Bucknell University Athletics
Cohen Wins Third Patriot League Defensive Player of Year Award; Bison Place Four on All-League Teams, Two on All-Academic Team
2/27/2012 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 27, 2012
LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell senior guard Bryan Cohen (Huntingdon Valley, Pa./Abington Friends) made history on Monday by becoming the first Patriot League men's basketball player to win the same major award three times, as he picked up his third straight Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year honor. The Bison also placed a league-record-tying four players on the All-Patriot League Teams, as junior center Mike Muscala (Roseville, Minn./Roseville) earned First Team honors, while Cohen, sophomore guard Cameron Ayers (Blue Bell, Pa./Germantown Academy) and junior forward Joe Willman (Tinton Falls, N.J./Monmouth Regional) were named to the Second Team.
Also on Monday, Dave Paulsen became just the third repeat winner of the Patriot League Coach of the Year Award, and Muscala and junior guard Bryson Johnson (Pictou, Nova Scotia/St. David Catholic) both earned spots on the five-man Academic All-Patriot League Team.
A Bucknell player has now won the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year Award in five of the eight seasons since the award was introduced, with Cohen claiming each of the last three. A 6'6" guard, Cohen is routinely assigned to the opposition's best offensive player, often regardless of position, and has had tremendous success stifling many of the league's top scorers.
While he has gained a well-deserved reputation as a defensive stopper, Cohen also went over the 1,000-point plateau this season, and his offensive production in Patriot League play was a major factor in Bucknell's 10-0 conference start and 12-2 final ledger. Cohen, who earned All-Patriot League honors for the first time in his career, had a nine-game stretch against league foes where he averaged 11.8 points per game, shot 60 percent from 3-point range and 56 percent overall. For the season, Cohen is averaging 6.9 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, and his 73 assists rank No. 1 on the team.
Muscala won the Patriot League Player of the Year Award in 2011, and he was a close second to Lehigh's C.J. McCollum this season after another very impressive regular season. Muscala is now a three-time all-conference player after earning Second Team honors as a freshman and First Team accolades each of the past two seasons. Since the Patriot League's inception in 1990-91, Muscala is Bucknell's fifth three-time all-conference selection, joining Brian Anderson (1994-96), Kevin Bettencourt (2004-06), Charles Lee (2004-06) and Chris McNaughton (2005-07). Muscala will have a chance to become Bucknell's first four-time pick next year.
In 2011-12, Muscala is averaging 16.7 points and a league-best 9.1 rebounds per game. In Patriot League play, his 18.9 scoring average ranks second in the conference, while his 9.0 rebounds per game are still No. 1. Muscala is shooting 50.2 percent from the field and 84.5 percent from the free-throw line. Muscala's 14 double-doubles rank 16th among all Division I players, and he has 11 20-point games so far. He recorded a season-high 27 points in wins over Lafayette and Navy, and his 26-point, 14-rebound effort in last week's title-clinching win at American was one of the top performances in the league all year, and it earned him his third Patriot League Player of the Week honor of the year on Monday.
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Muscala was also named to the Academic All-Patriot League Team for the second year in a row. A Capital One Academic All-District selection in 2011, Muscala is a management major at Bucknell.
Like Cohen, Willman and Ayers had previously been honored on the Patriot League All-Rookie Team, but this is their first time being named to one of the two all-league teams.
Willman averages 10.4 points and 4.9 rebounds per game while shooting a league-best 52.7 percent from the field. With an outstanding mid-range jumper, solid post moves and strong rebounding, Willman has been an ideal frontcourt complement to Muscala. He had a big game against Patriot League-runner up Lehigh with 19 points and 11 rebounds earlier this month, and he has scored in double figures 15 times this season. One of those was an impressive 17-point performance against nationally ranked Vanderbilt in which he went 8-for-12 from the field. Willman also had 10 points, five assists and two steals against No. 1 Syracuse.
Ayers was the only sophomore to make an All-Patriot League squad. A starter in every game this season and one of the league leaders in minutes played, Ayers has seen time at both the point and shooting-guard positions. He has shot the ball well for most of the season, hitting at a 46.2 percent from 3-point range and 44.9 percent overall. Ayers posted career highs with 23-point games against George Mason and Richmond earlier in the year, and he was named the MVP of the TicketCity Legends Classic Lewisburg Subregional after hitting the game-winning shot against Morehead State. For the season, Ayers is second on the Bison in scoring at 10.9 points per game.
Only one other team in the 22-year history of the Patriot League has placed four players on the all-conference teams. That was the 1992-93 Holy Cross team that defeated Bucknell in the Patriot League championship game.
Dating back to its days in the East Coast Conference, Bucknell has now claimed a first team all-conference player in 26 of the last 29 seasons. The Bison have now had 45 All-Patriot League players (27 first team, 18 second team) in 22 seasons, the most of any league team.
Johnson's selection to the Academic All-Patriot League Team follows up his Capital One Academic All-District honor earlier in the winter. A Second Team All-Patriot League selection last season, the economics major is ranks among the Patriot League leaders with 68 3-pointers this season. Johnson is second all-time at Bucknell with 234 career treys. He is averaging 9.0 points on the season.
Paulsen is just the third coach in Patriot League history to win consecutive Coach of the Year honors, joining Lafayette's Fran O'Hanlon (1998-99) and Lehigh's Billy Taylor (2003-04), and he is one of seven to claim the award multiple times. After leading the Bison to the Patriot League title in his third season at the helm in 2010-11, Paulsen's squad has enjoyed another outstanding year in 2011-12.
Bucknell finished 22-8 in the regular season for the second straight year, and it also captured its second consecutive outright regular-season Patriot League title by going 12-2 in League action. That mark included a 10-0 start in Patriot League play, which gave the Bison 20 straight wins over league foes. They tied a record by winning 17 straight regular-season Patriot League contests in a two-year span. After losing two straight games, the Bison came through with a 55-50 win at American on Thursday to clinch the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament.
Paulsen gives Bucknell a sixth Patriot League Coach of the Year award, joining past winners Charlie Woollum (1993) and Pat Flannery (1995, 1997, 2006). No other school has won more than four Patriot League Coach of the Year awards.
Joining Muscala on the All-Patriot League First Team were McCollum, Lafayette's Ryan Willen, American's Charles Hinkle and Army's Ella Ellis. Cohen, Willman and Ayers were accompanied by Holy Cross' Devin Brown, Lehigh's Gabe Knutson and Lafayette's Tony Johnson on the Second Team.
The Patriot League All-Rookie Team included Holy Cross' Justin Burrell, Army's Maxwell Lenox, Navy's Worth Smith and Lafayette's Dan Trist and Seth Hinrichs. Burrell was named Rookie of the Year.
And joining Johnson and Muscala on the All-Academic Team were Willen, Knutson and Lafayette's Rob Delaney, with Willen earning Scholar-Athlete of the Year honors.
On Wednesday, the top-seeded Bison host No. 8 Navy in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals. Tip-off is 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion.
