Bucknell University
17-8, 8-1PL
American
16-8, 6-3PL
Bison Men Stay Alone in First Place with 66-60 Win over American, Give Dave Paulsen 300th Career Win
2/9/2011 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 9, 2011
| Video Highlights
| Coach Dave Paulsen Postgame InterviewLEWISBURG, Pa. - Mike Muscala logged 21 points and 10 rebounds and came up with a key blocked shot in the final minute to help first-place Bucknell to a critical 66-60 victory over second-place American on Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion. Now 17-8 overall and 8-1 in the Patriot League, the Bison grabbed a two-game lead over the Eagles and own all tiebreakers after sweeping the season series.
Head coach Dave Paulsen's 300th career victory required some guts from his team, as American (16-8, 6-3) rallied from a double-digit deficit to take the lead at 58-57 with 3:59 to play. Ignited by a tough 3-pointer from Bryson Johnson way out on the right wing with 3:29 left, Bucknell scored nine straight points after American had gone ahead for the first time since 2-0.
G.W. Boon had a big game off the bench with 12 points, Johnson had 11 and point guard Darryl Shazier added nine points and four assists without a turnover in 37 minutes. Even though he did not score a point in the game, Bryan Cohen again had a major impact on the defensive end while assigned to high-scoring forward Vlad Moldoveanu, who made only two field goals in eight tries before finishing with nine points.
Moldoveanu, who came in averaging 20.0 points per game, second-most in the Patriot League, scored only 16 on 5-for-20 shooting in the two meetings against Bucknell this season. Cohen was limited to 21 minutes in this one, as he took an inadvertent elbow to the nose from Moldoveanu in the first half, then battled some foul trouble in the second. Cameron Ayers, who scored eight big points off the bench, also spent time marking Moldoveanu, and a strong all-around team defensive effort helped limit the Eagles to 38.3 percent shooting.
Troy Brewer led American with 13 points, while Stephen Lumpkins and Daniel Munoz scored 11 apiece.
Following a recent theme in league play, Bucknell got out to a terrific start, holding American to 2-for-12 shooting while racing to a 22-8 lead. Muscala, who scored a career-high 33 points in the first meeting with American, scored Bucknell's first eight points of the night. Shazier's 3-point play made it 11-2, and Boon hit three free throws to make it 14-3. Boon then slashed down the lane for a layup, and back-to-back treys by Shazier and Boon made it 22-8.
Bucknell led 22-12 with seven minutes left in the half when Cohen went to the bench with the injury, and then American finally got some shots to fall and went on an 11-2 run. Charles Hinkle's 3-pointer at the 4:43 mark cut Bucknell's lead to 26-23 before Ayers answered with a 3-pointer of his own.
The Bison scored the final seven points of the first half to go up 36-28 at the break, but American stayed hot early in the second half. Sparked by some excellent play by Munoz off the bench and more good 3-point shooting, the Eagles rallied to tie the game at 50 at the 11:51 mark. Back-to-back treys by Nick Hendra and Munoz capped an 8-0 run that evened the score.
Both teams locked down on defense the rest of the way, as points were hard to come by at both ends. Buckets by Shazier and Muscala put the Bison up 54-50, but they would go scoreless for the next five minutes. It took all of that span for American to manage two baskets of their own, however, and the Eagles tied it back up at 54-all on a Munoz floater in the lane with 5:35 left. That would be their last field goal of the night.
After a critical offensive rebound by Joe Willman and a Bucknell timeout, the Bison went inside to Muscala, who spun into the lane and scored while drawing a foul. He converted the 3-point play to put Bucknell up 57-54.
But two successive off-the-ball fouls sent Moldoveanu to the line for 1-and-1s, and he made all four free throws, the latter two putting the Eagles up 58-57 with 3:59 left.
On Bucknell's next possession, Shazier dribbled in the lane, spun and delivered a jump pass out to Johnson, who swished a fading 3-pointer from deep on the right side to give the Bison the lead back for good with 3:29 left.
Willman grabbed a defensive rebound in traffic and was fouled, and he made it a two-possession game by hitting both free throws. Bucknell got two more stops, the second after Cohen forced Moldoveanu into a tough fadeaway jumper from well out on the right wing, and despite coming up empty on the offensive end was able to drain considerable clock.
Muscala was fouled on another defensive rebound and made both free throws - the Bison started 17-for-18 at the line before missing four of their last five - to go up 64-58. Muscala then put an exclamation point on the night with a rejection of Hendra's layup attempt with 30 seconds to go.
One free throw each by Willman and Shazier made it 66-58 with just 18 seconds left, and American hit a couple from the line in the final eight seconds to make it a six-point margin at the end.
Bucknell shot 40 percent from the field on the night, going just 8-for24 in the second half. The Bison did shoot 8-for-18 from 3-point range to counterbalance American's 9-for-19 long-range accuracy.
For only the fifth time all season, Bucknell had more turnovers (12) than assists (9), but they did force 13 turnovers.
The Bison are now 15-2 since Dec. 1, and they have won eight straight home games to improve to 9-1 at Sojka Pavilion this season.
Bucknell will have no time to relax on its two-game lead in the Patriot League standings. The Bison embark on a three-game road trip Saturday at Holy Cross. The Crusaders defeated Army 85-75 on Wednesday to remain in a tie for fourth place.
