Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Visits Nation's Capital Wednesday to Face American
2/12/2008 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2008
WHAT: Bucknell (10-13, 5-4 PL) vs. American (14-10, 6-3 PL)
WHERE: Bender Arena, Washington, D.C.
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008, 7:30 p.m.
TV: None
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
LIVE VIDEO: Patriot League All-Access
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES
Probable Starters
Bucknell:
G, 11 John Griffin, Sr., 13.4 ppg
G, 10, Justin Castleberry, Jr., 12.3 ppg
F, 2 Rob Thomas, Sr., 5.2 ppg
F, 15 Stephen Tyree, So., 6.8 ppg
C, 1 Darren Mastropaolo, Sr., 7.2 ppg
American:
G, 5 Garrison Carr, Jr., 17.9 ppg
G, 3 Derrick Mercer, Jr., 13.0 ppg
F, 33 Bryce Simon, Jr., 6.5 ppg
F, 34 Travis Lay, Sr., 5.9 ppg
C, 32 Cornelio Giubunda, Jr., 2.5 ppg
With a Victory over American, Bucknell Would ...
-- ... improve to 11-13 overall and 6-4 in Patriot League play. -- ... tie the Eagles in the Patriot League standings and sit in either first or second place, depending on Lafayette's result against Colgate. -- ... improve to 4-7 on the road this season and 3-2 on the road in Patriot League play. -- ... win its ninth in a row over the Eagles and third straight at Bender Arena.
About the Game
Part two of the Bucknell-American series takes place Wednesday night at Bender Arena. The Bison won the first meeting 66-62 at Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 16, but after a 3-0 start in league play Bucknell has dropped four of its last six to fall into third place. Meanwhile, American is the Patriot League's hottest team. The Eagles have won three straight, including impressive road wins at Lafayette and Holy Cross and a home victory over Lehigh, and have taken over sole possession of first place at 6-3. The Bison are only a game behind the Eagles, however, and with a victory on Wednesday Bucknell would not only catch them, but it would sweep the season series and secure any future head-to-head tiebreakers with them. John Griffin averaged 25.0 points per game last week and reclaimed the team scoring lead at 13.4 ppg. Justin Castleberry also averages in double figures for the Bison at 12.3 ppg. American features the league's No. 3 scorer in guard Garrison Carr (17.9 ppg), who torched Bucknell for 30 points at Sojka Pavilion last month. Carr has a whopping 98 3-pointers -- 18 more than any other player in the league -- and is shooting a robust 45.2% from the arc. Derrick Mercer also scores in double figures at 13.0 ppg, and the Bison also need to keep an eye on dangerous sub Brian Gilmore, who had 26 points off the bench in Saturday's win over Lehigh.
How to Get the Game
The Bucknell-American game will not be televised, however live streaming video can be purchased through the Patriot League All-Access package via BucknellBison.com and PatriotLeague.com. The 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.
Bucknell vs. American
Bucknell has an overall 25-17 lead in an all-time series with American that includes some historic dates. The very first meeting on Jan. 14, 1939 also happened to be the first game ever played in Davis Gym (AU won 38-33). Coincidentally, American was also the opponent for the very last game ever played in Davis Gym on Jan. 11, 2003 (a 63-52 Bison win). Bucknell has won 15 of 20 series meetings in Lewisburg, including all seven at Sojka Pavilion, but the Bison are just 2-4 at Bender Arena since American joined the Patriot League in 2001-02. As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell leads 10-5, and its current eight-game winning streak includes victories in the 2005 and 2006 PL Tournament semifinals. Pat Flannery is 11-6 all-time against the Eagles.
Bucknell vs. American Earlier This Season
Back on Jan. 16 at Sojka Pavilion, Jason Vegotsky hit the go-ahead jumper with 1:04 to play and Justin Castleberry made it hold up with six clutch free throws in the final 25 seconds, helping Bucknell rally all the way back from an 11-point halftime deficit to defeat American 66-62. Castleberry scored a team-high 15 points and John Griffin added 11 for the Bison. Against American and hot-shooting guard Garrison Carr, the Bison fell behind 36-25 at halftime but outscored the Eagles 41-26 in the second half. Carr scored 18 of his then-career-high 30 points in the first half, 12 of them coming on 3-pointers. Carr drained 6 of 12 from the arc and 10 of 20 overall from the floor. Bucknell rallied behind its defense in the second half. The Bison played a great deal of matchup zone throughout the second half, and when they were in the man-to-man, they switched Stephen Tyree onto Carr. As a result, American shot just 40.0 percent from the field and scored only 26 points in the second stanza, and Carr made only one field goal in the final 10 minutes, that coming on a hanging jump shot with eight seconds to play.
Bucknell vs. American Last Season
The Bison took both meetings with the Eagles a year ago:
-- On Jan. 9 at Sojka Pavilion, Chris McNaughton scored 16 points, including back-to-back decisive buckets in the final two minutes, leading the Bison to a 66-60 victory. Donald Brown added 14 points, Darren Mastropaolo had 11 off the bench and John Griffin had 10 (all from the foul line) for the Bison, who trailed by as many as seven early. Arvydas Eitutavicius led American with 18 points, while Garrison Carr hit four 3-pointers and scored 14 points.
