Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Looks to Clinch PL Regular-Season Title Sunday at Colgate
2/19/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 19, 2011
WHAT: Bucknell (19-8, 10-1 PL) at Colgate (7-19, 4-7 PL)
WHERE: Cotterell Court, Hamilton, N.Y.
WHEN: Sunday, Feb. 19, 2 p.m. ET
WEBCAST: Bison Vision 
RADIO: Eagle 107 (107.3 WEGH FM) and SportsJuice.com
Live Stats: GoColgateRaiders.com
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
With a Win over Colgate, Bucknell Would ...
• ... clinch the Patriot League regular-season title and secure home-court advantage throughout the Patriot League Tournament.
• ... reach the 20-win plateau for the 10th time in program history.
• ... improve to 11-1 in the Patriot League two games to play (home games vs. Lehigh and Army).
• ... record 11 or more conference wins for the first time since 2006-07, and for the 12th time in school history (seventh time since joining the Patriot League).
• ... sweep the season series from the Raiders for the second straight year.
• ... win its fifth straight game and 18th in the last 20 outings.
•... improve to 10-6 on the road this season.
Hot Topics
• Wednesday's overtime win at Lafayette reduced Bucknell's “magic number” to one to clinch the Patriot League regular-season title. With three games remaining, the Bison need either one more win of their own or one more loss by American to wrap up home court advantage throughout the Patriot League Tournament.
• This is also a big game for Colgate, which still has its sights set on a top-four seed and a home game for at least the PL quarterfinals. At 4-7 in the league, the Raiders are a half-game behind sixth-place Navy, but they are only one game out of a three-way tie for third between Lehigh, Holy Cross and Lafayette.
• The Bison are in the midst of their best 19-game stretch (17-2) since 2006-07, when the team set a modern-day record with a 14-game winning streak and won 17 out of 18. Bucknell was riding the nation's fifth-longest winning streak and was one game away from the first perfect January since 1918-19 before falling to hot-shooting Army on Jan. 29. The Bison shook off that loss with four straight wins over Navy, American, Holy Cross and Lafayette.
• After making a habit of pulling away on teams in league play, the Bison have won each of the last three games in crunch time. On Feb. 9 against second-place American, the Eagles rallied to take the lead with four minutes to play, but Bucknell answered with nine straight points to take control. Last Saturday, Bucknell and Holy Cross were tied at 54 until Bryson Johnson put the Bison ahead with a clutch 3-pointer with 32 seconds left, and Mike Muscala iced it with a 3-point play with 12 seconds to go. And then on Wednesday, Bucknell survived a late Lafayette rally and prevailed in overtime, 74-69.
• The Bison have been strong offensively since the end of the final exam break in December, averaging 73.4 points while shooting 46.6% from the field, 42.9% from the 3-point stripe and 79.6% from the foul line over their last 17 games. Bucknell has three players scoring in double figures and seven averaging at least 6.4 points per game over that span, led by Muscala at 16.8 ppg.
• Muscala has nine 20-point games this season and continues to lead the team in scoring (15.5), rebounding (7.6) and blocked shots (1.8). Muscala recently had back-to-back double-doubles against Navy (11p, 17r) and American (21p, 10r), and he led the team with 15 points and seven boards in the win at Holy Cross.
• Hot-shooting sophomore Johnson (11.7) is coming off a career-high 30-point game at Lafayette, and seven Bison are scoring at least 6.7 points per game. Senior point guard Darryl Shazier is leading the Patriot League in assists (5.6) and ranks No. 2 in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.75). Shazier scored a career-high 28 points in the Jan. 8 win over Navy, and he had a 9-assist, no-turnover game against Holy Cross.
• Johnson is 56-for-109 (.514) from long range in the last 16 games, including a 7-for-12 showing at Boston College, 5-for-7 efforts at Richmond and Lafayette, and a 4-for-6 performance against Colgate. Johnson leads the league and ranks 4th nationally in 3FG percentage on the season (.479).
• As a team, Bucknell is leading the Patriot League in all of the shooting categories: field-goal percentage (.451), 3-point percentage (.407) and free-throw percentage (.785). Among the national leaders, the Bison are 5th in FT% and 8th in 3FG%.
• Defensively, Bucknell leads the league and ranks 35th nationally in field-goal percentage defense (.400).
• Colgate is also coming off an overtime win on the road. On Wednesday the Raiders completed a season sweep of Lehigh with a 94-90 OT win, paced by 27 points from Mike Venezia.
• Colgate's top scorer is Yaw Gyawu, who ranks 11th in the Patriot League at 12.5 ppg. Joe Hoban is having a strong senior year, averaging 10.1 ppg while ranking third in the league with 43 steals. Nick Pascale ranks fifth in the league in rebounding (6.5).
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Colgate game will not be televised, however a live Webcast will be available on Bison Vision at BucknellBison.com (subscription required) as well as Patriot League All-Access at PatriotLeague.org.
• The game can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 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 also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com and SportsJuice.com.
•Live stats are available at GoColgateRaiders.com.
