Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell Men's Basketball Looks to Slow Down Lafayette in PL Semifinal Matchup Saturday on CBS Sports Network
3/2/2012 7:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 2, 2012
PL TOURNAMENT CENTRAL
WHAT: #5 Lafayette (13-17, 7-7 PL) at #1 Bucknell (23-8, 12-2 PL)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Saturday, March 3, 4:30 p.m. ET
TV: CBS Sports Network 
RADIO: Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM) and SportsJuice.com
LIVE STATS: GameTracker 
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
NOTE: Tickets remain for Saturday's Patriot League Tournament semifinal game vs. Lafayette. Tickets are available ONLINE, over the phone at 570-577-1000 and in person at the Weis Center (until 5 p.m. Friday) and the Barnes & Noble Bucknell Bookstore (until 4:30 p.m. Friday). Should tickets remain on gameday, walk-up sales begin at 3 p.m. Saturday at the Sojka Pavilion ticket window.
With a Win over Lafayette, Bucknell Would ...
• ... host the winner of No. 2 Lehigh and No. 3 American in Wednesday's Patriot League championship game (7 p.m., CBS Sports Network).
• ... advance to the Patriot League championship game for the ninth time in the 22-year history of the league.
• ... improve to 24-8 overall.
• ... record at least 24 wins in a season for the fifth time in program history.
• ... improve to 14-2 at home this season and 98-31 all-time at Sojka Pavilion.
• ... improve to 29-18 all-time in the Patriot League Tournament.
• ... defeat Lafayette for the seventh straight time and improve to 4-1 against the Leopards in the Patriot League Tournament.
Headlines
• The rematch of the 2011 Patriot League championship game comes one round earlier this year, as Bucknell and Lafayette meet in the second of two Patriot League Tournament semifinal contests on Saturday afternoon. The top-seeded Bison sailed past Navy 87-63 in the first round on Wednesday night, while No. 5 Lafayette was the only lower-seeded team to win a quarterfinal game, 84-76 at No. 4 Holy Cross.
• Bucknell entered the tournament mired in a four-game shooting slump (38.4%), but the Bison broke out against Navy, shooting a season-high 62.7%. Lafayette also poured in the points on Wednesday, shooting a Patriot League Tournament record 68.4% (13-19) from 3-point range.
• Bucknell is the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament for the fourth 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. And last season, the Bison went 13-1 in the regular season, then swept Army, Lehigh and Lafayette to claim the championship.
• Bucknell fared very well in the All-Patriot League voting earlier in the week. Mike Muscala earned First Team All-Patriot League honors for the second year in a row (he was also a Second Team pick as a freshman in 2009-10). Bryan Cohen, Joe Willman and Cameron Ayers all earned Second Team All-Patriot League accolades, making Bucknell just the second team in league history to have four all-league players. Cohen also won his third straight Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year honor, making him the first player in league history to earn the same major award three times. Dave Paulsen repeated as Patriot League Coach of the Year, while Muscala and Bryson Johnson were named to the five-man Patriot League All-Academic Team.
• Bucknell enters the semifinals having won 15 of its last 17, 19 of its last 22, and 23 of its last 29. Since Dec. 1, 2010, Bucknell is 46-11.
• Muscala is averaging 18.2 points over his last 21 games, despite scoring only two in limited minutes in the rout of Navy last time out. Muscala is averaging 16.2 points per game on the season, fourth best in the Patriot League. The last Bison to average better than 16 points per game was Bryan Bailey (17.4) back in 2001-02.
• Muscala continues to lead the Bison in rebounding (8.9) and blocked shots (1.6). He leads the Patriot League in rebounding by a wide margin, and he has 14 double-doubles this season, the most in the league. He is two shy of the school record for double-doubles in a season. Muscala also has 11 20-point games this year.
• The Bison were unanimously picked as the preseason favorite in the Patriot League by the league's head coaches and SIDs.
• The Bison returned four starters from last year's team that finished 25-9 overall and 13-1 in the Patriot League. Bucknell went on to capture the Patriot League Tournament title, but the 14th-seeded Bison were ousted by red-hot Connecticut, the eventual national champions, in their NCAA Tournament opener.
• Lafayette had lost 4 of 5 coming into the tournament before knocking out Holy Cross for the third year in a row. Leading the shooting barrage was guard Rob Delaney, who hit all five of his 3-point tries and scored 25 points.
How to Get the Game
• The Bucknell-Lafayette game will be televised live on CBS College Sports. Jason Knapp will handle the play-by-play duties with former Villanova, UMass and Manhattan coach Steve Lappas the analyst.
• 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.
