Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
13-13, 8-7PL
Loyola (Md.)
10-16, 5-10PL
| Team | 1 | 2 | F |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bucknell | 28 | 27 | 55 |
| Loyola Maryland | 14 | 39 | 53 |
Ayers Hits Winning 3-Pointer as Bison Hold off Loyola 55-53
2/19/2014 11:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball
BALTIMORE, Md. – Cameron Ayers scored a game-high 22 points, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 16 seconds left, sending Bucknell to a wild 55-53 win over Loyola on Wednesday night at Reitz Arena. John Azzinaro and Dom Hoffman also made critical plays down the stretch, and the Bison won their third straight game to improve to 13-13 overall and 8-7 in the Patriot League.
This was practically a tale of three different games. Bucknell was great defensively in the first half and down the stretch, and Loyola couldn't miss a shot in the first 10 minutes of the second half. The Bison led 28-14 at the half after limiting the Greyhounds to 6-for-32 shooting. Loyola then made seven of its first nine shots of the second half and outscored the Bison 26-5 over a nine-minute span to flip that 14-point deficit into a seven-point lead. But the Bison fought back and finished off the win on the Ayers' 3-pointer followed by a big defensive stop.
“This was a really gratifying win because of the character we showed with the game on the line,” said head coach Dave Paulsen. “Any time you win on the road in league play in February, it's a great win. We defended at a very high level, especially in the first half. Even in the second half they started to hit some tough shots, but we got some key stops when we needed them down the stretch.”
With Army winning at home over Colgate, Bucknell remained in sole possession of fifth place in the Patriot League standings, one game behind the Black Knights with three to play in the regular season. Lehigh also won to remain one game behind the Bison.
The freshman Azzinaro scored a career-high 12 points on 5-for-7 shooting (2-for-3 on 3-pointers), and he had the assist on Ayers' game-winning shot. Hoffman scored eight of his 10 points in the second half and led all players with a game-high eight rebounds, including a couple of huge offensive boards late in the contest.
Jarred Jones' 3-point play with 10:44 remaining gave Loyola its largest lead of the night at 42-35, but Azzinaro swished a big 3-pointer from the top of the key to halt that 26-5 run. After two Jordan Latham free throws, Hoffman hit back-to-back jumpers from the left wing to make it a two-point game. Ayers later scored twice in succession, with his running bank shot knotting the game at 46-all with 6:01 left.
Franz Rassman put the Greyhounds back ahead with two free throws, and then Azzinaro fed Hoffman for a fastbreak reverse layup. After Latham missed a pair at the line, Hoffman made one of the biggest plays of the game when he hustled down a loose ball in the corner, which led to an Azzinaro hanging layup in traffic.
With 3:37 to go Latham scored in the lane and drew a foul, and this time he hit the free throw to put Loyola back in front 51-50. On Bucknell's next possession Ryan Frazier dribbled into the key from the right side and spotted Hoffman on the baseline for a jumper and another lead change.
Bucknell came up with a defensive stop but missed two shots that would have extended the margin. R.J. Williams slashed through the lane for a layup to give the Greyhounds the lead back with 1:13 to go.
After a timeout, Cory Starkey made a nice feed to Hoffman on the left block, but his layup wouldn't go. The Bison fouled Denzel Brito with 35 seconds to play, and Brito missed both free throws. After another timeout, Ayers curled hard from the baseline to the right wing, took a sharp pass from Azzinaro and drilled his third 3-pointer of the night with a hand in his face with 16 seconds left.
Loyola set up a play for Jones, and his layup attempt in traffic hung on the rim and fell off. There was a mad scramble for the loose ball in the key, and eventually it went out of bounds off of a Bucknell player with one-tenth of a second left. A video review reset the clock to 0.3, which meant that by rule Loyola could still only score on a tip-in. The inbounds went to Latham, who caught the ball with two hands outside the lane on the left side before flipping it up toward the rim. The shot was off the mark and would not have counted anyway.
Ayers finished 9-for-15 from the field and 3-for-7 from 3-point distance, continuing his recent run of stellar play. This week's Patriot League Player of the Week hit 20 points for the seventh time this season and for the sixth time in his last eight games.
“Teams normally reflect the character of their best player, and Cam played with great toughness and calmness tonight,” said Paulsen. “That permeated to the whole team. That was a tough shot that he hit to win the game.”
Loyola started the game 2-for-18 from the field, but the Bison had some turnover issues throughout the night and they led just 13-4 as the clock went under seven minutes remaining in the first half. The Greyhounds tallied back-to-back buckets from Rassman and Williams to pull within 13-8, but then Ayers and Azzinaro got the Bison going.
Ayers scored six straight points to stretch the Bucknell lead up to 19-8. Azzinaro then sandwiched a pair of tough pull-up jumpers around a deep 3-pointer to make it 26-13, and Ben Brackney finished the first-half scoring with a 15-foot jumper to give the Bison a 28-14 lead at the break.
Loyola shot 6-for-32 in the first half. Bucknell was much better at 12-for-23 but committed 10 first-half turnovers. The Bison finished with 16 turnovers, 10 of which came from Loyola steals. Bucknell made up for that with 47.1 percent shooting and a 39-29 rebounding advantage.
Loyola shot 50 percent in the second half and 32.1 percent overall. The Greyhounds were 3-for-10 from 3-point range and went 14-for-21 from the foul line, compared to 2-for-5 for Bucknell.
Latham and Jones led Loyola with 13 points each, while Tyler Hubbard added eight in the second half.
Bucknell swept the season series from Loyola and improved to 8-2 in the all-time series and 5-0 at Reitz Arena.
The Bison return to action on Sunday at noon at Boston University. The game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.
