Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell-Lehigh Men's Basketball Rivalry Comes to Sojka Pavilion Wednesday Night
2/22/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 22, 2011
WHAT: Lehigh (15-12, 6-6 PL) at Bucknell (20-8, 11-1 PL)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Wednesday, Feb. 23, 7 p.m. ET
WEBCAST: Bison Vision 
RADIO: Eagle 107 (107.3 WEGH FM) and SportsJuice.com
LIVE STATS: GameTracker 
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
With a Win over Lehigh, Bucknell Would ...
• ... improve to 12-1 in the Patriot League with one game to play (home game vs. Army).
• ... become the eighth team in Patriot League history to win 12 league games in a season.
• ... reach the 21-win plateau for the ninth time in program history.
• ... sweep the season series from the Mountain Hawks for the first time since 2006-07.
• ... win its sixth straight game and 19th in the last 21 outings.
• ... improve to 10-1 at home this season.
Hot Topics
• With two games remaining in the regular season, Bucknell has clinched the No. 1 seed and home-court advantage throughout the Patriot League Tournament. Even though their tournament seed is locked in, the Bison are still looking to finish on a strong note heading into the postseason. Lehigh has plenty to play for. The Mountain Hawks come to Lewisburg in sole possession of third place at 6-6, but Holy Cross, Lafayette and Navy are all sitting just a game behind at 5-7. The top four seeds earn at least one home game in the tournament.
• Bucknell jumped into the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Top-25 poll for the first time this season, debuting at No. 20. The last time the Bison were ranked in the poll was late in the 2006-07 season.
• Bucknell will be the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament for the third time. In 1993, the Bison were the top seed but lost at home to Holy Cross in the championship game. In 2006, Bucknell completed a perfect 17-0 league season by beating Holy Cross in the final.
• After making a habit of pulling away on teams early on in league play, the Bison have won each of the last four 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. On Feb 12, 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. Last Wednesday, Bucknell survived a late Lafayette rally and prevailed in overtime, 74-69, and on Saturday at Colgate the Bison rallied from 10 down in the second half to win 77-69.
• The Bison are in the midst of their best 20-game stretch (18-2) since 2005-06, when the team won 18 of its last 20 en route to a school-record 27 wins. Bucknell was riding the nation's fifth-longest winning streak (9) 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 five straight wins over Navy, American, Holy Cross, Lafayette and Colgate. Their only other loss since Dec. 1 came at Boston College, 84-80.
• The Bison have been strong offensively since the end of the final exam break in December, averaging 73.6 points while shooting 46.2% from the field, 43.3% from the 3-point stripe and 80.0% from the foul line over their last 18 games. Bucknell has three players scoring in double figures and seven averaging at least 6.8 points per game over that span, led by Muscala at 16.3 ppg.
• Muscala has nine 20-point games this season and continues to lead the team in scoring (15.3), rebounding (7.4) 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) had a career-high 30-point game at Lafayette last week, and he was named the Patriot League Player of the Week on Monday. Freshman Cameron Ayers earned his third Patriot League Rookie of the Week citation after his 14-point performance in Sunday's win at Colgate.
• Seven Bison are scoring at least 6.9 points per game. Senior point guard Darryl Shazier is leading the Patriot League in assists (5.7) and ranks No. 2 in the nation in assist-to-turnover ratio (3.81). Shazier scored a career-high 28 points in the Jan. 8 win over Navy, and he has had two 10-assist games this season, including one on Sunday at Colgate.
• Johnson is 60-for-117 (.513) from long range in the last 17 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 (.480).
• As a team, Bucknell is leading the Patriot League in all of the shooting categories: field-goal percentage (.449), 3-point percentage (.411) and free-throw percentage (.788). Among the national leaders, the Bison are 4th in FT% and 8th in 3FG%.
• Defensively, Bucknell leads the league and ranks 35th nationally in field-goal percentage defense (.401).
• Lehigh is coming off a thrilling 67-66 home win over arch-rival Lafayette, made possible by Gabe Knutson's put-back in the final seconds. The Mountain Hawks have won three of their last four games to get to 15-12 overall and 6-6 in league play.
• Lehigh features the league's No. 1 scorer in C.J. McCollum (22.1 ppg), who was the Patriot League Player of the Year as a freshman last season. McCollum is also the team's top rebounder at 8.0 rpg. Knutson (12.2 ppg) and Michael Ojo (11.7 ppg) also score in double figures. As a team, the Mountain Hawks are the highest-scoring team in the Patriot League at 74.1 ppg.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Lehigh 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 on GameTracker via BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell vs. Lehigh Series Notes
• Bucknell has played more games (153) and won more games (93) against Lehigh than any other school. The Bison have a 93-60 lead in a series that originated in 1902.
• Since the start of Patriot League play in 1990-91, Bucknell holds a 34-13 advantage, including an 18-3 mark at home.
• Lehigh is responsible for snapping Bucknell's 35-game home winning streak against Patriot League foes. The Bison had not lost to a conference opponent at Sojka Pavilion in nearly five years, until the Mountain Hawks won 56-54 in Lewisburg on Jan. 30, 2008.
• Lehigh also won the first game ever played in Sojka Pavilion, a 60-56 decision on Jan. 15, 2003. Including that game, Bucknell is 6-2 against the Mountain Hawks in Sojka.
• Bucknell went 1-1 against Lehigh last season, with the home team winning each time. The Bison prevailed 81-76 in overtime in the first meeting, and then Lehigh took control of the Patriot League race with a convincing 81-59 verdict in the next-to-last game of the regular season.