Patriot League Success
• The Bison are 200-94 (.680) in Patriot League regular-season games, the best record of any league team. Including this season, they have finished at least .500 in PL play in 18 of 22 seasons.
• This was Bucknell's sixth Patriot League regular-season title (fourth outright).
• The victory at Lehigh on Jan. 18 made Bucknell the first Patriot League team to go 100 games over .500 in league play. The win over Navy to end the regular season made the Bison the first to reach 200 regular-season PL victories.
• 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 had won 20 straight games against Patriot League foes, 17 in the regular season and three in the 2011 Patriot League Tournament, before falling to Lehigh on Feb. 16. The Bison were one of five remaining Division I conference unbeatens at the time.
Patriot League Tournament Success
• Bucknell has an all-time record of 28-18 (.609) in 22 Patriot League Tournaments and has beaten every team in the league at least once in the postseason.
• The Bison have reached the championship game seven times, including wins in 2005, 2006 and 2011, and reached at least the semifinals in 17 of 22 years.
• Bucknell is 14-2 on its home floor in Patriot League Tournament games. The only losses came in the 1993 championship game and 2010 quarterfinal round, both against Holy Cross.
Bucknell vs. Lafayette
• Bucknell and Lafayette have met 150 times previously, making the Leopards Bucknell's second most-played opponent (the Bison have played Lehigh 157 times). Since the series began in 1915, Lafayette leads 85-65.
• Since the start of Patriot League play in 1990-91, however, Bucknell has won 36 of 49 meetings.
• Bucknell has won all 12 matchups in Sojka Pavilion and is 21-3 against the Leopards in Lewisburg going back to the Patriot League's first season. Lafayette is actually 0-13 all-time in Sojka, including a neutral-site loss to American in the 2006 PL Tournament quarterfinals.
• The Bison went 3-0 against Lafayette last season, including a 72-57 victory in the Patriot League championship game at Sojka Pavilion. During the regular season, Bucknell won 75-56 at home, followed by a 74-69 overtime victory in Easton. Bryson Johnson scored a career-high 30 points in the game at Kirby Sports Center.
• Bucknell also won both regular-season meetings this year, 79-65 in Easton on Jan. 14 and 90-78 in Lewisburg on Feb. 11. The Bison made exactly 30 of 52 (.577) field-goal attempts in both games.
• Mike Muscala had a big night with 27 points on 9-for-13 shooting from the floor and 9-for-9 from the foul line in the win at Lafayette. Cameron Ayers added 15 for the Bison, who led by four at the half before taking control early in the second half. Seth Hinrichs led Lafayette with a career-high 17 points.
• In the rematch at Sojka Pavilion, Muscala scored 24 more points and Bucknell posted its highest point total in a non-overtime game against a Division I foe since 1998. Joe Willman added 17 points as the Bison placed five in double figures.
• In two games this season against Lafayette, Muscala totaled 51 points on 18-for-29 shooting from the floor and 21-for-21 from the foul line. He averages 19.2 points in six career games against the Leopards, shooting 60.7% from the floor in the process.
Last Time Out
• A big run to close out the first half sent the Bison on their way to an 87-63 rout of Navy in Wednesday's quarterfinal round. The Bison had gone seven minutes without a field goal and led just 13-11, but in the final eight minutes of the half they outscored the Midshipmen 28-10 to go up 41-21 at the break. The lead ballooned to as many as 31 as the Bison cleared the bench early in the second half.
• No Bison played more than 24 minutes in the game. The bench contributed 45 of the team's 87 points, and 13 of the 14 players on the roster entered the scoring column.
• Joe Willman had a terrific night with 18 points on 8-for-11 shooting in just 24 minutes. Bryson Johnson went 5-for-7 from 3-point range and tallied 15 points. He hit three of those bombs early in that 28-10 run to end the half. Cameron Ayers also hit double-figures with 10 points to go with five assists.
• For only the third time all season, and for the first time against a Patriot League opponent, Mike Muscala did not reach double figures in scoring. Double and triple-teamed for most of his 20 minutes on the floor, Muscala attempted only three shots and scored two points. In fact, it was only the second time in 47 career games against Patriot League foes that Muscala was held under eight points.
• Point guards Ryan Hill and Steven Kaspar combined for 11 points on 5-for-5 shooting, nine assists and five steals. Hill collected a career-high four thefts.
• Isaiah Roberts had a big night for Navy with 20 points, but Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year Bryan Cohen helped limit leading scorer Jordan Sugars to one field goal and three points.
• Bucknell recorded season highs for steals (10) and forced turnovers (22).
Bucknell as the No. 1 seed
• This is the second straight year and fourth time overall that Bucknell has been the No. 1 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. In three other seasons, the Bison earned co-regular season titles but lost out on the No. 1 seed on tiebreakers.
