Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Heads to Philly Saturday to Face La Salle
12/2/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Dec. 2, 2011
WHAT: Bucknell (5-3) at La Salle (4-3)
WHERE: Tom Gola Arena, Philadelphia, Pa.
WHEN: Saturday, Dec. 3, 4 p.m. ET
LIVE WEBCAST: GoExplorers.com 
RADIO: Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM) and SportsJuice.com
LIVE STATS: GoExplorers.com
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
With a Win over La Salle, Bucknell Would ...
• ... win its sixth game in its last seven outings and improve to 6-3 on the season.
• ... improve to 2-3 on the road.
• ... defeat the Explorers at Tom Gola Arena for the second straight year and improve to 6-17 all-time against them.
Headlines
• After seeing its five-game winning streak come to an end at George Mason on Wednesday, Bucknell has another tough road test Saturday afternoon at La Salle.
• While the Bison come in with a 5-3 record, the Explorers have won two straight to improve to 4-3 on the season. On Wednesday, La Salle belted Northeastern at home, 68-51 to improve to 2-0 against the CAA this season. The Explorers have also beaten James Madison (92-83) from the CAA, as well as Lafayette (79-53) and Rider (82-70), while their losses have come against Villanova (76-69 in OT), Pittsburgh (73-69) and Robert Morris (51-44).
• Bucknell's hottest player right now is sophomore guard Cameron Ayers. In his last three games, Ayers has scored 20, 15 and 23 points (19.3 ppg) while shooting 20-for-35 (.571) from the field and 12-for-19 (.632) from 3-point range. Last weekend Ayers was named MVP of the Lewisburg Subregional of the TicketCity Legends Classic.
• Mike Muscala continues to lead the Bison in scoring (13.4), rebounding (9.3) and blocked shots (2.0). He leads the Patriot League in rebounding by a wide margin and is coming off a 15-rebound performance at George Mason. Muscala has four double-doubles in eight games this season.
• The Bison were unanimously picked as the preseason favorite in the Patriot League by the league's head coaches and SIDs.
• Bucknell returned four starters and 10 lettermen from last year's Patriot League championship squad.
• La Salle has four players scoring in double figures, all at 12.0 ppg or better. Tyreek Duren leads the way at 14.3 ppg, followed by Earl Pettis (13.7), Sam Mills (13.1) and Ramon Gallaway (12.0). The Explorers have been strong defensively so far, forcing opponents into 16.0 turnovers per game — La Salle averages 8.7 steals per game — while holding foes to 38.5% shooting from thte field.
• Bucknell has two Philadelphia-area natives returning home this weekend. Senior co-captan Bryan Cohen is from Huntingdon Valley and went to high school at Abington Friends. His older brother, Aron, played basketball at Penn. Sophomore Cameron Ayers hails from Blue Bell and graduated from Germantown Academy. His father, Randy, is the former head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-La Salle game will not be televised, however a live webcast will be available at GoExplorers.com (subscription rates apply).
• The game can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong and Terry Conrad describing the action. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off.
• The audio feed is available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com and SportsJuice.com.
• Live statistics are available at GoExplorers.com.
Bucknell vs. La Salle Series Notes
• Bucknell and La Salle are former conference rivals in both the Middle Atlantic Conference and the East Coast Conference.
• La Salle has a 17-5 lead in a series that dates all the way back to 1903.
• Bucknell's series wins came in 1903, 1904, 1979, 2007 and 2010.
• The Bison were 0-11 against La Salle on the Explorers' home floor until last season, when Bucknell prevailed 89-77.
• In that game last season, Bucknell came out of its final exam break with one of its best performances of the year. The Bison shot 54.5% from the floor and scored 53 second-half points in the 89-77 victory. Mike Muscala led the way with 21 points, six rebounds and five assists, while Philadelphia natives Bryan Cohen and Cameron Ayers scored 19 and 13 points, respectively. The 89 points were the most for Bucknell in a non-conference road game since 1995. Aaric Murray led La Salle with 28 points.
Bucknell vs. The Atlantic 10
• Bucknell is 35-92 (.276) all-time against the teams that currently comprise the Atlantic 10.
• In addition to their 5-17 record against La Salle, the Bison are 5-29 vs. Temple, 3-17 vs. St. Joseph's, 7-2 vs. George Washington, 5-8 vs. Fordham, 3-5 vs. Duquesne, 3-5 vs. Rhode Island, 1-5 vs. St. Bonaventure, 1-0 vs. Saint Louis, 1-0 vs. Xavier, 1-3 vs. Richmond and 0-1 vs. Dayton. Bucknell has never played Charlotte or Massachusetts.
