Bucknell Men's Basketball Begins Final Week of Regular Season Wednesday vs. Lehigh at Sojka Pavilion

Feb. 24, 2009

WHAT: Bucknell (6-21, 3-9 PL) vs. Lehigh (15-11, 5-7 PL)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Wednesday, February 25, 2009, 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 Lehigh, Bucknell Would ...

... improve to 7-21 overall and 4-9 in the Patriot League.

... improve to 6-7 at home this season.

... split the season series and snap a three-game losing streak to the Mountain Hawks.

About the Game
Bucknell finishes off the regular season with two straight home games, beginning Wednesday night against Lehigh. The Bison are in eighth place with a 3-9 Patriot League record, one game behind both Lehigh and Army, which happen to be their two opponents this week. Bucknell still has a chance to climb as high as fourth in the Patriot League standings, which would mean a home game for the first round of the Patriot League Tournament. But in order for that to happen, the Bison must win twice and get some help. Bucknell is coming off a disappointing 81-68 BracketBusters loss to Delaware on Saturday. The Bison led that one by 12 with seven minutes to play before the Blue Hens came storming back. Lehigh also suffered a tough home loss in its most recent outing. The Mountain Hawks fell to arch-rival Lafayette 68-66 on Sunday, and they have dropped three of their last five games to fall to 5-7 in the league. Lehigh is currently tied with Colgate for fourth place.

How to Get the Game
The Bucknell-Lehigh 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 vs. Lehigh Series Notes

Bucknell has played more games (149) and won more games (90) against Lehigh than any other school. The Bison have a 90-59 lead in a series that originated in 1902.

Since the start of Patriot League play in 1990-91, Bucknell holds a 31-12 advantage, including a 16-3 mark at home.

Bucknell had won three straight at Stabler Arena (including a 2005 loss that was later forfeited to the Bison) until falling there last season. Bucknell is 13-7 at Stabler during the Patriot League era.

Lehigh is responsible for snapping Bucknell's 35-game home winning streak against Patriot League foes. The Bison had not lost to a conference opponent at Sojka Pavilion in nearly five years, until the Mountain Hawks won 56-54 in Lewisburg last season.

Bucknell vs. Lehigh Last Season
Lehigh swept the season series from Bucknell last season:

On Jan. 30, 2008 in Lewisburg, Zahir Carrington scored 19 points and helped Lehigh become the first Patriot League team in almost five years to defeat Bucknell in Sojka Pavilion, 56-54. Bryan White had 13 points and 11 rebounds and Marquis Hall also scored 13 points for the Mountain Hawks. Rob Thomas scored a season-high 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting and John Griffin added 10 points for the Bison, who endured a cold shooting night. The game was tied at 42 midway through the second half, but Bucknell went scoreless for 5:26 while Lehigh scored five straight points to take the lead for good. The Mountain Hawks made 7 of 10 free throws in the final 50 seconds to prevent the Bison from getting a possession to tie or take the lead, other than a desperation 70-foot attempt at the buzzer.

On Feb. 27, 2008 at Stabler Arena, Bucknell endured its worst offensive performance in more than nine years in a 50-39 loss. Rob Keefer scored a career-high 17 points, Hall had 12 and Carrington 11 for Lehigh, which held the Bison to their smallest point total since a 68-27 loss to Princeton on Dec. 9, 1998. Darren Mastropaolo scored eight points for Bucknell, which shot only 33.3% from the field and made 3 of 16 3-point tries. The Bison also missed their first seven free throws and finished 6-for-14 from the line. Lehigh shot only 32.6% but made 17 of 24 free throws and had only 11 turnovers compared to Bucknells' 17.

This Year's First Lehigh Matchup
Lehigh guard Marquis Hall flipped in an off-balance shot in the lane with one second remaining, giving the Mountain Hawks a 61-59 victory over Bucknell in an evenly matched battle on Jan. 28 at Stabler Arena. Bucknell scored the last nine points of the first half to go up 30-21 and stretched the lead to 10 early in the second half. But one cold spell allowed Lehigh to get back in it. The Bison trailed 59-56 when Bryan Cohen hit a clutch 3-pointer to tie the game with 19 seconds left, but Hall won it at the other end with a heavily contested shot that hit the rim twice before falling in.

Inside the First Lehigh Boxscore

Lehigh came into the game ranked first in the Patriot League and ninth nationally in field-goal percentage defense (.375), but the Bison shot 57.1% in the first half and 46.8% overall. That was Bucknell's second-highest field-goal percentage of the season (48.0% vs. Drexel).

Turnovers proved to be a factor in the game. The Bison committed 17, their most in nine games, while Lehigh had only seven. The last of Bucknell's turnovers was critical. Trailing by one with 30 seconds left, Bucknell came up with a key defensive stop, forcing Lehigh into a long, contested 3-pointer with the shot clock expiring. Justin Castleberry got the rebound for Bucknell but came down off balance with a Lehigh player laying on the ground below him. Castleberry was called for traveling, and the Bison had to foul on the inbounds with the shot clock off.

