Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell's Johnson, Ayers Win Patriot League Weekly Hoops Awards
2/21/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 21, 2011
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- After wrapping up the Patriot League regular-season title with road wins at Lafayette and Colgate last week, Bucknell swept the league's weekly awards on Monday. Sophomore guard Bryson Johnson (Pictou, Nova Scotia/St. David Catholic) earned his first Anaconda Player of the Week Award, while freshman guard Cameron Ayers (Blue Bell, Pa./Germantown Academy) earned his third Rookie of the Week citation of the season.
Johnson scored a career-high 30 points in Bucknell's 74-69 overtime victory at Lafayette last Wednesday. He made his first five 3-pointers of the night and finished 5-for-7 from the arc, 7-for-10 from the field and a perfect 11-for-11 from the foul line. After the Bison fell behind by three points in overtime, Johnson was fouled on a 3-point attempt and made all three from the charity stripe, erasing Lafayette's lead for good. Johnson came back on Sunday and went 4-for-8 from 3-point range and scored 12 points in a 77-69 win at Colgate.
It was also a milestone week for Johnson, who on Wednesday broke the Bucknell single-season record for 3-pointers made. He now has 84 on the season, breaking the old mark of 79, set by Kevin Bettencourt in 2005-06 and John Griffin in 2007-08.
On the season, Johnson is shooting 48.0 percent from 3-point range (84-175). That is the fourth-highest percentage in all of Division I basketball. His 3.0 made threes per game ranks 15th in the nation.
Johnson is second on the team in scoring at 11.7 points per game. He is shooting 47.3 percent from the field, despite a high percentage of his shots coming from long distance, and he is an 82.8 percent free-throw shooter.
Johnson was a two-time Patriot League Rookie of the Week last season, and now Ayers has captured that honor for the third time in 2010-11. The smooth freshman guard enjoyed a terrific game against Colgate, finishing with 14 points on 4-for-6 shooting from the field and 6-for-6 accuracy from the foul line. With Bucknell leading by two in the final 30 seconds of the game, Ayers made four straight free throws in 1-and-1 situations and came up with a steal at the defensive end to clinch the victory.
Ayers also logged seven points in 34 turnover-free minutes in the overtime win at Lafayette.
This season Ayers is averaging 22.8 minutes per game while producing 7.0 points per game. He is an 87.2 percent free-throw shooter and has only 21 turnovers in 28 games.
Bucknell is now 20-8 on the season and 11-1 in Patriot League play. The Bison close out the regular season with home games against Lehigh and Army this week, and then they are assured of home-court advantage throughout the Patriot League Tournament. The Lehigh game is next up, Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion.
