Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Hosts Colgate Sunday on Senior Day
2/19/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2010
WHAT: Bucknell (12-15, 7-4 PL) vs. Colgate (8-17, 4-7 PL)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 21, 2 p.m.
TICKETS: Available at Sojka Pavilion Box Office beginning at 1 p.m.
PROMOTIONS: Senior Day
RADIO: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM) and SportsJuice.com
INTERNET VIDEO: Bison Vision 
LIVE STATISTICS: GameTracker 
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
With a Win Over Colgate, the Bison Would ...
• ... clinch a top-four seed and a home game for the first round of the Patriot League Tournament.
• ... sweep the season series from the Raiders.
• ... win their fourth straight game and seventh in their last eight outings.
• ... produce their longest winning streak of the season, and longest since the 2006-07 team won 14 in a row.
• ... improve to 13-15 overall, 8-4 at home and 8-4 in the Patriot League.
• ... ensure a winning Patriot League record.
• ... remain no worse than one game out of first place in the Patriot League standings.
• ... defeat the Raiders at home for the seventh straight year.
About the Game
Bucknell wraps up the home portion of its regular-season schedule on Sunday against Colgate, but the surging Bison can assure themselves of more basketball in Sojka Pavilion with one more victory. Winners of six of their last seven games, the Bison can clinch a top-four seed and home court for at least the first round of the Patriot League Tournament by defeating the Raiders. Of course, Bucknell still has hopes beyond just a top-four seed. With three games remaining, Bucknell and Navy are tied for second place in the league standings at 7-4, just one game behind frontrunning Lehigh.
Bucknell has played excellent basketball of late. Wednesday's wire-to-wire 78-67 victory over Lafayette gave the team its third three-game winning streak of the season. The Bison still have eight men averaging between 5.7 and 10.1 points per game, and it has been different players stepping forward each night during the current 6-1 run. Most recently it was freshman Mike Muscala leading the way with 23 points and 11 rebounds in the victory over Lafayette. Darryl Shazier, who had 27 points against Holy Cross two games ago, is the overall scoring leader at 10.1 points per game, while Muscala is the top point-getter in league play at 13.9 ppg.
Despite an overall record of 8-17 and a 4-7 league mark, Colgate is a dangerous team that has been embroiled in a lot of close battles this season. Bucknell eked out a 62-61 win in Hamilton last month, but recently the Raiders produced back-to-back one-point wins of their own against Lafayette and American. Most recently, Colgate let a nine-point halftime lead slip away in a 91-81 loss to league-leading Lehigh. Colgate features two of the league's best in Kyle Roemer and Yaw Gyawu. Roemer scores 19.3 ppg, the second-best average in the league to Navy's Chris Harris. The senior sharpshooter has 64 3-pointers after missing all of last year with a knee injury. Gyawu scores 15.0 ppg and shots 51.7 ppg. Also keep an eye on forward Ben Jonson, who scores 10.3 ppg and had the winning points in both of Colgate's one-point wins last week.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Colgate game will not be televised, however a live video Webcast will be available on Bison Vision via BucknellBison.com (subscription required).
• The game can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong and Ed Sigl on the call. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off.
• The audio feed is available free of charge via BucknellBison.com and SportsJuice.com.
• Live statistics are also available via GameTracker at BucknellBison.com.
Senior Salute
Prior to Sunday's game, Bucknell will recognize the four members of its senior class: Patrick Behan, Zach Evans, Matt Fiery and Stephen Tyree.
Bucknell vs. Colgate Series Notes
• This will be the 94th all-time meeting between Bucknell and Colgate in a series that dates back to 1920. The Bison have a 53-40 series lead.
• Bucknell had beaten the Raiders eight straight times until Colgate snapped the streak in the 2008 Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
• As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell has won 32 of the 45 meetings, including 16 of 19 in Lewisburg.
• Bucknell is 6-1 against Colgate at Sojka Pavilion. The Raiders won here in the arena's inaugural season (2002-03), but since then the Bison have won six in a row, three of which have been decided by four points or less.
• Bucknell is 9-4 in its last 13 games in Hamilton. The Bison had won four straight at Cotterell Court before falling there in the 2008 postseason.
• Bucknell and Colgate met twice last season, with the home team winning both times. The first meeting was at Sojka Pavilion, where the Bison prevailed 64-62 on Darryl Shazier's 3-pointer with 2.8 seconds left in overtime. Shazier's only field goal of the game gave the Bison the win, while G.W. Boon (15 points), Bryan Cohen (14 points) and Enoch Andoh (13 points, 10 rebounds) all had strong games as well. Yaw Gyawu led Colgate with 18 points. Only two weeks later in Hamilton, Colgate returned the favor, winning 68-57 behind 14 points from Anthony Hill and 13 points, eight rebounds and five blocks from Alex Woodhouse. Patrick Behan had 18 points and seven rebounds for Bucknell, which built up an early 17-4 lead after holding Colgate to one field goal in the first 9:47 of the game. That lead evaporated, however, as Colgate went on a 17-2 run in the middle part of the first half.
• Bucknell's 2010 turnaround can be traced back to Jan. 23 in Hamilton. At that time the Bison were 1-3 in the Patriot League and had lost 11 of their last 13 overall. It looked like more of the same that night at Cotterell Court, as Bucknell fell behind 26-13 early in the game and 40-29 at the half. But the Bison rallied in the second half, outscoring the Raiders 33-21 to pull out a 62-61 victory that ignited this current 6-1 stretch. Boon scored 17 points and Mike Muscala 16 off the bench after missing the previous game with an injury. Kyle Roemer led Colgate with 19 points, while Gyawu chipped in 14.
