Bucknell University
6-7
Boston College
10-2
Record Shooting Night Not Enough as Bison Fall to Boston College 84-80
12/22/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 22, 2010
CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. - Bucknell tied a school record with 15 3-pointers, the most Boston College has ever given up, but it wasn't enough as the Eagles survived a gallant Bison effort in an 84-80 win Wednesday night at Conte Forum. Bryson Johnson hit seven treys and scored a career-high 25 points, and Darryl Shazier had a career-high 10 assists without a turnover, but Bucknell's four-game winning streak came to an end.
Mike Muscala overcame foul trouble to score 14 points and Bryan Cohen had 13 points and five rebounds for the Bison, who head into the holiday break at 6-7. Star guard Reggie Jackson scored 22 points and Joe Trapani and Josh Southern had 16 each for the Eagles, who won their seventh in a row to improve to 10-2 on the season.
The contest quickly evolved into a shootout, as the teams combined for 27 3-pointers. The Bison hit 15 of those, tying the school mark set at Villanova in 2007-08.
Bucknell led by as many as 16 points in the first half before the Eagles closed within three at the half. BC took its first lead early in the second half and led by as many as six, but the game was tied at 76 with 2:30 to play before Biko Paris put the Eagles ahead to stay with a go-ahead 3-pointer.
The Bison could not have asked for a better start in this one, jumping out to a quick 8-0 lead on three jumpers by Muscala and one by Joe Willman. Then Bucknell got hot from 3-point range, hitting five in a five-minute stretch to go up by double figures.
Johnson and Cameron Ayers hit treys on back-to-back possessions, and G.W. Boon's layup capped another 8-0 run that made it 31-17. A baseline 3-pointer by Cohen gave the Bison their largest lead of 16 points at 37-21 with 8:20 left in the half.
But the Eagles struck back in a flash, scoring 14 straight points in a little over three minutes. Trapani was the catalyst, hitting two 3-pointers and a couple of free throws. Jackson's jumper in the lane brought BC within 37-35 with 4:33 left in the half before Johnson finally ended the run with his third triple of the half. Willman's baseline jumper put Bucknell up 42-39 at the break.
Bucknell shot 48.5 percent in the first half after the white-hot start, and the Bison had 11 assists (six by Shazier) and only two turnovers in the opening 20 minutes.
Boston College scored the first four points of the second half to take its first lead of the night, but then Bucknell hit five straight 3-pointers in a 15-7 run to go back ahead. Johnson hit a 28-footer as the shot clock expired, and Boon canned two in a row to stretch a 51-50 lead up to 57-50.
The game changed moments later, however, when Muscala picked up his third and fourth fouls in rapid succession, and then Jackson started to get hot for the Eagles. He had two threes and a 3-point play in a two-minute span to give Boston College the lead back at 60-59.
Johnson stopped the 10-2 run with his sixth 3-pointer, but then Southern tied it with a put-back and went ahead 65-62 on a Biko Paris 3-pointer with 8:38 to play. BC took its largest lead of six points at 76-70 on two free throws by Southern with 3:29 left.
But then Johnson canned his seventh trey to make it a three-point game, and Muscala grabbed an offensive rebound and kicked it out to Shazier for a three that tied it at 76-all with 2:36 left.
On Boston College's next possession, Paris got free in the right corner for a 3-pointer to give the Eagles a 79-76 lead. After a rare miss by Johnson, Jackson made 1 of 2 from the line to make it 80-76. Shazier and Johnson sandwiched driving layups around a key layup by Southern, and then Paris made it a four-point game again with two clutch free throws with six seconds to play.
Shazier had another great game with eight points, six rebounds and 10 assists. It was Bucknell's first 10-assists game since Abe Badmus had 11 against Kansas in the 2005 NCAA Tournament. Shazier came into the game ranked third nationally in assist-to-turnover ratio, and he now has 77 assists and 16 turnovers on the season.
As a team, Bucknell had assists on 17 of its 30 field goals and had only seven turnovers in the game. The Bison made 15 of 29 3-point tries and shot 49.2 percent overall. But they were outscored 12-5 from the foul line as BC was whistled for only six fouls all night.
It was Bucknell's third straight game shooting at least 50 percent from 3-point distance.
Johnson went 7-for-12 from the 3-point arc and 9-for-14 overall en route to his first career 20-point game. The 25 points were the most scored by a Bucknell player this season.
Jackson, one of the top guards in the ACC, finished with 22 points on 8-for-10 shooting and also had six assists and four rebounds. Paris had 14 points and seven assists and went 4-for-8 from the arc, including the tiebreaking shot late.
BC shot 47.6 percent from the floor and made 12 of 30 3-point tries and 12 of 15 free throws. The Eagles had 19 assists and only five turnovers.
Under the direction of former Cornell coach Steve Donahue, Boston College already boasted wins over Texas A&M, California, Indiana, Massachusetts, Providence and Maryland.
The Bison were seeking just their second win ever against an ACC team, and the first since beating Virginia in 1961. It was only the second meeting between Bucknell and Boston College, with the other a BC win in 1951.
Bucknell wraps up this four-game road swing on Tuesday, Dec. 28 at Loyola (Md.).
