Bucknell Men's Basketball Hosts Delaware Saturday in BracketBusters Matchup

Feb. 20, 2009

WHAT: Bucknell (6-20) vs. Delaware (11-17)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Saturday, February 21, 2009, 2 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
TV: None
STREAMING VIDEO: Bison Vision
LIVE STATISTICS: GameTracker
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES

With a Victory over Delaware, Bucknell Would ...

... improve to 7-20 on the season.

... even its home record at 6-6.

... defeat the Blue Hens for the second straight time, but for the first time since 1996.

... go to 3-0 against the Colonial Athletic Association this season.

... improve to 2-2 all-time in BracketBusters games.

About the Game
Bucknell takes a break from the Patriot League stretch drive to host former conference rival Delaware in a non-televised ESPNU BracketBusters matchup on Saturday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison are in the midst of just their second 20-loss season in program history. They have dropped six of their last seven, but four of those losses are by three points or less and the win was a good one, a 72-66 decision at Holy Cross last Saturday. Delaware comes in with an 11-17 overall mark, 5-11 in the tough Colonial Athletic Association. The Blue Hens picked up a good home win over George Mason on Feb. 12, but they have dropped two straight since then to Hofstra and Virginia Commonwealth. Delaware has three players averaging better than 14 points per game. Jawan Carter, a former Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team pick who started against Bucknell as a freshman at St. Joseph's two seasons ago, has transferred to Delaware and is averaging a team-high 15.3 points per game. Georgetown transfer Marc Egerson averages 15.0 points and 10.4 rebounds per game, while Harrisburg native Alphonso Dawson scores at a 14.2 ppg clip.

How to Get the Game
The Bucknell-Delaware game will not be televised, however live streaming video is available on the Internet through Bison Vision at BucknellBison.com. The game can be heard locally on the radio 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. Live statistics are available on GameTracker at BucknellBison.com.

Bucknell in the BracketBusters
This will be Bucknell's fourth appearance in as many years in the BracketBusters event, which is designed to showcase "mid-major" programs around the country. This will be the third straight year the Bison have played a team from the CAA. There are 51 BracketBusters games going on this weekend, the top 13 of which are being televised on one of the ESPN networks. Here are Bucknell's previous BracketBusters showings:

Feb. 18, 2006: Northern Iowa 65, Bucknell 61 (2OT): Bucknell was ranked No. 24 in the nation at the time, and Northern Iowa had been ranked earlier in the year. This ESPN2-televised game was the best BracketBusters game of the day, with two evenly matched teams going two overtimes with both sides hitting clutch pressure shots throughout. UNI beat the buzzer at the end of both regulation and the first overtime to stay alive. The loss ended a 12-game winning streak for the Bison, who finished 27-5 that season.

Feb. 17, 2007: Bucknell 73, Towson 63: Bucknell center Chris McNaughton put on a post clinic, finishing with 23 points, eight rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots to lead the Bison to a 73-63 win over Towson. It was the team's 10th straight win at the time.

Feb. 23, 2007: Old Dominion 65, Bucknell 55: Bucknell fought back from a nine-point deficit to take a two-point lead with six minutes to play, but just as the Bison went ahead ODU responded with an 11-0 run to pull away.

Bucknell vs. Delaware Series Notes

Bucknell and Delaware have met 84 times previously, with the Bison holding a 51-33 series lead. Many of those matchups came as conference rivals, as Bucknell and Delaware played together in both the Middle Atlantic Conference (1958-74) and the East Coast Conference (1974-90).

Bucknell is 34-9 all-time against Delaware in Lewisburg. This will be the Blue Hens' very first appearance in Sojka Pavilion.

The two teams last met on Dec. 4, 1996 in Davis Gym, with Bucknell prevailing 81-57. Gordon Mboya scored 26 points and J.R. Holden added 24 in that victory. The Mike Brey-led Blue Hens had just beaten Florida 88-78 at the San Juan Shootout before coming to Lewisburg.

Delaware's last series win came on Nov. 29, 1995, a 73-64 decision in Newark.

Bucknell was 2-1 against Delaware in ECC postseason play, including an 81-71 first-round win 1987. The Bison went on to win the title and secure its first-ever NCAA bid that season.

Bucknell vs. The CAA
Bucknell is 106-75 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 (15-15). The Bison are also 3-6 against George Mason, 1-2 against Old Dominion and 0-1 vs. James Madison. Bucknell is 2-0 against the CAA this season after defeating Old Dominion 83-82 in double-overtime on Nov. 25 and Drexel 81-75 on Dec. 20.

Familiar Faces

While Bucknell and Delaware have not played since 1996, the Bison have seen Blue Hens guard Jawan Carter before. Carter, who leads the team in scoring at 15.3 ppg, started in the Saint Joseph's backcourt two years ago before transferring to Delaware. In St. Joe's 63-53 win over Bucknell on Nov. 19, 2006 in Philadelphia, Carter played 35 minutes and tallied eight points (2-8 FG, 1-5 3FG, 3-4 FT), two rebounds, two steals and four turnovers.

