Bucknell University
Holy Cross
Muscala Hits Another Game-Winner as Bison Sneak Past Holy Cross, 74-72
1/16/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 16, 2011
| Video Highlights
NOTE: Sunday's Bucknell-Holy Cross game was televised live on CBS College Sports. Rebroadcast times are as follows: Jan. 17 at 1:30 a.m. and 3 p.m., and Jan. 19 at 4 a.m. and 4 p.m.
LEWISBURG, Pa. - Sophomore Mike Muscala capped off a 23-point, 13-rebound afternoon by hitting the game-winning jumper from deep in the right corner with 1.4 seconds left, lifting Bucknell to a 74-72 win over Holy Cross on Sunday before a spirited, orange-clad crowd of 3,317 at Sojka Pavilion. Bryson Johnson added 17 points and Joe Willman scored 13 for the Bison, who have won 10 of their last 11 games and now stand in sole possession of first place in the Patriot League.
Now 12-7 overall after winning its sixth straight game, Bucknell is 3-0 in conference play for the first time since 2007-08. Holy Cross (3-14, 2-1) had won its first two Patriot League games against Lafayette and Army after going 1-13 in non-conference action. The Crusaders dropped into a four-way tie for second in the league standings.
Devin Brown and Josh Jones scored 14 points each for the Crusaders - a career-high for Jones -- while Andrew Keister had 13 and Mike Cavataio 12. Eric Obeysekere had six points and 10 rebounds.
Muscala was coming off a monster game at American in which he had 33 points, 10 rebounds and five blocked shots, and he followed that performance with another gem on Sunday. He had 11 rebounds by halftime and then tallied 15 of his 23 points in the second stanza. None were bigger than his shot on Bucknell's final possession of the day.
After falling behind by as many as 14 points early in the second half, Holy Cross rallied to tie the game for the first time all day at 72-apiece on two free throws by Jones with 28 seconds left. That gave Bucknell a possession with the shot clock off. Point guard Darryl Shazier, who had nine assists and no turnovers to regain the national lead in assist-to-turnover ratio, melted the clock to six seconds, then began to drive along the right side of the key. As a second defender came to help, he found Muscala spotted up in the right corner, and the 6-11 sophomore swished a high-arcing jumper with just 1.4 seconds left.
When Brown's desperation heave from near midcourt came up well off the mark, Muscala had his second game-winning shot of the month. On Jan. 2, he hit a turnaround jumper at the final buzzer to beat Richmond, 62-61.
Both teams played very well offensively for most of the game. The Bison scored the game's first eight points and ended up shooting 45 percent from the floor while committing only three turnovers all day. They had no turnovers at the half - their first miscue of the day came with 14:52 left in the game -- and led 43-34 at intermission.
Holy Cross shot 45.6 percent overall and went 5-for-8 from 3-point range in the second half, including three critical treys from Brown at key moments.
The fourth of Johnson's five 3-pointers sparked a 7-0 run early in the second half that helped Bucknell stretch a seven-point lead up to a game-high 14 at 50-36. The lead was 11 with 13 minutes left when Brown hit threes on back-to-back possessions, the second on a pull-up in transition, to make it a 53-48 game with 12:40 to play.
Bucknell quickly rattled off six straight points on a Willman jumper, a Muscala spinning layup and two Shazier free throws, but then the Crusaders stunned the Bison with a 10-0 run to make it a one-point game.
Holy Cross, which came back from 13 down with 13 minutes to play to beat Lafayette last week, got four points from Obeysekere and five from Keister to spark the run. Keister's 3-pointer, his second of the game and of the season, made it a 59-58 game with 8:21 to play.
Muscala stopped the run with a 3-point play off a baseline out-of-bounds set, when he caught a pass at the elbow, pump faked his man into the air, and then hit the jumper while drawing contact. Andrew Beinert responded with a 3-pointer for Holy cross, but then two free throws by Shazier and a short baseline jumper by Muscala made it a two-possession game again at 66-61.
With 5:31 left Jordan Stevens drew a blocking foul on Willman - his fifth of the game - and made both free throws. After Willman went to the bench, the Bison turned to fifth-year senior Stephen Tyree, who was making just his second appearance of the season on a torn ACL, and he gave his team a big lift down the stretch after entering to a standing ovation.
Inside four minutes to play, with Bucknell clinging to a 66-65 lead, Johnson missed a 3-pointer but Tyree came down with the big offensive rebound. That led to a second chance for Johnson, who this time buried the trey from the left wing with 3:12 remaining.
But Brown answered by hitting a contested 3-pointer at the other end to make it 69-68. Bucknell then went inside to Muscala, who drew a double team before slipping a pretty pass to Tyree for the open layup and his first points of the season.
After a Holy Cross miss, Beinert grabbed the offensive rebound, but as Keister and Muscala continued to battle on the weak side, Keister was called for his fifth personal foul. Muscala hit 1 of 2 at the line to make it 72-68 with 2:14 left.
Jones then knocked down a clutch baseline jumper with 1:46 left, and despite a big offensive rebound by Cohen, Bucknell came up empty on two shots as the clock dwindled under a minute.
Stevens tried a go-ahead 3-pointer with 30 seconds left and missed, but the Bison were called for a foul while battling for the long rebound. That sent Jones, a 44 percent foul shooter entering the game, to the line with 28.2 seconds left. He calmly sank both free throws to tie the game for the first time all day.
That set up Muscala's game-winner, which sent the large crowd into a frenzy and made the Bison 5-1 at home this season and 52-12 all-time against Patriot League foes at Sojka Pavilion.
Bucknell got off to a great start in this one, racing to an 8-0 lead just three minutes in. Willman had the hot hand early, as he scored six points in that 8-0 surge and had 11 of Bucknell's first 21 points. The last three came on the first 3-pointer of his career at the 12:34 mark.
Muscala had two offensive rebound put-backs to give Bucknell 10-point leads, and the Bison led by as many as 11 in the first half at 34-23. After Holy Cross pulled within four on Keister's first 3-pointer of the season, Bucknell finished the half on a 7-2 run. G.W. Boon had a 3-pointer and a pull-up in the lane to help push the lead back to nine by halftime.
In addition to Muscala's 23 points and 13 rebounds, he added three assists and three blocked shots. It was his fourth career double-double and second in a row, while the 13 rebounds marked a new career high. His 36 minutes played equaled a career high.
Shazier recorded nine or more assists in a game for the third time this season and fifth time in his career. He now has a league-best 108 assists on the season with only 26 turnovers. Entering the game, Shazier trailed only Wisconsin guard Jordan Taylor among all Division I players in assist-to-turnover ratio. After producing nine assists with no turnovers against Holy Cross, Shazier upped his ratio to 4.15 and passed Taylor (3.95).
Bucknell's final tally of three turnovers was tied for second-fewest in school history. The Bison committed one and three turnovers in its two meetings with American last season, and they also had just three against Colgate in 1975-76. It was the sixth time in the last two seasons Bucknell committed four or fewer turnovers in a game.
This was the 54th meeting in 21 seasons for Bucknell and Holy Cross, who have played in 13 of the 20 Patriot League Tournaments, including the Crusaders win in last year's quarterfinals at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell now leads the all-time series 29-25.
Bucknell's three-game homestand continues Wednesday against Lafayette, which is 2-1 in the Patriot League after its win over Navy on Saturday. The game will tip off at 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion.