• Earlier this season, Bucknell put together 40 strong minutes in an 81-68 win at Stabler Arena. Five Bison scored in double figures, led by Bryson Johnson with 18 points. Mike Muscala added 15 points, nine rebounds and a school-record-tying eight blocked shots. C.J. McCollum led Lehigh with 24 points, shooting 5-for-17 from the field at 14-for-14 from the foul line.
Patriot League Success
• The Bison are 186-92 (.669) in Patriot League regular-season games, the best record of any league team. They have finished at least .500 in PL play in 17 of 21 seasons (including this season).
• The Bison won a league-record 23 straight contests against conference foes from Feb. 23, 2005 to Jan. 12, 2007.
• Bucknell had a streak of 35 straight wins at home against conference opponents come to an end in 2008.
• Bucknell has an all-time record of 24-18 in 20 Patriot League Tournaments. Bucknell has beaten every team in the league at least once in the postseason. The Bison have reached the championship game six times, including wins in 2005 and 2006, and reached at least the semifinals in 15 of 20 years.
More from the Colgate Game
• A 31-point, 26-rebound performance by the bench carried Bucknell to a come-from-behind 77-69 win at Colgate on Sunday. The Bison earned their 20th win of the season and clinched the 2011 Patriot League regular-season championship, assuring them of home-court advantage throughout the league tournament. The Bison trailed by 10 early in the second half but outscored the Raiders 44-26 over the final 18:36.
• Colgate cut a nine-point deficit down to two with a late rally , but Cameron Ayers iced it for the Bison with four straight critical free throws in the final 28 seconds. All four came in 1-and-1 situations, and he finished with 14 points (4-6 FG, 6-6 FT) in the game.
• It was an interesting statistical game for Bucknell, as five Bison scored in double figures, two had double-digit rebounds and one had double-digit assists. Darryl Shazier (11 points, 10 assists) and G.W. Boon (11 points, 11 rebounds) both had their first career double-doubles.
• Enoch Andoh had his second straight strong game, coming up big with Mike Muscala in foul trouble in the second half. Andoh finished with six points and a career-high-tying 10 rebounds. His only other 10-rebound came came during his freshman year, also against Colgate.
• Also scoring in double figures were Bryson Johnson with 12 on 4-for-8 3-point shooting, and Bryan Cohen with 10 points. Muscala added nine point in only 18 minutes of action, nearly giving Bucknell six double-digit scorers.
• Bucknell went 6-for-6 from the foul line in the final 28 seconds of the game and 15-for-17 overall. The Bison also committed only seven turnovers in the game.
• Colgate torched Bucknell early in the game and shot 55.6% from the floor in the first half. But in the second half the Bison held the Raiders to 31.3% shooting, including a 1-for-10 showing from 3-point range.
Statistically Speaking
Some other notable numbers from Bucknell's first 27 games:
• Bucknell has a 411-to-314 assist-to-turnover ratio, the best mark in the Patriot League and 23rd-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 11.2 turnovers per game is the 23rd-best mark in Division I basketball.
• The Bison as a team are shooting 41.1% 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 44.9% field-goal shooting is the best mark in the Patriot League, and the Bison rank No. 1 in the league and No. 4 in the nation in free-throw percentage at 78.8%.
• 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 31.0% 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 59.7% 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 15 of its last 18 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 19 times so far, their most since doing it 22 times in Hall-of-Fame coach Charlie Woollum's final season in 1993-94.
• The Bison have held 11 of their last 15 opponents under 40% shooting from the field.
• Bucknell's average margin of victory in its 10 Patriot League wins is 12.0.
• 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.
• The Bison are now 5-1 when Mike Muscala scores fewer than 10 points in a game this season(only loss was at Marquette).
On a Roll
• Bucknell is 18-2 since Dec. 1, the ninth-best record in the nation over that span.
• The only losses in that time have both come on the road, at Boston College (84-80) and Army (90-70).
Best Record in Nation Since Dec. 1 (through games of 2/21)
Team W L Pct.
1. San Diego State 21 1 .954
Utah State 21 1 .954
3. Coastal Carolina 19 1 .950
4. Fairfield 20 2 .909
Kansas 20 2 .909
6. BYU 19 2 .905
Duke 19 2 .905
Ohio State 19 2 .905
9. Bucknell 18 2 .900
10. Princeton 16 2 .889
Sojka Savvy
• Bucknell is once again doing well to protect its home floor in 2010-11. The Bison have won eight straight home games and are 9-1 at Sojka Pavilion this season. The only home loss was a 77-73 setback to Wagner on Nov. 29.
• The Bison have won 10 straight regular-season home games against Patriot League foes, dating back to a 69-67 loss to Navy on Jan. 9, 2010. (Bucknell did fall to Holy Cross at home in the Patriot League Tournament last season).
• All-time at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell is 79-29 (.731) overall and 56-12 (.824) against Patriot League opponents.
On a Roll on the Road
• Bucknell is 10-2 in its last 12 road games and 10-6 on the road this season.
• In those 12 games, the Bison have scored 73.7 points per game and shot 46.2% from the field, 45.3% from 3-point range and 81.7% from the free-throw line. They also had 176 assists and 130 turnovers in the 12 games.
• All told this season, Bucknell is shooting 46.0% from the field and 44.1% from 3-point range while averaging 71.2 ppg on the road. On the other hand, at home the Bison shoot 43.3% from the field, 37.8% from the arc and score 70.4 ppg.
• Bucknell's recent five-game road winning streak was the longest since 2006-07, when it won six straight on the road. The school record for consecutive road victories is eight, set in 1974-75 and 1918-19 into 1919-20.
• The school record for road wins in a season is 11, set in 2005-06.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell closes out the 2010-11 regular season on Saturday against Army at 4 p.m. It will be Senior Day at Sojka Pavilion, as G.W. Boon, Darryl Shazer and Stephen Tyree will be honored prior to the game.
