Bison Men's Basketball Back in Action Saturday vs. Drexel

Dec. 19, 2008

WHAT: Bucknell (2-6) vs. Drexel (2-4)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Saturday, December 20, 2008, 5 p.m.
PROMOTIONS: Fifth Annual Dirk Sojka's Slam Dunk with Bison Basketball
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
TV: SportsFever TV (WQMY and WHP)
STREAMING VIDEO: Bison Vision
LIVE STATISTICS: GameTracker
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES

With a Victory over Drexel, Bucknell Would ...

... win back-to-back games for the first time this season and improve to 3-6.

... defeat the Dragons for the first time since January of 1991.

... even the all-time series with the Dragons at 15-15.

... win its first game coming out the exams break for the fourth time in the last five years.

... improve to 3-2 at home this season and 59-17 all-time at Sojka Pavilion.

About the Game
Bucknell entered an 11-day break for final exams on a winning note, defeating Binghamton 63-60 on Dec. 9, and now the Bison look to keep the momentum going against Drexel on Saturday evening at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell is 2-6 against a tough schedule so far and has shown improvement as the season has developed under first-year head coach Dave Paulsen. Senior Justin Castleberry and junior Patrick Behan are tied for the team scoring lead at 12.5 points per game, while freshman Bryan Cohen is just behind at 10.3 ppg. Sophomores Darryl Shazier and G.W. Boon have both upped their productivity of late. Shazier has scored in double figures in four of his last five games, while Boon is averaging 13.5 ppg in his last four games. Drexel will not be as rested as the Bison. The Dragons lost at home to Niagara on Thursday to fall to 2-4 on the season. Scott Rodgers, who had 19 against Niagara, leads Drexel in scoring at 13.0 ppg. The Dragons, who started 2-1 with wins over Penn and Cal State Northridge, have now lost three straight, and they have struggled offensively early in the year. Drexel is shooting just 32.5% from the field and 23.4% from 3-point range as a team while scoring 58.5 ppg. Drexel has played well defensively, however, holding five of its first six opponents to 67 points or less. The Dragons are also an outstanding rebounding team. They grabbed 23 offensive rebounds against Niagara on Thursday and are +7.2 in rebound margin on the season.

How to Get the Game
The Bucknell-Drexel game will be televised by Pennsylvania SportsFever, which is also producing all three games in a high school tripleheader beginning at 10 a.m. Saturday in Sojka Pavilion. Jason Bristol, Rick Binder and Doug Byerly will have the call of the Bucknell-Drexel game. The contest will air live on WQMY My Television in the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre TV market and WHP digital channel 21.2 (Comcast 249) in Harrisburg/Lancaster/York. Live video can also 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. Drexel Series Notes

One-time rivals in the now-defunct East Coast Conference, Bucknell and Drexel met 29 times since 1972, with the Dragons owning a narrow 15-14 series lead.

Prior to last season's meeting in Philadelphia, the Bison and Dragons had not played since Feb. 26, 1992. Drexel won that one 92-81, while Bucknell's most recent series victory came the prior season, 87-73 in Davis Gym.

No team has won more than three games in a row in this evenly matched series, however Drexel has won five of the last six. Eight series meetings have been decided by two points or less.

Bucknell is 7-7 at home against Drexel, although this will be the Dragons' first time in Sojka Pavilion.

Last season at the Daskalakis Athletic Center, Drexel opened up a 19-point first-half lead and held off Bucknell 65-53. Philadelphia native John Griffin led Bucknell with 11 points, while G.W. Boon had 10 off the bench. Scott Rodgers led Drexel with 18, while Frank Elegar had 16, all in the second half.

Bucknell vs. The CAA
Bucknell is 105-75 against current members of the Colonial Athletic Association, with most of those games coming against former East Coast Conference rivals Delaware (51-33), Hofstra (19-10), Towson (17-8) and Drexel (14-15). The Bison are also 3-6 against George Mason, 1-2 against Old Dominion and 0-1 vs. James Madison. Bucknell is 1-0 against the CAA this season after defeating Old Dominion 83-82 in double-overtime on Nov. 25.