Delaware freshman forward Kelvin McNeil is a former teammate of Bucknell guard Darryl Shazier at Menchville High School in Newport News, Va. McNeil is redshirting this season due to a shoulder injury.

Last Time Out
Bucknell could not build on its big victory at Holy Cross four days earlier and fell 71-68 at Lafayette on Wednesday night. The Bison endured a miserable first half in which they shot 25.0% from the floor and committed 12 turnovers. Down 16 with 10 minutes to play, Bucknell staged a furious comeback and was down by just three with the ball in the last 10 seconds of the game. Lafayette elected to foul Justin Castleberry with 2.8 seconds left before he could attempt a 3-point shot. Castleberry made the front end of the 1-and-1 and tried to miss the second intentionally, but he accidentally banked it in to make it a 69-68 game. Ryan Willen made two free throws at the other end to put Lafayette up three. Inbounding from mid-court after the Leopards initially deflected a long pass out of bounds, Castleberry had a pretty good look at a tying 3-pointer at the buzzer, but it rimmed out.

Inside the Lafayette Boxscore

After shooting 25.0% (7-28) in the first half, the Bison shot 60.7% (17-28) in the second. Patrick Behan logged 15 of his team-high 20 points in the second stanza, including 12 in the last nine minutes.

After being held scoreless for the first time all year in the Holy Cross game, Justin Castleberry bounced back to make 4 of 7 3-point attempts and score 16 points.

Bryan Cohen had another solid all-around game with 15 points, six rebounds, four assists, a block and a steal.

Darryl Shazier was Bucknell's fourth double-digit scorer with 10 points.

Bucknell's starting five scored 67 of the 68 points and attempted 55 of the team's 56 shots.

The Bison stuggled defensively, allowing Lafayette to shoot 46.6% from the field. The Leopards were 22-for-35 (.629) inside the arc. Bucknell produced only two steals in the game and finished with 18 turnovers to 12 for Lafayette.

Behan, Cohen Honored
Following the victory over Holy Cross, Patrick Behan earned Patriot League Player of the Week honors and Bryan Cohen was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week. It was Behan's second weekly award of the season and the third rookie citation for Cohen.

Starting Five Carrying the Load
Since G.W. Boon joined the starting lineup on Jan. 21, Bucknell has had a tough time finding production from its bench. In the nine games since that lineup change, the reserves have combined for only 19 field goals, and 12 of those came in the first two games after the switch. The Bison starters have produced 105 of the team's 107 field goals in the last five games.

A Pat on the Back for Behan
Bison junior Patrick Behan is having his best year, averaging 12.7 points and 6.4 rebounds per game so far, both team highs. He's been even better in the last seven games, when he has produced 17.7 ppg and 8.3 rpg and is shooting 52.6% from the field. Behan has scored 20 or more points in three of his last four games and 18 or more in five of the last seven. More comfortable setting up outside the paint, Behan has been asked to play quite a bit at the "5" spot this season due to Bucknell's depth concerns in the low post. He has responded well and ranks second in the conference in rebounding.

Bison Lead Patriot League in Home Attendance
Despite its record, Bucknell leads the Patriot League in home attendance in 2008-09 and is looking for its fourth straight PL attendance title. The Bison have drawn an average of 2,494 fans to Sojka Pavilion this season, just ahead of Holy Cross (2,371).

Defending the Arc
Bucknell has done an outstanding job defending the 3-point arc this season.

Bison opponents are now shooting only 30.3% from 3-point distance this season after Lafayette's 5-for-23 showing from long range on Wednesday.

That figure leads the Patriot League and ranks 24th nationally.

In Patriot League play, Bucknell opponents are shooting only 25.6% from the arc.

At Sojka Pavilion, Bison foes are making only 27.4% of their threes.

On Dec. 9, Bucknell held Binghamton to 0-for-16 shooting from long range in a 63-60 victory.

3-Point Quartet
For only the third time ever, Bucknell has three players with 40 or more 3-point field goals, and if Darryl Shazier can hit just four more, he would also get to 40 and give the Bison four players with 40 treys for the first time. G.W. Boon has a team-high 48 3-pointers, followed by Bryan Cohen with 44 and Justin Castleberry with 41. Shazier enters the Delaware game with 36. The other two Bucknell teams with three were the 1990-91 team with Keith Fenton (60), Mike Bright (50) and Bill Courtney (41), and the 2004-05 team with Kevin Bettencourt (78), John Griffin (47) and Charles Lee (46).

Who's Got Next?
Bucknell has two regular-season games remaining, both at home against Lehigh and Army. The Bison will host Lehigh on Wednesday night at 7 p.m., looking to avenge a 61-59 loss to the Mountain Hawks on Jan. 28. Marquis Hall scored with one second left to win that one for Lehigh.

Bucknell University Athletics

Bucknell Men's Basketball Hosts Delaware Saturday in BracketBusters Matchup

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