• Bucknell has won two straight against the Atlantic 10, however. Last season the Bison defeated both La Salle and Richmond on the road. Bucknell will play the Spiders again on Dec. 17 at Sojka Pavilion.
Last Time Out
• Bucknell staged two major rallies against a very good George Mason team on Wednesday night in Fairfax, Va., but the Patriots held on for a 61-57 victory. The Bison fought off an early 10-point deficit to take the lead late in the first half, and they came back from nine down in the second half to pull ahead before going cold in the final minutes.
• Bucknell was enjoying a fairly solid shooting night up until the final four minutes. The Bison missed their last five field goal attempts of the game, including a potential tying 3-pointer by Mike Muscala just before the final buzzer.
• The loss dampened a terrific performance from Cameron Ayers, who scored a career-high 23 points on 8-for-13 shooting from the field, 5-for-8 from 3-point range and 2-for-2 from the foul line. Ayers scored 18 of his points in the second half while hitting seven straight shots in one stretch.
• Muscala pulled down a season-high 15 rebounds to go with his 11 points. It was his fourth double-double of the season.
• Bucknell got a big lift off the bench from Brian Fitzpatrick (7 points, 3 rebounds) and Steven Kaspar (6 points, 4 assists).
• Bucknell shot 40.7% from the field, despite a combined 0-for-13 night from guards Bryan Cohen and Bryson Johnson. The rest of the team shot 53.7%.
• The Bison held George Mason to 40.0 percent shooting overall, including just two 3-pointers in 12 attempts. Bucknell also outrebounded the Patriots 36-32.
• George Mason is coming off a 27-win season, including a win over Villanova in the NCAA Tournament.
Stats Worth Noting
• Bucknell has been dominant on the glass of late. After going -15 in rebound margin against Minnesota and Vanderbilt to start the season, the Bison are +62 since then.
• Wednesday's game against George Mason marked the first time this season the Bison lost when outrebounding an opponent. They are now 5-1 in those games.
• The Bison have had more assists than turnovers in five games this season and lead the Patriot League in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.2). Individually, freshman Steven Kaspar leads the Patriot League in that category (2.2).
• Ayers is Bucknell's leader in both minutes played (250) and fewest turnovers (5). Ayers has gone four straight games without a miscue.
• The Bison have not forced many turnovers this season (10.1 per game), but they have forced plenty of misses. Opponents are shooting just 38.1% from the field, giving Bucknell the best field-goal percentage defense in the league at this point.
• Bucknell ranked third in the nation in free-throw shooting last season at 78.8%, but this year the Bison are shooting just 70.7% as a team.
• Bucknell has four players scoring in double digits: Mike Muscala (13.4), Cameron Ayers (12.6), Bryson Johnson (10.6), and Joe Willman (10.1). The No. 5 scorer, Bryan Cohen, is averaging 5.8 ppg but has a 15- and a 14-point game this season.
• Bucknell has gotten a big lift off the bench so far from newcomers Brian Fitzpatrick and Steven Kaspar. Fitzpatrick, a junior forward in his first eligible season after transferring from Penn, is 12-for-19 from the floor and is averaging 4.4 points and 2.6 rebounds in 10.8 minutes per game. Kaspar, a freshman point guard, has not scored much yet, but he leads the team in steals (9) and ranks No. 2 in assists (24).
• Kaspar's seven assists against West Alabama were the most by a Bison freshman since Abe Badmus had eight against Navy in 2003-04.
• Johnson's 15 3-pointers in the wins over West Alabama and Morehead State were a school record for most threes in consecutive games.
Streaking
• Bucknell's recent five-game winning streak was its longest in the months of November or December since the 2005-06 team started the season 5-0.
• The only longer November/December winning streaks in program history were a six-game streak in 1983-84 and a seven-gamer in 1956-57.
• Bucknell has also extended its home-court winning streak to 17 games dating back to last season. It is the third-longest home winning streak in program history. The record is a 24-game streak set across the 1985-86, 1986-87 and 1987-88 seasons. Coincindentally, that record streak was ended by George Mason on Jan. 6, 1987.
What's Next?
• Following the La Salle, game Bucknell has one more contest before breaking for final exams. The Bison will travel to Binghamton on Tuesday to face the Bearcats at 7 p.m.
