Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
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Shenandoah
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Bison Open Nathan Davis Era with 107-61 Rout of Shenandoah
11/13/2015 10:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
LEWISBURG, Pa. – It was quite a debut for first-year head coach Nathan Davis and the Bucknell men's basketball squad. The Bison kicked off the 2015-16 season in record-setting fashion, hammering Shenandoah 107-61 on Friday night at Sojka Pavilion. Nana Foulland recorded a career-high 20 points along with eight rebounds, Chris Hass had 18 points, and freshman Kimbal Mackenzie logged 17 points and seven assists in his collegiate debut to help Bucknell reach the 100-point mark for the first time in 22 seasons.
Bucknell ran up and down the floor and set Sojka Pavilion records for points in a half (57), total points, field goals made (42) and assists (29). Five players scored in double figures for the Bison, with John Azzinaro (14) and D.J. MacLeay (10), joining Foulland, Hass and Mackenzie. Ryan Frazier added eight points, and Nate Jones and Dom Hoffman added six apiece.
Stephen Brown logged seven assists, as Bucknell's point-guard combo of Brown and Mackenzie combined for 14 assists. Mackenzie was 7-for-9 from the field and 3-for-4 from 3-point range, and his 17 points were the most by a Bison freshman in his debut since Bryson Johnson had 18 against Mercer in 2009-10.
Foulland was 9-for-11 shooting, Hass was 6-for-10 overall and 4-for-6 from the arc, Azzinaro was 5-for-6 overall and 3-for-4 from the arc, and MacLeay made all five of his attempts. All told, the Bison shot 67.7 percent (42-62) from the floor and 54.5 percent (12-22) from the 3-point arc.
“We did some really good things tonight,” said Davis, who was an assistant coach at Bucknell from 2003-08 under Pat Flannery. “We have a lot of different guys who can score, and we showed that tonight. We had 29 assists on 42 made field goals, which shows that we moved the ball around well, and we knocked down our open shots. Having said that, we still have a lot of work to do in order to get where we want to be. We are a work in progress defensively. We gave up way too many open looks, but you can overcome that by making shots, which we were able to do tonight.”
Bucknell showed some early jitters, coming away empty on its first three possessions of the game before Foulland's dunk at the 18:16 mark broke the ice. Hass followed with a trey, and by the 12-minute mark the lead had already ballooned to 27-9.
The Bison shot 68.8 percent (22-32) in the first half and led 57-31 at the break. The previous Sojka Pavilion record for points in a half was 54 against Drexel in 2008-09.
Bucknell's largest lead was the final margin of 46. The only semi-drama in the game's late stages is whether the Bison would hit the century mark for the first time since the Charlie Woollum era. Azzinaro's steal and breakaway layup pushed the lead to 98-55 with 3:59 remaining, and Jones pushed them into triple digits with a 3-pointer with 2:16 to go.
The team's last 100-point game came on Feb. 9, 1994 in a 100-76 win over Lafayette in Davis Gym. This was the 35th 100-point game in team history.
Freshmen Mackenzie, Jones and Nate Sestina all made their first career shots. The fourth member of the rookie class, Matt O'Reilly, was out with an illness. Junior Ben Oberfeld also did not dress as he recovers from an injury.
Antwan Pittman scored 16 points and Malcolm Clark added 12 for the Hornets, who play in the Old Dominion Athletic Conference, the same league that Davis just departed after a successful six-year stint at Randolph-Macon.
Bucknell and Shenandoah were meeting for the first time since 1904, when Bucknell won 62-6.
The Bison will be right back in action on Sunday at 1 p.m. against Wake Forest at Sojka Pavilion. The Demon Deacons opened with a 78-73 victory over UMBC on Friday night. Sunday's game will be televised live on CBS Sports Network.
