Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball to Play Three Games in Three Days at JMU in O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic
11/21/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 21, 2010
WHAT: Bucknell vs. Presbyterian, Princeton, James Madison at O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic
WHERE: Convocation Center, Harrisonburg, Va.
WHEN: Monday-Wednesday, Nov. 22-24
RADIO: Eagle 107 (107.3 WEGH FM) and SportsJuice.com
LIVE STATS: JMUsports.com
Complete Release in PDF Format 
About This Week
• Bucknell's busy pre-Thanksgiving stretch continues in Harrisonburg, Va., this week, as the Bison play three games in three days as part of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic. Including Saturday night's one-point loss at Saint Francis (Pa.), Bucknell will have played four games in five days by Wednesday night.
• The last time Bucknell played four games in a five-day stretch was all the way back in 1936-37, when it played Temple, Delaware, Villanova and Muhlenberg on four consecutive days in mid-February.
• Bucknell will face Presbyterian, Princeton and James Madison in that order this week.
• Presbyterian has yet to play a home game this season, and the Blue Hose come in with a 1-2 record. After falling at Vanderbilt (88-47) and Kansas State (76-67), the Blue Hose eked out a 67-66 win at Eastern Kentucky on Saturday night. Al'Lonzo Coleman leads the team in scoring at 16.7 ppg.
• Princeton, the preseason favorite in the Ivy League, has been idle since Nov. 14, and the Tigers come in with a 1-1 record. After opening the campaign with a 78-73 overtime win over Rutgers, the Tigers fell to No. 1 Duke 97-60 in Durham.
• James Madison opened with a 75-61 loss at Kansas State, and then Saturday night the Dukes won at The Citadel, 74-67. JMU has three players averaging better than 15.0 points per game: Devon Moore (16.0), Denzel Bowles (15.5) and Rayshawn Goins (15.0).
How to Get the Games
• All three games can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Kevin Herr and Terry Conrad on the call. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off.
• The audio feed is also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com and SportsJuice.com.
• Live statistics for all games, and video Webcasts of James Madison's games, can be accessed at JMUsports.com.
Bucknell vs. Presbyterian and The Big South
• This will be the first meeting between Bucknell and Presbyterian.
• There is a sports-related link between the two schools, however. Presbyterian head football coach Harold Nichols was Bucknell's offensive coordinator in 2008.
• Bucknell has only played one of the 10 teams that currently comprise the Big South Conference. The Bison are 2-1 all-time against VMI, with the last meeting coming in 1985.
• Bucknell's women's golf program competes as an associate member of the Big South Conference, as the Patriot League does not sponsor that sport. Bucknell vs. Princeton and The Ivy League
• The Bison are 3-9 all-time against Princeton, with the most recent meeting a 61-48 Princeton win in the 2004-05 season opener at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse as part of the Coaches vs. Cancer Classic.
• Bucknell's last win over Princeton was a 74-62 overtime decision at Jadwin Gym in December 1996. That loss was one of only four all season for the Tigers (the others were Indiana, North Carolina and California).
• These two teams first met on Feb. 12, 1902. Princeton won a 19-18 thriller on its home floor. That was one of only two losses in a 12-2 season for Bucknell.
• Bucknell is 38-43 (.469) all-time against the Ivy League. The Bison have played 45 games against Cornell, but only 36 combined against the other seven Ivy teams. In addition to its 22-23 record against Cornell, Bucknell is 4-2 against Yale, 3-1 vs. Brown, 3-4 vs. Penn, 3-9 vs. Princeton, 1-1 vs. Dartmouth, 1-2 vs. Columbia and 1-1 vs. Harvard.
• The Bison went 0-3 against the Ivy League last season, falling to Cornell, Columbia and Dartmouth, and they have lost four straight against the Ivies dating back to an 88-75 win over Cornell on Dec. 19, 2007.
Bucknell vs. James Madison and The CAA
• The Bison and Dukes have met only once previously a 59-43 James Madison victory on Dec. 4, 1981. That was a first-round game in the James Madison Tournament.
• Bucknell's leading scorer in that game with 13 points was Jay Wright, who is currently the head coach at Villanova.
• Bucknell is 107-76 (.585) against current members of the Colonial Athletic Association, with most of those games coming against former East Coast Conference rivals Delaware (52-34), 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.
• The Bison last played a team from the CAA on Nov. 18, 2009, an 82-66 win over Delaware. Bucknell is 3-1 against the CAA over the last two seasons, with the wins coming against Delaware, Old Dominion and Drexel, and the loss to Delaware in the 2009 BracketBusters event.
More from the Saint Francis Game
• Bucknell got out to a slow start. The Bison committed three turnovers before they attempted their first shot of the night, and the Red Flash jumped out to a 7-0 lead in only 75 seconds. Soon after, though, Bucknell settled in and started 8 of 11 from the field.
• Bucknell trailed by as many as 13 at 49-36 with 15:47 to play, but rallied to take a 61-60 lead on a Mike Muscala layup with 3:38 to play. Saint Francis went right back ahead with six points in a row, however, and the Red Flash led the rest of the way even though the Bison had a final possession down one with the shot clock off. They never got a shot off, though, as Saint Francis denied the hot-shooting G.W. Boon on the perimeter and Muscala inside.
• Boon equaled his career high with 24 points, hitting 8 of 14 shots from the field and 4 of 9 from 3-point range. Boon also converted four conventional 3-point plays, meaning his 24 points came on eight field-goal attempts.
• Muscala also had a big night, finishing with 22 points, seven rebounds and five blocked shots. He was 9-for-17 from the field and 4-for-5 from the line. The 22 points were one shy of his career high.
• Boon and Muscala combined for 30 of Bucknell's 41 second-half points.
• Bryan Cohen had his second 6-assist game of the season, tying his career high. Cohen also had six points and five rebounds.
• For the second straight game, point guard Darryl Shazier handed out five assists and did not commit a turnover.
• Bucknell shot 65.2% (15-23) from the field in the second half and 51.0% (26-51) for the game.
• One game after holding Binghamton to 24.6% shooting, the Bison allowed Saint Francis to shoot 52.7%.
Statistically Speaking
Some other notable numbers from Bucknell's first four games:
• Mike Muscala has taken over the team lead in scoring (14.0), rebounding (6.8) and blocks (2.0).
• The only other Bison averaging in double figures is G.W. Boon (12.0), who jumped up after his 24-point showing on Saturday.
• Bucknell has a 62-to-52 assist-to-turnover ratio in four games.
• Bryson Johnson is 11-for-24 (.458) from the 3-point arc so far, and the Bison as a team are shooting 38.0% from long range, up from last season's 32.9% mark.
• Despite a 1-3 record, Bucknell has scored the same number of points (246) as its opponents.
• Bryan Cohen has moved to the top of the Patriot League in assists with 19 (4.8 apg). Darryl Shazier is third at 4.3.
• Boon is 17-for-30 (.567) shooing on the season, ranking him No. 2 in the Patriot League in field-goal percentage.
• As a team, Bucknell leads the Patriot League in assists per game (15.5).
• Bucknell has recorded an assist on 66.0% of its field goals this season. By comparison, last year the team was credited with an assist on only 51.6% of its baskets.
Who's Got Next?
• Following the CBE Classic, the Bison return home to face Wagner on Monday, Nov. 29.
• The Wagner game will be Bucknell's 100th game in Sojka Pavilion.
• The Wagner game is the first of three straight at home for the Bison. They will also host Columbia on Dec. 1 and Boston University on Dec. 4 before breaking for final exams.
