Bucknell University
18-8, 9-1
Holy Cross
5-19, 4-6
Johnson's Three Gives Bucknell Hard-Fought 60-56 Win at Holy Cross
2/12/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 12, 2011
WORCESTER, Mass. - Bryson Johnson hit a tie-breaking 3-pointer with 32 seconds left and Mike Muscala clinched it with a 3-point play with 12 seconds to go, giving Bucknell a gutsy 60-56 win at Holy Cross on Saturday afternoon. Now 18-8 overall and 9-1 in Patriot League play, the Bison maintained a two-game lead over American with four to play.
Muscala led the Bison with 15 points and seven rebounds, despite playing only 24 minutes due to foul trouble. G.W. Boon (12) and Cameron Ayers (10) also hit double figures as part of a big performance by the bench, and Johnson finished with nine points on 3-for-6 3-point shooting.
Devin Brown led Holy Cross with 20 points - but had only two in the second half - and Andrew Keister added 13 points and 11 rebounds. The Crusaders finished with a 42-29 rebounding edge but fell to 5-19 overall and 4-6 in the Patriot League.
On a night when points were hard to come by at both ends of the floor, the Bison found a way to win in front of a raucous crowd of 3,624, despite shooting only 43.1 percent.
Trailing 29-28 at the break, the Bison went ahead with some strong defense to start the second half. They allowed only two points in the first 5:41 of the half, outscoring Holy Cross 9-2 over that span. A transition 3-pointer by Johnson and a baseline jumper by Joe Willman gave Bucknell its first nine-point lead at 42-33.
With Muscala saddled by foul trouble - he picked up his third with 12:13 left and his fourth with 8:28 to play - Holy Cross whittled away at the lead with solid defense and offensive rebounding. Josh Jones' shot in the lane pulled the Crusaders within 49-44, and then Mike Cavataio brought the crowd to its feet with a follow jam to make it 49-46 with 5:48 left. After a Bison turnover, Cavataio hit an elbow jumper to bring Holy Cross within 49-48.
Bryan Cohen stemmed the tide with a pair of free throws at the 5:00 mark, but the Bison missed a chance to pull further ahead with a 1-for-3 stretch at the line, including a missed front end of a 1-and-1.
Ayers went 2-for-2 at the line to put Bucknell up 54-49, but then Keister rebounded an Andrew Beinert miss and put it back while drawing a foul. The 3-point play brought Holy Cross within 54-52 with 1:48 left. Cohen was fouled hard on a drive to the basket but missed both at the line, and then another put-back by Keister tied the score at 54 with 1:06 left.
After a Bucknell timeout, Shazier drove the right side of the lane and passed back to Johnson, who swished a 24-footer to break the tie with 32 seconds left.
Brown slashed in for a layup with 22 seconds left to make it 57-56, and the Bison were momentarily staggered by Holy Cross' full-court press after the timeout. Johnson passed out of a trap to Darryl Shazier across the court, and then Shazier hit Muscala on a fly pattern. Muscala finished the breakaway jam while absorbing a foul by Dee Goens, and he made the critical free throw with 12.6 seconds left to make it a four-point game. Holy Cross missed two desperation shots as time expired.
The Bison got off to a rough start offensively, coming away with six missed shots on their first seven offensive possessions of the day. In the meantime, Holy Cross jumped out to a 7-0 lead before Willman finally got Bucknell on the board with a long jumper 4:24 in.
Boon gave Bucknell an early lift off the bench, hitting two quick jumpers to bring the Bison within 11-8. But then Dave Dudzinski flipped in a 3-pointer on a broken play as the shot clock expired, igniting a 12-4 run that put the Crusaders ahead 23-12.
Bucknell got back in it with a 12-0 run, again keyed by Boon. His drive to the basket for a 3-point play started the surge, and after an Ayers 3-pointer, Boon had a tip-in to make it 23-20. Three minutes later Muscala absorbed a blow to the head on a put-back attempt, and he finished the 3-point play to give the Bison their first lead of the night at 24-23.
Brown scored Holy Cross' final six points of the half, including a 3-pointer with 28 seconds left that gave the Crusaders a 29-28 lead at the half.
The Bison shot only 36.7 percent in the first half, with Willman and Muscala an uncharacteristic 5-for-17 combined.
It was an excellent defensive performance by the Bison, who held Holy Cross to 39.6-percent shooting while forcing 13 turnovers. But Bucknell was nearly undermined on the glass, as the Crusaders parlayed 13 offensive boards into 17 second-chance points.
Bucknell turned the ball over only six times in the game, and Patriot League assists leader Darryl Shazier had half of the team's 10 helpers.
The Bison swept the season series from Holy Cross - by a combined six points - for the first time since 2005-06. They have now won three straight games and are 16-2 since Dec. 1. Now 8-6 on the road this season, Bucknell has reached the 18-win mark for the 14th time in program history.
Bucknell returns to action on Wednesday at Lafayette at 7 p.m.
