Bucknell University Athletics
5-1 Bucknell Men's Basketball Hosts Dartmouth Tuesday at Sojka Pavilion
11/26/2012 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 26, 2012
WHAT: Dartmouth (1-2) at Bucknell (5-1)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Tuesday, Nov. 27, 7 p.m. ET
LIVE WEBCAST: Bison Vision 
RADIO: Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM) and SportsJuice.com
LIVE STATS: GameTracker 
TICKETS: Buy online or call 570-577-1000
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
With a Win over Dartmouth, Bucknell Would ...
• ... improve to 6-1 for the first time since 2005-06.
• ... defeat the Big Green for the third year in a row.
• ... win its seventh straight game against the Ivy League.
• ... improve to 2-0 at home this season.
• ... win its 100th game (100-32) in Sojka Pavilion.
Headlines
• Bucknell looks to bounce back from its first defeat of the season on Tuesday night when Dartmouth visits Sojka Pavilion. After opening the season with five straight victories, the Bison fell 60-57 at Penn State on Friday. The Big Green will be playing their first road game of the season. Dartmouth opened with a win over Maine, but has since dropped back-to-back contests against New Hampshire and IPFW.
• Mike Muscala leads the Bison in scoring (17.2) and rebounding (11.0) through six games. Muscala ranks 10th nationally in rebounding and second in the nation in double-doubles with four. Bryson Johnson (13.4) and Cameron Ayers (11.2) are also scoring in double figures.
• Tuesday's game will be a reunion for Bucknell's Dom Hoffman and Dartmouth's Alex Mitola, who are both 2012 graduates of Gill St. Bernard's High School in New Jersey. Both freshmen are contributing for their new teams. Hoffman is getting regular minutes off the bench and is averaging 2.0 ppg and 2.3 rpg for the Bison. Mitola is Dartmouth's leading scorer, averaging 15.7 ppg through three games.
• Dartmouth's director of athletics, Harry Sheehy, coached Dave Paulsen at Williams College, and he was the AD at Williams when Paulsen served as head coach there from 2000-08.
• Another Bucknell-Dartmouth connection is Alvin F. “Doggie” Julian, Bucknell Class of 1923. Julian was a three-sport star in football, basketball and baseball at Bucknell, and he is a member of the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame. Julian played professional football and baseball, and he later became a well-known basketball coach, first at Muhlenberg and then with Holy Cross, the Boston Celtics and finally at Dartmouth from 1950-67. Julian, who is also a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame, coached Bob Cousy at Holy Cross and won the 1947 NCAA title there. He guided Dartmouth to its two most recent NCAA Tournament appearances in 1958 and 1959, and his 185 wins is still a Dartmouth record.
• The Bison opened the campaign with wins over Purdue and George Mason, and then swept Niagara, New Mexico State and West Alabama at the Niagara Subregional of the 2K Sports Classic benefitting Wounded Warrior Project. Bucknell won all three of those games by double figures and improved to 5-0 for the first time since 2005-06.
• The Bison were picked to finish second in the Patriot League behind Lehigh in a preseason poll of the league's head coaches and sports information directors. Senior center Mike Muscala and junior guard Cameron Ayers were both Preseason All-Patriot League selections.
• Bucknell returned four starters and 11 lettermen from last year's squad. The lone graduated starter is 6'5” guard Bryan Cohen, who won each of the last three Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year awards. Despite that loss, the experienced Bison start three seniors and two juniors, with another senior and junior among the top reserves.
• Dartmouth has three players scoring in double figures, led by Mitola at 15.7 ppg. Gabas Maldunas, who scored 25 points in the season-opening win over Maine, scores 14.3 ppg, and John Golden averages 11.7 ppg. Jvonte Brooks is the top rebounder at 9.3 rpg. The Big Green have three starters back from last season's squad that finished 5-25.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Dartmouth game will not be televised, however a live video webcast will air on Bison Vision via BucknellBison.com (subscription fees apply).
• The game can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong and Terry Conrad describing the action. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off.
• The audio feed is available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com and SportsJuice.com.
• Live statistics are available on GameTracker via BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell vs. Dartmouth
• This will be the fourth straight season Bucknell and Dartmouth have squared off, but it is only the fifth all-time meeting between the two teams.
• The first meeting between the Bison and Big Green came in Lewisburg on Feb. 27, 1905. Bucknell won that one 24-13 on the way to an 8-1 season. The second matchup came 105 years later in Hanover, N.H., with Dartmouth winning a defensive struggle 49-43.
• In 2010-11, Bucknell won 74-57 at Sojka Pavilion, behind 14 points from Bryson Johnson. A dozen of Johnson's points came in a three-minute span in the first half to get the Bison going after a slow start. Bucknell outrebounded Dartmouth 41-28, led by a career-high-tying 10 boards from Bryan Cohen.
• Last season at Dartmouth, Bucknell rallied from behind to win 67-59 in the final game before the start of conference play. Led by 18 points from Mike Muscala and 15 from Joe Willman, the Bison trailed for most of the game before taking it over with a late 15-0 run.
Bucknell vs. The Ivy League
• Bucknell is 44-44 (.500) all-time against the Ivy League. The Bison have played 47 games against Cornell, but only 40 combined against the other seven Ivy teams. In addition to its 24-23 record against Cornell, Bucknell is 4-2 against Yale, 3-1 vs. Brown, 3-4 vs. Penn, 4-10 vs. Princeton, 3-1 vs. Dartmouth, 2-2 vs. Columbia and 1-1 vs. Harvard.
• The Bison have won six straight games against Ivy League foes and are 6-1 against the Ivy League since the start of the 2010-11 season. Bucknell will play Columbia, Princeton and Cornell later this year.
Last Time Out
• Bucknell struggled offensively for most of the day and could only keep Penn State's offense in check for one half, and the Nittany Lions rallied past the Bison 60-57 on Friday at the Bryce Jordan Center.
• In the first half the Bison held the Nittany Lions to 16 points on 5-for-31 (.161) shooting, but Bucknell could only build a 22-16 halftime lead thanks to 12 turnovers and its own cold shooting (5-14, .357). Penn State got hot in the second half, shooting 65.4% (17-26), scoring on seven straight possessions at one point.
• The Nittany Lions left the door open with some shaky free-throw shooting (9-20), but Bucknell missed a potential tying 3-pointer at the final buzzer.
• Bucknell fell to 0-10 all-time at the Bryce Jordan Center.
• Bryson Johnson led all scorers with 18 points. Johnson hit three 3-pointers and went 9-for-11 from the foul line.
• After being held scoreless in the first half, Cameron Ayers tallied 14 points in the second period.
• Mike Muscala recorded his fourth double-double of the season and 28th of his career with 10 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots. Muscala was limited to four field-goal attempts, however.
• Bucknell was outrebounded for the first time this season, 38-31. Penn State grabbed 14 offensive rebounds, while Bucknell had just three, all coming on successive possessions in the second half.
• After committing the 12 first-half turnovers, Bucknell had just one in the second half.
Who's Got Next?
• Bucknell plays another Ivy League squad on Saturday when it travels to Columbia for a 7 p.m. contest in New York.
• The Bison are 2-2 all-time against the Lions. The most recent meeting came in 2010-11, a 73-68 Bison win at Sojka Pavilion.
• Columbia is 3-3 heading into a Wednesday road game at Long Island. The Lions' best win so far is a 75-57 rout of Villanova at The Pavilion on Nov. 20.
