Bucknell University
5-6
La Salle
6-5
Bucknell Strong out of Exams Break, Rips La Salle, 89-77
12/17/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 17, 2010
PHILADELPHIA, Pa. -- Looking well-rested after a 13-day layoff for finals, Bucknell shot 55 percent from the floor en route to a convincing 89-77 win over La Salle Friday night at Tom Gola Arena. Mike Muscala logged 21 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Philadelphia natives Bryan Cohen and Cameron Ayers added 19 and 13 points, respectively to lift the Bison to their third straight win.
Bucknell's first-ever win over La Salle in Philadelphia came against an Explorers side that already had a win over Providence in addition to close losses to Villanova, Oklahoma State, Baylor and Missouri. The Bison built an early double-digit lead, took an eight-point lead at the half, and outscored La Salle 36-28 over the last 12 minutes after withstanding the Explorers' only major run of the night.
Darryl Shazier, who came in ranked ninth nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio, had six assists without an error in addition to 10 points on 3-for-3 shooting.
The Bison (5-6) led by as many as 14 points in the first half before La Salle (6-5) pulled within eight at 36-28 at halftime. Cohen hustled down an offensive rebound and later hit a 3-pointer on the first possession of the second half, helping Bucknell push its lead back to 13 at 48-35 early in the stanza.
La Salle made its first major run of the night four minutes into the second half, outscoring the Bison 12-3 over a 2:25 span to pull within four at 51-47. Ruben Guillandeaux's first field goal of the night, a transition 3-pointer, followed by a trey from Sam Mills keyed the run.
Bucknell regrouped coming out of the under-12 media time out, scoring six straight points on two floaters by Cohen and a couple of free-throws by Muscala. La Salle had success going inside to Murray, but the Bison grew more and more comfortable against the Explorers' zone defense.
Shazier, G.W. Boon and Ayers all hit 3-pointers against the zone, and Boon had a key weak-side put-back for a 3-point play. Ayers' trey gave the Bison a 15-point lead at 75-60 with 6:16 to play.
Leading 79-67, Ayers hit two straight short jumpers in the lane to make it a 16-point cushion, and Muscala's breakaway jam with 55 seconds left put a thunderous exclamation point on the evening.
Bucknell made the game's first run early in the game, using a 13-1 surge to run out to a 20-9 lead. Shazier and Bryson Johnson bookended the run with 3-pointers, Muscala hit a jumper off an inbounds play, and the Bison got to the line three separate times during the run.
The Bison led by as many as 14 in the first half after back-to-back jumpers by Willman and Muscala made it 31-17 with 5:53 left.
Bucknell cooled off late in the half, making only one bucket in the last four minutes, as La Salle closed within 36-28 at the break.
Bucknell made 9 of 18 attempts from 3-point range and shot 60 percent in the second half, primarily against the zone. Bucknell had only two second-half turnovers and finished with 23 assists on 34 baskets with only 10 turnovers.
Willman scored all nine of his points in the first half before being limited by foul trouble in the second half. Boon added nine points and five rebounds in his first game as Bucknell co-captain.
Coming into the game, La Salle's four losses were against teams with a combined record of 32-3, and three of the losses were against teams (Baylor, Villanova, Missouri) currently ranked in the top 13 nationally. In their most recent outing against No. 12 Villanova, the Explorers led by eight late the game before falling 84-81.
Cohen enjoyed his best offensive performance of the season, scoring 13 of his 19 points in the second half while finishing 7-for-11 from the field after an 0-for-3 start. He also played his usual stellar defense, this time on fifth-year senior Guillandeaux, who came in averaging 15.3 points per game. Guillandeaux did not make a field goal until the transition jumper with 14:37 left in the game, and he hit a few harmless shots late in the game with Bucknell leading by double figures before finishing with 13 points.
Like Bucknell, La Salle also shot 60 percent from the field in the second half and finished at 50.9 percent for the game. But the Explorers committed 13 turnovers and went just 13-for-22 from the foul line.
Only Oklahoma State (92 in double overtime) has scored more points against La Salle this season, and Bucknell's 89 points were the most in a road game since a 91-85 overtime win at Colgate on Feb. 6, 2008. It was the team's best output in a regulation-time game at any location under Dave Paulsen, and it was the best in a non-overtime game on the road since an 89-69 win at Lafayette on Feb. 4, 2005. It was also the team's most points in a non-conference road game since an 89-78 victory at Cornell on Jan. 9, 1995, which was Pat Flannery's third victory as Bucknell's head coach.
The Bison, who had been 0-11 all-time against La Salle in Philadelphia, snapped a five-game losing streak against teams from the Atlantic 10.
Shazier now has 53 assists and only eight turnovers in his last nine games, and he has 60 assists and 14 turnovers on the season, the best ratio in the Patriot League. Shazier also hit his 100th career 3-pointer in the game, making him the 16th player in school history to do so.
The Bison are back in action Monday night at Cornell at 7 p.m.