Justin Castleberry had been just 1-for-17 from 3-point range in his previous six games, but he broke out of the slump in a big way against Lehigh. Castleberry went 4-for-5 from the arc and 6-for-8 overall en route to an 18-point night. The last of his 3-pointers came with 1:55 left in the game and Bucknell down by two points.

Patrick Behan also had a strong night offensively and tied Castleberry for game-high honors with 18 points. Behan was 8-for-13 from the floor.

Bryan Cohen made his first 3-point attempt of the night, then he missed four in a row before canning the tying trey with 19 seconds left in the game. Cohen stuffed the boxscore with 10 points, six rebounds and a career-high five assists.

Lehigh managed to cool off G.W. Boon a bit. Boon had scored in double figures in nine of his previous 10 games, but after hitting two early 3-pointers, he was held scoreless in the second half and finished with six points. Boon was in foul trouble for much of the night as well, and he played only 23 minutes.

Lehigh was whistled for only eight fouls in the game. Bucknell missed only one free throw all night but was outscored 11-6 from the line. Lehigh was 5-for-12 at the line through 37 minutes, then went 6-for-6 in crunch time.

Last Time Out
In one of the stranger games of the season, Bucknell looked great for 33 minutes in Saturday's ESPNU BracketBusters clash with former conference rival Delaware, but the Blue Hens scored the game's final 25 points to flip a 12-point deficit into an 81-68 win at Sojka Pavilion. With seven minutes to play in the game Bucknell was shooting 52.1% from the field and had a seemingly commanding 68-56 lead. But from that point forward, the Bison went 0-for-11 from the floor, 0-for-2 from the foul line and committed five turnovers. Delaware took advantage, making six of nine shots, including three critical 3-pointers, and the Blue Hens polished things off by making 9 of 10 free throws in the final 1:38.

Inside the Delaware Boxscore

Bucknell ended up shooting 42.4% from the field after the 0-for-11 finish. The Bison had been on pace to shoot 50% for the first time this season.

Patrick Behan had another big game with 23 points and five rebounds.

Justin Castleberry and Bryan Cohen each canned three 3-pointers and finished with 11 points. Cohen added a team-high six rebounds.

Darryl Shazier attempted only one shot and was held scoreless for the first time all year, however he did hand out eight assists.

G.W. Boon finished a number of impressive drives to the basket and finished with 16 points and five rebounds.

Delaware shot 46.0% from the field and had only eight turnovers.

A Pat on the Back for Behan
Bison junior Patrick Behan is having his best year, averaging 13.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game so far, both team highs. He's been even better in the last eight games, when he has produced 18.4 ppg and 7.9 rpg and is shooting 52.7% from the field. 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.

Behan for 20
Patrick Behan has now scored 20 or more points in each of his last three games. The last Bison to accomplish that feat was Boakai Lalugba, who scored 34 against George Washington, 21 against Canisius and 24 against Saint Francis (Pa.) early in the 2002-03 season. Behan now has six 20-point games this season.

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 2,474 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 30.5% from 3-point distance this season.

That figure leads the Patriot League and ranks 16th nationally.

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

At Sojka Pavilion, Bison foes are making only 28.1% 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 50 3-pointers, followed by Bryan Cohen with 47 and Justin Castleberry with 44. Shazier enters the Lehigh 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).

A Quadruple Double
There are 17 players in the Patriot League with double-digit scoring averages, and Bucknell has four of them. Patrick Behan (13.1), Bryan Cohen (11.9), Justin Castleberry (11.5) and G.W. Boon (10.3) are all scoring at least 10 points per game. Bucknell has not finished a season with four players scoring in double figures since 1994-95. That year, Brian Anderson (12.2), Sekou Hamer (11.7), Dave Steigerwald (10.6) and Kihlon Golden (10.2) all scored 10+ per night.

Rave Rookie Reviews
Bison freshman guard Bryan Cohen has been one of the Patriot League's top newcomers so far in 2008-09. Cohen has scored in double figures in 16 of the last 19 games and 19 total. His 11.9 ppg average ranks 9th overall in the Patriot League and second among freshmen to Holy Cross' R.J. Evans (12.7). Cohen leads PL freshmen in 3-pointers (47) and minutes played (33.6). He is the only freshman in the league to have started all of his team's games so far this season.

Shazier Maintains League Lead in Assists
With 76 assists (and only 26 turnovers) in his last 15 games, sophomore point guard Darryl Shazier has the Patriot League lead in assists, and he is trying to become the first Bucknell player to win a PL assists title. He is now averaging 4.85 per game, ahead of Lehigh's Marquis Hall (4.19). Shazier is one of only two regulars in the league with at least twice as many assists as turnovers. Shazier leads the PL in assist-to-turnover ratio (2.183), ahead of Lehigh's Prentice Small (2.179).

Who's Got Next?
Bucknell wraps up the 2008-09 regular season on Saturday at 7 p.m. against Army at Sojka Pavilion. It will be senior night at Sojka, with Justin Castleberry, Josh Linthicum and Jason Vegotsky set to be honored prior to the game. In the first meeting of the year between Bucknell and Army, the Black Knights prevailed 76-65 at West Point on Jan. 31.

Bucknell University Athletics

Bucknell Men's Basketball Begins Final Week of Regular Season Wednesday vs. Lehigh at Sojka Pavilion

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