season-high 16 points on 8-for-16 shooting. Behan also added eight rebounds, and it was his defensive rebound and outlet pass to Castlberry that set up the winning basket.

Bryan Cohen just missed his first double-double, finishing with 12 points and nine rebounds. Cohen canned a big 3-pointer in the first overtime period that erased a two-point deficit.

Four Bison played more than 40 minutes: Castleberry (47), Cohen (47), Shazier (46) and Behan (41).

Old Dominion entered the game at +12.0 in rebounding margin, but the Bison outrebounded the athletic Monarchs 45-42. It was the third time in four games that Bucknell totaled 40 or more rebounds.

Enoch Andoh went 3-for-3 from the floor and finished with six points in 17 bench minutes.

The victory avenged a 65-55 loss to Old Dominion in last year's ESPNU BracketBusters event. It was Bucknell's first win in three tries against the Monarchs.

40 Not Enough

Never before in its 114-year history had Bucknell played three consecutive overtime games.

Now the Bison are one more OT game away from the national record. Jacksonville (1982), Illinois State (1985) and Dayton (1988) all played four straight overtime games to share the NCAA mark.

Bucknell's current overtime run brings back memories of the 1994-95 season — Charlie Woollum's last as Bison head coach — when the team went to overtime five times in a span of eight games, including two double-overtime games.

On a trivial note, the Bucknell men's soccer team also set a school record for most consecutive overtime games this season. The Bison played five in a row and eight total, also a record.

Shazier Leads League in Assists ...
Point guard Darryl Shazier is now averaging 6.0 assists per game, tops in the Patriot League. In 159 minutes this season, he has 24 assists against 10 turnovers. Since the assists statistic became official in 1975-76, no Bucknell player has recorded a triple-double, but Shazier almost achieved the feat against Old Dominion when he had 14 points, nine rebounds and nine assists.

... and Castleberry in Steals
Justin Castlberry came up with three more steals against Old Dominion, giving him eight in his last three games. Castleberry is now tied with Lehigh's Marquis Hall and Colgate's Alex Woodhouse for the Patriot League lead in that category.

New Sojka Records
The following Sojka Pavilion records were set in Tuesday's Bucknell-Old Dominion game:

Most Points by a Bucknell Player: Justin Castleberry, 31 (previous, 29, by Kevin Bettencourt and Chris McNaughton)

Most 3FG Attempts by a Bucknell Player: Castleberry, 11 (ties Chris Niesz and Kevin Bettencourt)

Most Assists: Darryl Shazier, 9 (previous, 8, held by Bucknell's Dan Blankenship, Kevin Bettencourt, John Griffin and Abe Badmus (4x), and Zlatko Savovic of Lehigh)

It was also the longest game ever played in Sojka.

Who's Got Next?
Bucknell begins a two-game road trip on Tuesday with a trip to La Salle. The Bison and Explorers tip off at 7 p.m. at Tom Gola Arena. La Salle has played two straight overtime games, including a 75-70 win over Valparaiso at the Paradise Jam in the Virgin Islands on Monday. The Explorers are a deceiving 2-3. Their three losses are by four points to Florida State, by eight points to No. 2 Connecticut and by four in overtime to Southern Miss. Bucknell defeated La Salle 67-66 at Sojka Pavilion last season.

Bucknell University Athletics

Bucknell Men's Basketball Tries to Make it Two Straight Wins Saturday vs. Wagner

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