-- On Feb. 6 at Bender Arena, Griffin tallied 15 points, including the go-ahead and clinching free throws in the final 31 seconds, lifting Bucknell to a 69-66 win over American in a back-and-forth battle that featured 19 lead changes and 11 ties. The Bison went 8-for-11 from 3-point range and shot 60.5% overall. Andre Ingram led AU with 23 points.
Last Time Out
Navy's trio of Kaleo Kina (27), Greg Sprink (22) and Chris Harris (19) combined to score 68 of the team's 78 points in a 78-72 win over Bucknell Saturday night at Alumni Hall. Kina scored 19 of his points in the first half to help stake the Midshipmen to a 39-32 halftime lead, but it was Sprink and Harris who both hit 3-point daggers in the final two minutes of the game, both coming just after Bucknell had closed within two points. John Griffin scored 19 points for the Bison, who led by as many nine points early at 19-10 before Kina got hot.
Inside the Navy Boxscore
-- Bucknell's eight-game winning streak against Navy came to an end.
-- John Griffin made 5 of 7 3-point attempts en route to his 19 points. As a team, Bucknell shot 10 of 21 from 3-point range and 43.8% overall.
-- Darren Mastropaolo, Justin Castleberry and Stephen Tyree scored 12 points apiece.
-- Mastropaolo, a career 64.5% free-throw shooter coming in, went 8-for-8 from the line. As a team, however, the Bison missed three front ends of 1-and-1s in the second half and finished 20-for-29 from the line (.690).
-- Stephen Tyree logged his second straight 9-rebound game. He scored in double figures for the sixth time in the last 10 games and just missed his first career double-double.
-- Darryl Shazier had only five points, but they came on back-to-back possessions late in the game. With the Bison trailing 68-61 with 2:37 to play, Shazier hit a 3-pointer, then stole a pass and went coast-to-coast for a layup to make it s 68-66 game. Greg Sprink halted the rally with a trey at the other end, however.
-- Bucknell outrebounded Navy 39-32.
-- The Bison committed 22 turnovers, their second-highest total of the year, leading to 24 Navy points. A dozen of those miscues came in the second half.
Numbers to Watch
Some relevent stats involving Bucknell and American:
-- Bucknell leads the Patriot League in 3-point field goal percentage defense (.326), but on Wednesday the Bison will have to monitor two of the league's most accurate long-range shooters in Garrison Carr (.452) and Derrick Mercer (.450). Those two rank 3-4 in the league in 3FG percentage, and Carr ranks fifth in the nation in 3-pointers made with 98.
-- At the other end, Bucknell's top outisde shooters have done well against American in recent years, in particular Jason Vegotsky, who is 8-for-12 from the arc in six career games against the Eagles. Vegotsky, John Griffin (11-27), Justin Castleberry (4-8), Rob Thomas (2-3) and G.W. Boon (2-4) are a combined 27-for-54 (.500) against AU.
-- Bucknell struggled with turnovers last time out against Navy, but in the first Bucknell-American meeting of the season the Bison committed a season-low six turnovers compared to 17 assists. The Eagles generate the fewest turnovers in the Patriot League (11.7 per game) and rank last in steals per game (4.25). Despite that, AU still ranks second in the Patriot League in both scoring defense (62.2) and field-goal percentage defense (.415).
-- These two teams faced just one common opponent prior to Patriot League play. American opened its season with a 75-68 win at Saint Francis (Pa.), while the Bison lost to the Red Flash at home, 57-54 on Dec. 1.
Griffin Nearing Century Mark
Senior guard John Griffin has moved within 14 points of 1,000 for his career. He is trying to become the 33rd member of Bucknell's 1,000-point club. He is also just two 3-pointers shy of 200 for his career. Only Kevin Bettencourt (294) and Mike Bright (206) have reached that milestone at Bucknell.
Golden Griffin
John Griffin is looking to keep his recent scoring surge going. The senior co-captain scored a career-high 31 points at Colgate last Wednesday, 18 of them coming in the final 3:26 of regulation plus overtime. Then on Saturday at Navy Griffin scored 19 points on only eight field-goal attempts. He made 5 of 7 from 3-point range and 4 of 5 from the foul line.
Tyree Rarely Missing
Sophomore forward Stephen Tyree is playing perhaps the best basketball of his career since the calendar flipped over to 2008. Tyree had never before scored in double figures, but now he has done it in six of the last 10 games, including his 16-point outburst last Wednesday at Colgate. In that span Tyree is 34-for-46 (.739) from the field. In nine league games he is shooting 71.4% (30-42) from the field, No. 1 in the PL.
Mastropaolo Productive Since Return
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 Jan. 2 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. Mastropaolo, who had played in 95 career games prior to this season, injured his knee in a summer pickup game. Since returning, he has averged 24.2 minutes per game and is averaging a career-high 7.2 points and 4.0 rebounds.
Who's Got Next?
Bucknell is back home on Saturday to take on Holy Cross at 6 p.m. at ESPN2. The Bison won the first meeting between the two teams 73-65 in Worcester, Mass., on Jan. 18. Holy Cross is 12-10 overall, 3-6 in the Patriot League heading into Wednesday's game at Army. These two teams have met in each of the last three PL championship games.