• Bucknell is 9-1 while playing as the No. 1 seed.
• In 1993, the Bison were seeded No. 1 but lost at home to Holy Cross in the championship game.
• This is the first time that Bucknell has been seeded No. 1 in back-to-back seasons.
All-Patriot League Notes
• Bryan Cohen became the first player in league history to win the same major award three times when he captured the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year honor for the third year in a row.
• Bucknell has now captured five of the eight Defensive Player of the Year awards. Abe Badmus earned the inaugural award in 2005, Stephen Tyree won it as a sophomore in 2008, and Cohen has won it in each of the last three seasons.
• Bucknell tied a league record with four players making either the All-Patriot League First or Second Team. Mike Muscala was a First Team All-Patriot League pick, while Cohen, Joe Willman and Cameron Ayers earned Second Team citations.
• The only other team with four all-league players was Holy Cross in 1993 (Rob Feaster, Bill Walker on First Team; Rick Mashburn, Frank Powell on Second Team).
• Dating back to Bucknell's days in the East Coast Conference, Bucknell has now claimed a first team all-conference player in 26 of the last 29 seasons.
• Muscala is now a three-time All-Patriot Leaguer (Second Team 2010, First Team 2011 and 2012), while Cohen, Willman and Ayers were all honored for the first time.
• Bucknell has now had 45 All-Patriot League players (27 first team, 18 second team). That is the most in the league, just ahead of Holy Cross' 37.
• Dave Paulsen repeated as Patriot League Coach of the Year. He is the third repeat winner in league history, 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. Paulsen's selection as Patriot League Coach of the Year gives Bucknell six such honorees. Charlie Woollum captured the award in 1993, and Pat Flannery won it in 1995, 1997 and 2006.
• Bucknell also claimed two of the five Academic All-Patriot League selections. Muscala made the All-Academic Team for the second straight year, while Bryson Johnson was picked for the first time.
Stats Worth Noting
• Bucknell had scored 64 (Navy), 55 (at American), 52 (at Holy Cross) and 53 (Lehigh) points in its final four games of the regular season, on the heels of a season-best 90-point showing against Lafayette on Feb. 11. In those four games the Bison shot just 38.4% from the field and 28.6% from 3-point range, but they broke out in a big way against Navy (62.7 FG%, 8-15 3FG).
• Bucknell is now 15-2 since point guard Ryan Hill joined the starting lineup.
• The Bison were 16-0 when leading at the half before suffering their first such loss against Lehigh on Feb. 16. The Bison led 29-27 at the break in that one. They are now 18-1 when leading at the half on the season.
• The Bison have shot 50% or better from the field 13 times this season and are 13-0 in those games. Nationally, Bucknell ranks 67th in FG%, 22nd in 3FG% and 14th in FT%.
• Bucknell leads the Patriot League in both field goal percentage (.466) and field goal percentage defense (.393). The latter figure ranks 20th nationally.
• In the last 17 games, Bison opponents are shooting 37.5% (331-883). Only five of those 17 teams (Dartmouth, Army, Lafayette twice, Navy) have eclipsed 40%.
• If the season ended today, Bucknell's scoring defense of 60.8 would rank ninth in program history.
• Bucknell has been dominant on the glass for most of the year. After going -15 in rebound margin against Minnesota and Vanderbilt to start the season, the Bison are +206 since then and have outrebounded every opponent except Syracuse, Loyola, Lehigh, American and Holy Cross. Bucknell's +6.5 rebound margin for the season is by far the best in the Patriot League and ranks 17th nationally.
• A big part of Bucknell's rebounding success has been limiting opponents' second chances. The Bison have held 22 of their 31 foes to eight or fewer offensive rebounds.
• Bucknell has been better at the free-throw line of late. After shooting just 68.5% at the line in their first 10 games, the Bison have made 79.4% (331-417) as a team in the last 21 contests. That includes a 21-for-21 performance in the win over Richmond, 15-for-15 in the win at Lafayette, and 10-for-10 in the win at Navy. Bucknell ranked third in the nation in free-throw shooting last season at 78.8%, and after the slow start the team is up to 76.1% this season.
• If you remove the freshman class from the free-throw ledger, Bucknell would be shooting 80.6% as a team, which would rank No. 1 in the nation.
• Strangely, Bucknell has been a much better free-throw shooting team on the road this season. The Bison shoot 78.5% as a team in road games, but only 74.0% at Sojka Pavilion.
Who's Got Next?
• Should Bucknell defeat Lafayette on Saturday, it would host the Patriot League championship game against either American or Lehigh on Wednesday at 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
