Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell's Bryan Cohen Named Patriot League Defensive Player of Year
3/1/2010 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 1, 2010
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Sophomore Bryan Cohen (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Abington Friends) became the third Bucknell player in six years to win the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year Award on Monday, and the Bison made history by becoming the first team in league history to place three on the Patriot League All-Rookie Team. Bryson Johnson (Pictou, Nova Scotia/St. David Catholic), Mike Muscala (Roseville, Minn./Roseville) and Joe Willman (Monmouth N.J./Monmouth Regional) all earned all-rookie honors, and Muscala became the first Bucknell freshman to garner an All-Patriot League citation with a second-team nod.
The Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year Award has been in existence for six years, and Cohen joins Abe Badmus (2004-05) and teammate Stephen Tyree (2007-08) as winners from Bucknell. A 6'5" guard, Cohen is routinely assigned to the opposition's best offensive player, and he has come through for the Bison time and again.
Bucknell finished the regular season with eight wins in its last 10 games, and over that span Bison foes were held to 63.6 points per game and 40 percent shooting. Cohen and his team kept many of the league's best scorers in check over that span. On Feb. 11, First Team All-Patriot Leaguer Vlad Moldoveanu of American was held to two points on 1-for-7 shooting; on Feb. 17, Second Team All-Patriot Leaguer Ryan Willen of Lafayette was limited to nine points on 2-for-11 shooting; and on Feb. 21 First Team All-Patriot Leaguer Kyle Roemer of Colgate managed only five points on 1-for-12 shooting.
Cohen has played in all 30 games this season, starting 27, and averaged 8.8 points and 3.4 rebounds per game. His 2.8 assists per game rank 10th in the Patriot League.
Muscala joined some elite company with his Second Team All-Patriot League selection. He is now one of only four freshmen in league history to earn an all-conference plaque. One of those, Lehigh's C.J. McCollum, earned First Team All-Patriot League honors on Monday and became the first player in league annals to be named Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year in the same season. Other newcomers to earn all-league honors were Colgate's Adonal Foyle (1994-95) and Pat Campolieta (1998-99).
Muscala got off to a bit of a slow start this season, averaging 3.7 points per game while shooting 27.8 percent from the field in his first seven games. But in his last 22 contests, the 6'10" forward has been stellar, averaging 12.0 points, while shooting 50.7 percent from the field and 84.5 percent from the foul line.
Muscala leads the team in scoring for both the full season (9.9) and in Patriot League play (13.1), and he is running away with the league blocked shots title. His 61 blocks this season are a Bucknell freshman record and third-most in program history. No other Patriot League player has more than 46 blocks. Muscala has blocked a shot in 26 of his 29 games this season (he missed one due to injury), including his last 13 straight, and he has multiple blocks 19 times. His season high for blocks is seven against Navy, which is one shy of the school record.
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He also ranks eighth in the Patriot League in field-goal percentage (.473), and his .809 free-throw percentage would rank fourth in the league but he is just shy of the minimum number of attempts to qualify.
Muscala has two double-doubles this season, including a season-best 23-point, 11-rebound effort in a home win over Lafayette.
Johnson announced his presence loudly, hitting six 3-pointers for 18 points in his very first collegiate game against Mercer. It was tied for the third-highest scoring total by a freshman on opening night in program history. Johnson has gone on to hit a team-high 62 3-pointers this season, which is three shy of Kevin Bettencourt's Bucknell freshman record.
Johnson is averaging 9.3 points per game, with a high of 19 against Wagner, and he has reached double figures 16 times. The Nova Scotian has made 11 starts, all in league play. In his first career start against American at Sojka Pavilion, he hit the game-tying 3-pointer with 30 seconds left in regulation, and the Bison went on to win in overtime.
Like Muscala, Johnson was a two-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week this season.
Willman has played in all 30 games in 2009-10, with starts in half of them. He has really come on in Patriot League play, where he averaged 7.4 points and 3.5 rebounds while shooting 57.9 percent from the field. For the season, he produced 5.8 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
Willman recently had a streak of four straight double-digit scoring games, highlighted by a career-high 15-point night in a road win over American. He also had 14 on 7 of 10 shooting against Lafayette, scoring the team's first 10 points of the game in a home victory. Willman scored 11 points against Providence early in the season and had 12 rebounds in a home win over Saint Francis (Pa.).
In 20 seasons in the Patriot League, only one other time had Bucknell claimed multiple All-Rookie Team members in the same season. That came in 1997, when Dyrika Cameron and Dan Bowen made the team, with Bowen also claiming Rookie of the Year honors. The Bison have now had at least one All-Rookie Team pick in eight of the last nine years.
In addition to the announcement of McCollum as Patriot League Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year and Cohen as Defensive Player of the Year, Lafayette's Fran O'Hanlon was named Patriot League Coach of the Year. O'Hanlon's Leopards were the unanimous preseason pick to finish in last place in the league standings, but they finished the regular season with 17 wins and took third place with an 8-6 Patriot League record.
Comprising the All-Patriot League First Team were McCollum, Moldoveanu, Roemer, Jared Mintz of Lafayette and Chris Harris of Navy. The second team consists of Muscala, Willen, Andrew Keister of Holy Cross and Lehigh's Marquis Hall and Zahir Carrington. Joining the Bucknell trio and McCollum on the all-rookie team are Lehigh's Gabe Knutson and Colgate's Mitch Rolls.
Bucknell is the No. 2 seed in the Patriot League Tournament and will host No. 7 Holy Cross in a quarterfinal game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion. The game will air live nationally on CBS College Sports.