Shazier Has Flair for Drama vs. Colgate
Four times in his career Bison point guard Darryl Shazier has ended regulation or overtime with a tying or winning 3-pointer, and two of those dramatic shots have come against Colgate. The first one came in 2008 during his freshman year at Cotterell Court, when he knocked down a game-tying 3-pointer from the left corner at the final buzzer of regulaton, and the Bison went on to win in overtime. Then last season at Sojka Pavilion, Shazier's right-corner trey with 2.8 seconds left in overtime gave the Bison a 64-62 win over the Raiders.
The Patriot League Race
With only three games remaining in the regular season, Lehigh (8-3), Bucknell (7-4) and Navy (7-4) are all separated by just one game at the top of the standings. While Lehigh has the outright lead and controls its own fate, Navy went 4-0 this season against the Bison and Mountain Hawks and thus would control any head-to-head or three-way tiebreakers. Bucknell has already beaten Lehigh this season, and those two teams play again on Wednesday. The top four teams all host first-round Patriot League Tournament games, and Bucknell can lock up one of the top four spots with a victory Sunday against Colgate. Here are the remaining schedules for each team.
Lehigh (8-3): at Lafayette, vs. Bucknell, vs. Holy Cross
Bucknell (7-4): vs. Colgate, at Lehigh, at Army
Navy (7-4): at Army, vs. American, at Colgate
Lafayette (6-5): vs. Lehigh, at Army, at American
American (5-6): at Holy Cross, at Navy, vs. Lafayette
Colgate (4-7): at Bucknell, at Holy Cross, vs. Navy
Holy Cross (4-7): vs. American, vs. Colgate, at Lehigh
Army (3-8): vs. Navy, vs. Lafayette, vs. Bucknell
Last Time Out
Bucknell turned a negative into a positive in the early moments of Wednesday night's game against Lafayette. Starter Stephen Tyree picked up two fouls in the first 58 seconds of the game and had to go to the bench. His replacement, freshman Joe Willman, came in and proceeded to hit five straight jumpers, accounting for Bucknell's first 10 points of the game. That gave the Bison a 10-2 lead only five minutes in, and then G.W. Boon tacked on a 3-pointer to make it 13-2. The Bison led by at least eight the rest of the way, and by double figures for the final 31:52 of a workmanlike 78-67 victory over the Leopards.
Inside the Lafayette Boxscore
• While Joe Willman had the hot hand early, it was fellow freshman Mike Muscala who ended up with the niftiest line on the boxscore. Muscala set career highs with 23 points and 11 rebounds, giving him his second career double-double.
• Willman finished 7-for-10 from the field and scored 14 points in 15 minutes of action. He has now scored in double figures in each of the last four games.
• His missed dunk notwithstanding, G.W. Boon enjoyed one of his finest games of the season. Boon stuffed the boxscore with 15 points, eight rebounds, two assists, two blocked shots and three steals. Boon made 2 of 5 3-point attempts and also went 4-for-4 from the foul line in the final minutes just to make sure the Leopards didn't have any thoughts of a comeback.
• One game after scoring a career-high 27 points in a win over Holy Cross, Darryl Shazier was held to one field goal and two points against the Leopards. He did have five assists, however, all coming in the first half.
• Bryan Cohen also had five assists, tying his career high. Cohen also scored 10 points and helped hold Lafayette forward Ryan WIllen to nine points, well below his season average, on 2-for-11 shooting.
• Bucknell pulled down a season-high 46 rebounds, compared to 35 for Lafayette. The Bison had 19 offensive rebounds, leading to a 21-8 edge in second-chance points.
• The Bison finished with 18 assists and only 11 turnovers. It was their seventh straight game with an even or better assist-to-turnover ratio.
• Bucknell improved to 10-0 against Lafayette at Sojka Pavilion, with an average margin of victory of 16.2 points.
Super Starters
In each of the last three games, a different Bucknell player has exploded out of the gates:
• On Feb. 11 at American, Mike Muscala scored the game's first 11 points, sending the Bison on their way to a 73-59 victory.
• Last Sunday against Holy Cross, Darryl Shazier scored 11 of Bucknell's first 14 points in a 68-63 victory.
• Then on Wednesday night, Joe Willman came off the bench and scored Bucknell's first 10 points in the 78-67 win over Lafayette.
Statistically Speaking
Some other notable numbers from Bucknell's first 27 games:
• The Bison are shooting 73.4% at the foul line after making just 67.8% from the line as a team last season.
• The Bison have hit eight or more 3-pointers 10 times this season and 10 or more five times.
• Bucknell is +27 on the glass in its last six games.
• In Patriot League play, Bucknell has 142 assists and 108 turnovers. For the entire season, the Bison now have more assists (327) than turnovers (313).
• The Bison shot 40% or better in seven of their first eight games, but they have eclipsed 40% in only nine of their last 19.
• In league play the Bison are shooting only 29.6% from 3-point range.
• In 11 Patriot League games Bucknell has attempted 53 more field goals than its opponents. The Bison have outscored foes 761-735 in league play.
Who's Got Next?
Bucknell travels to first-place Lehigh on Wednesday. The Bison, who have dropped two straight at Stabler Arena, defeated the Mountain Hawks 81-76 in overtime at Sojka Pavilion back on Jan. 27.