Last Time Out
Bryan Cohen had 16 points and six rebounds along with the biggest defensive play of the night in Bucknell's 63-60 home win over Binghamton on Dec. 9. Patrick Behan added 15 points, six rebounds and three assists and point guard Darryl Shazier added 11 points, six rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals in 36 minutes, despire playing with a sore hamstring. Bucknell never trailed in the game and led by as many as 14 in the first half after starting the game 6-for-8 from 3-point distance. But the Bearcats rallied and had the ball down by a point in the final 20 seconds, but Cohen blocked America East scoring leader D.J. Rivera's shot and made two free throws. Later Justin Castleberry made two free throws to make it a three-point game in the waning seconds, and Malik Alvin missed a three at the buzzer. That made the Bearcats 0-for-16 from the arc on the night. For complete recap and boxscore, please see Page 26.

Inside the Binghamton Boxscore

After starting the game 6-for-8 from 3-point range, the Bison went just 1-for-11 the rest of the way. Bryan Cohen started 3-for-3 from the arc before missing his last six.

The Bearcats struggled all night from long range, missing all 16 3-point attempts. It was the third time in the last three seasons the Bison held a team without a trey at home. In 2006-07 they held Colgate to 0-for-14 shooting from the arc, and last season Lehigh went 0-for-9 at Sojka.

The Bison made only 5 of 13 free throws in the first half, but then made 11 of 12 in the second half, including four big ones from Cohen and Justin Castleberry in the last 20 seconds to keep the Bucknell lead at three points.

G.W. Boon had another strong night off the bench with nine points and a career-high nine rebounds.

Four Bison grabbed at least six rebounds, but Binghamton held a slight edge on the glass, 38-36.

Bucknell used only eight players in the game, its fewest of the season. Castleberry (35), Darryl Shazier (36) and Cohen (37) all played at least 35 minutes.

Castleberry, the team's leading scorer coming in, had a quiet night offensively until canning the two big free throws with 3.9 seconds left. He attempted only four field goals, making one, and finished with five points.

Binghamton, which was coming off a 10-point win over Rutgers and had won three in a row, received 21 points and nine rebounds from St. Joseph's transfer D.J. Rivera.

Happy Birthday
Friday (Dec. 19) is Justin Castleberry's 22nd birthday. Castleberry is hoping to repeat the performance from his 21st birthday, when he scored a then-career-high 18 points in an 88-75 home win over Cornell.

Close Games
With the exception of Bucknell's road games against Atlantic Coast Conference foes Wake Forest and Maryland, every game this season has come down to the wire. Of the six non-ACC games, three have been decided in overtime and the other three by four, three and three points, respectively.

Tough Schedule
Bucknell's first eight opponents have a combined record of 44-26 (.629) through Wednesday's games. Wake Forest, which is now ranked No. 10 nationally, heads the list with a perfect 9-0 record. Only Saint Francis (Pa.) at 4-7 has a losing record among Bucknell's opponents so far. The remaining six teams on Bucknell's non-conference schedule currently have a 24-27 (.471) record.

Boon Warming Up
Sophomore wing G.W. Boon missed a large portion of preseason practice with a shoulder injury, and his offensive production is now beginning to flourish. After totaling 14 points in the first four games of the year, Boon has 54 points in his last four games (a 13.5 ppg average). That includes a career-best 24-point showing against Wagner on Nov. 29.

Shazier's Shooting Improved
Point guard Darryl Shazier has been much-improved from long range in 2008-09. The sophomore has nine 3-pointers in his last three games and is 12-for-31 (.387) from the arc this season. As a freshman Shazier made just 10 triples all season in 48 attempts (.238).

Castleberry One Shy of Century Mark
Senior guard Justin Castleberry has 99 career 3-pointers and needs just one more to become the 14th Bucknell player with 100 career treys. He also needs only 11 more 3-pointers to move into the top 10 on Bucknell's career list.

Behan Filling it up Inside Arc
Junior Patrick Behan ranks ninth in the Patriot League in scoring at 12.5 points per game, but he ranks second in the league in 2-point field goals per game (4.9). Only PL scoring leader Kaleo Kina of Navy (6.0) scores more inside the arc than Behan.

Who's Got Next?
Bucknell has a quick turnaround after the Drexel game. The Bison will bus to Richmond on Sunday and take on the Spiders Monday night at 7 p.m. Richmond was 5-4 on the year heading into Friday night's game against Wake Forest.

Bucknell University Athletics

Bison Men's Basketball Back in Action Saturday vs. Drexel

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