Bucknell University
2-5
James Madison (CBE Classic)
4-1
Bucknell Wraps Up CBE Classic Play with 85-75 Loss to James Madison
11/24/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 24, 2010
HARRISONBURG, Va. - Mike Muscala scored 21 points and three other Bison reached double figures, but it wasn't enough as a big and talented James Madison team pulled away late for an 85-75 win Wednesday night in the final game of the O'Reilly Auto Parts CBE Classic.
Bryson Johnson hit four 3-pointers and scored 18 points, and Cameron Ayers added 11 and G.W. Boon 10 for Bucknell, which fell to 2-5 a treacherous early-season schedule. The Bison were playing for the fourth time in a five-day span for the first time since 1936-37, and including an opening-weekend trip to Villanova and Marquette, they played six of their first seven away from home.
Rayshawn Goins, part of James Madison's massive front line, led the Dukes with 21 points. Andrey Semenov tallied 20, canning 5 of 6 treys off the bench, as five different JMU players scored in double figures. Goins, a 6-6, 275-pound forward and Denzel Bowles, a 6-10, 260-pound center combined for 32 points and 12 rebounds.
Bucknell rallied from an early nine-point deficit to take a six-point lead late in the opening half, but the Dukes went back up 37-34 at the break and never relinquished the lead.
Semenov was the difference for James Madison in the second half. In a four-minute span Semenov hit three treys and converted a 3-point play. His fifth 3-pointer in five attempts on the night helped the Dukes stretch a two-point lead up to 11 at 66-55 with 8:22 to play.
The Bison trailed by just six with the ball near the nine-minute mark, but Bryan Cohen missed a 3-pointer and JMU turned it into a Bowles transition alley-oop dunk. Semenov's fifth trey gave the Dukes the 11-point lead, but then the Bison came up with three straight stops. Darryl Shazier and Johnson both had threes rim in and out before Johnson ended a 4:34 scoreless drought with a trey.
Back within 68-60 at the four-minute mark, the Bison finally forced a Semenov miss, but Bowles, who was named the tournament MVP, snatched the offensive rebound and was fouled. He made both free throws, and then after Bucknell turned the ball over on a post entry, Hitchens hit a backbreaking 3-pointer to make it 73-60 with 2:59 to play.
James Madison iced it with good free-throw shooting down the stretch, making 10 in a row at one point to maintain the double-figure lead.
Both teams shot better than 50 percent in a back-and-forth opening half. James Madison was hot from the start, sprinting to an early 13-4 lead sparked by 3-pointers by Devon Moore and Humpty Hitchens. Bucknell's deficit was still nine at 20-11 when it embarked on a 20-5 run.
Shazier started the surge with five straight points, including a pull-up 3-pointer from the top of the arc. G.W. Boon hit two free throws to tie it for the first time at 23-apiece, and Bucknell took its first lead of the night at 27-25 after a pair of Ryan Hill free throws. Muscala used a good seal deep in the lane to shake himself free for a dunk, and then Ayers picked off a pass and converted the breakaway layup to put the Bison up six, 31-25, with 5:40 left in the half.
James Madison finished the half on a 12-3 run over the last 5:18, however, with Goins scoring seven points in a row to help his team reclaim the lead 37-34 at the break. The Bison shot 52.2 percent from the floor in the first half, but the solid shooting was countered by an uncharacteristic nine turnovers.
Bucknell shot 53.1 percent for the game and made 7 of 17 3-point attempts. James Madison shot an even 50 percent from the field and was even better from the arc, making 10 of 19.
The Dukes grabbed 11 offensive rebounds and finished with a 29-24 edge on the glass.
Shazier had seven points and led the Bison with six assists without a turnover. Muscala, who was named to the all-tournament team after the game, made 9 of 14 shots and led the team with five rebounds and two blocked shots.
After taking a quick break for Thanksgiving, the Bison open a three-game homestand on Monday night against Wagner. Game time is 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion.