Bucknell vs. Colgate Series Notes
•This will be the 96th all-time meeting between Bucknell and Colgate in a series that dates back to 1920. The Bison have a 55-40 series lead.
• As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell has won 34 of the 47 meetings, including 18 of 21 in Lewisburg.
• Bucknell is 8-1 against Colgate at Sojka Pavilion. The Raiders won there in the arena's inaugural season (2002-03), but since then the Bison have won eight 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 swept the season series from the Raiders a year ago, winning 62-61 in Hamilton followed by a 69-49 rout at Sojka Pavilion.
• In the first meeting of this season back on Jan. 22, Mike Muscala tallied 17 points, six rebounds, three blocks and two assists in only 21 minutes to lead Bucknell to its eighth straight win, 76-49 over Colgate before a season-high 3,827 fans at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison led by double figures for the last three-quarters of the game and by as many as 33 in the second half. Bryson Johnson went 4-for-6 from the arc and finished with 12 points, while Joe Willman added 10 points and five rebounds. The Raiders shot only 19.2 percent from the field in the second half and 25.0 percent for the game.
More from the Lafayette Game
• It was a game of wild momentum swings Wednesday night in Easton. The Bison fell behind by six points early, then sandwiched a big run around the halftime break to open up a 13-point lead. But the Leopards made two big second-half rallies to send Bucknell to overtime for the first time this season. The Bison took a 61-50 lead with 4:31 to play, but Lafayette finished regulation on an 11-0 run to force overtime. Bucknell trailed by three in overtime, then behind two huge buckets by Enoch Andoh, surged ahead and won 74-69.
• Bryson Johnson was the star of the game for the Bison. He went 7-for-10 from the floor, 5-for-7 from 3-point distance and 11-for-11 from the foul line en route to a career-high 30 points. Johnson made his first six shots (and his first five threes) in the game, and he knocked down three free throws after being fouled on a three attempt to tie the game in overtime.
• Andoh had not seen much significant action this season, but with the Bison saddled by major foul trouble (both power forwards, Joe Willman and G.W. Boon had fouled out and center Mike Muscala was playing with four), Andoh was pressed into duty. He more than held his own, scoring twice on post moves in overtime. The first snapped a 64-all tie and gave the Bison the lead for good with 2:51 left. The second stretched a one-point lead up to three with 1:08 to play, and then in the final minute of the game he knocked the ball away from Lafayette center Jared Mintz, giving Bucknell possession back.
• Muscala finished with 10 points and eight rebounds, but it was an off night by his lofty standards. He made 4 of 12 shots from the field and had seven turnovers.
• Point guard Darryl Shazier piled up a career-high 10 rebounds in the game. Shazier also had eight points and six assists with only one turnover, and he helped ice the game with four straight free throws and a steal in the final 10 seconds.
• Bucknell made its first 17 free throws and finished 24-for-28 (.857). Lafayette also did well at the line, finishing 22-for-26 (.846).
• The Bison held the Leopards to 38.5% shooting from the field and a 7-for-22 (.318) showing from 3-point range.
Statistically Speaking
Some other notable numbers from Bucknell's first 27 games:
• Bucknell has a 397-to-307 assist-to-turnover ratio, the best mark in the Patriot League and 24th-best in the nation. The Bison have had a negative ratio only six times all season, against Marquette, Loyola, Dartmouth, Richmond, American and Lafayette. Their 11.4 turnovers per game is the 25th-best mark in Division I basketball.
• The Bison as a team are shooting 40.7% from long range, up from last season's 32.9% mark. Bucknell ranks eighth nationally in 3-point accuracy. The Bison are trying to shoot 40% from 3-point range for only the fourth time in school history, and for the first time since 1988-89.
• Bucknell's 45.1% field-goal shooting is the best mark in the Patriot League, and the Bison rank No. 1 in the league and No. 5 in the nation in free-throw percentage at 78.5%.
• While the team's 3-point percentage is up, a lower percentage of Bucknell's total shots have come from beyond the 3-point arc. So far 31.3% of the team's attempts have come from long range, down from 34.7% last year and 35.0% in 2008-09.
• Bucknell has recorded an assist on 60.1% of its field goals this season. By comparison, last year the team was credited with an assist on only 51.6% of its baskets.
• Bucknell has scored 70 or more points in 14 of its last 17 games, but had a steak of eight straight 70-point games snapped against American on Feb. 9. Prior to this season, the last time a Bucknell team reached 70 in eight consecutive games was all the way back in 1995-96. The Bison have scored 70+ points 18 times so far, their most since doing it 22 times Hall-of-Fame coach Charlie Woollum's final season in 1993-94.
•The Bison have held 11 of their last 14 opponents under 40% shooting from the field.
• Bucknell's average margin of victory in its 10 Patriot League wins is 12.4.
• The team has 11 double-digit wins this season, its most since recording 11 in 2006-07.
• The Bison are 11-0 when outrebounding opponents this season.
Who's Got Next?
Bucknell closes out the 2010-11 regular season with two home games next week. The Bison face Lehigh on Wednesday night and Army on Saturday at 4 p.m.
