Bucknell University
3-6
Columbia
3-4
Bucknell Men's Basketball Bounces Back with 73-68 Win over Columbia
12/1/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 1, 2010
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| LEWISBURG, Pa. - Darryl Shazier tallied 15 points and five assists, freshman Cameron Ayers scored a career-high 14 points and Joe Willman logged 13 points and seven rebounds in his return to the starting lineup, leading Bucknell to a 73-68 win over Columbia Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison snapped a three-game losing streak and improved to 3-6 on the season with one game remaining before the final exam break.
On a night when it shot only 24.2 percent in the second half and 35.5 percent overall, Bucknell led for the final 37:32 thanks to improved defense and an efficient second-half performance in which it did not commit a single turnover, shot very well from the free-throw line and parlayed 10 offensive rebounds into 14 second-chance points.
Bucknell also held strong down the stretch even though leading scorer and rebounder Mike Muscala did not play in the final 12:26 after picking up his fourth foul.
Columbia (3-4), which was coming off back-to-back wins over Patriot League foes Colgate and American, was led by freshman Steve Frankoski with 12 points, all coming on 3-pointers. Frankoski went 3-for-4 from the arc in the first half to keep the Lions close, then missed six of his seven attempts in the second half.
Top scorer Noruwa Agho, who went 7-for-9 from the arc in a win over the Bison last season, was hounded all night by Bryan Cohen. He finished 3-for-10 from the field for 11 points, more than seven under his season average, and he also committed six turnovers. Dyami Starks added 11 points and Brian Barbour 10 and five assists for the Lions.
Bucknell stretched a one-point lead to 10 with an 11-2 run early in the first half. Shazier was the catalyst, hitting a tough fadeaway in the paint followed by a 3-pointer, and then he assisted on buckets by Willman and Ayers to give the Bison a 20-10 lead.
Later in the half, Columbia hit four straight 3-pointers, three of them by Frankoski, to pull within one at 31-30. But after a timeout, Bucknell ended the half on a 9-0 run to go up 40-30 at the break. Shazier had seven of those points, the last two coming on a steal followed by a buzzer-beating breakaway layup.
Coming out of the locker room Columbia scored the first seven points, five on second-chance opportunities. The Bison went scoreless for the first 4:02 of the half before Colin Klebon ended the drought with a baseline jumper.
Bucknell still led by just three at 49-46 with 10 minutes to play, but the Bison would allow only one field goal over the next seven-plus minutes. A post move inside by G.W. Boon followed by two Williman charity tossed put the Bison back up seven at 53-46.
After a Mark Cisco hook shot in the lane, the Bison scored seven of the game's next eight points, capped by a big play by Willman when he turned an offensive rebound into a 3-point play. That gave the Bison a 60-49 cushion with 5:18 left.
Willman scored inside after a nice feed by Cohen with 2:09 left to put the Bison up 11 again, and with 1:04 to play he may have iced the game by hustling after his own missed baseline jumper and sticking it back to make it 68-58.
Two free throws by Ayers with 40 seconds left made Bucknell 20-for-21 at the line at that point, and even though the Bison missed a few at the line in the final half-minute while Columbia connected on a pair of last-ditch 3-pointers, the lead was too much to overcome.
Bucknell finished 23-for-27 at the line, while the Lions were 14-for-18. Columbia shot 42.6 percent from the floor but committed 14 turnovers.
The Lions finished with a slim 36-35 rebounding edge. Cohen and Willman had seven boards apiece for the Bison, while Boon added six to go along with nine points. Muscala was limited to just 17 minutes due to the foul trouble, finishing with six points, two rebounds, three assists and two blocked shots.
Willman was back in the starting lineup on Wednesday after coming off the bench for four games while coming back from a sprained ankle.
Columbia, which was making its first-ever appearance in Lewisburg, went 8-for-25 from 3-point range after coming in shooting 38 percent as a team from the arc. The Bison were 6-for-12 from downtown.
Shazier, the Patriot League assists leader at 5.4 coming in, did not commit a turnover in the game, and his last seven games has 41 assists and five turnovers.
The Bison are home again Saturday night against Boston University at 7 p.m. That will be the final game before a 13-day layoff for final exams.
Bucknell-Columbia Video Highlights
Coach Dave Paulsen Postgame Interview
