Bucknell University Athletics
Bucknell University
16-12, 11-4PL
Loyola (Md.)
10-16, 6-9PL
Bison Men Pull Away from Loyola 61-50, Remain in First Place in Patriot League
2/18/2015 10:32:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Freshman Nana Foulland recorded 15 points, six rebounds and four blocked shots, and fellow rookie Zach Thomas added 13 points and nine boards to help Bucknell to a 61-50 home victory over Loyola Maryland on Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison won their fourth game in a row and ninth in their last 11, and they remained one game ahead of Colgate atop the Patriot League standings.
With the victory, Bucknell (16-12, 11-4 PL) officially clinched a top-four seed and the right to host a Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal game at Sojka Pavilion on March 5. The Bison have even loftier goals, however, as they remain in sole possession of first place with three games remaining in the regular season. Second-place Colgate lurks one game behind at 10-5 after defeating Army on Wednesday, and third-place Lehigh stayed two back after winning at Navy.
Bucknell took the season series and improved to 10-2 all-time against Loyola (10-16, 6-9 PL), but this one was not as easy as the final score might indicate. The Bison overcame some early shooting struggles, particularly at the free-throw line, but used strong defense and some timely baskets to pull away down the stretch.
Tyler Hubbard led Loyola with 16 points, and his floater in the lane gave the Greyhounds a 34-31 advantage 6:09 into the second half. John Azzinaro tied it with a 3-pointer, and that ignited a 10-0 Bucknell run that flipped the lead for good.
The Bison limited Loyola to one field goal in a span of nearly nine minutes after that Hubbard basket, and just inside five minutes Thomas and Chris Hass hit 3-pointers on consecutive Bucknell possessions to help stretch the lead to 13 at 54-41. Two free throws by Ryan Frazier coming out of the under-four media timeout gave the Bison their largest lead of 15 points at 56-41.
“I thought we defended really well, especially in the second half,” said head coach Dave Paulsen, whose squad held Loyola to 34.0 percent shooting on the night. “Loyola did some things to get us out of our rhythm on offense, but we got to the foul line and found a way to persevere.”
Bucknell hit 13 of 17 attempts from 3-point range in Sunday's win at Army, but the Bison hit just 4 of 15 in this one. Hass, the Patriot League's No. 3 scorer who was coming off a 26-point performance against the Black Knights, was held to four points, but the Bison countered by limiting Loyola's top scorer Eric Laster to two points on 1-for-11 shooting.
Despite making just 8 of 20 shots from the field and 8 of 16 from the foul line, the Bison took a 25-24 lead into the locker room at the half. The Greyhounds maintained small leads for most of the half, but a short jump hook by Ben Oberfeld pushed Bucknell back in front 21-20, its first lead since 2-0. Oberfeld's free throw with 21 seconds left snapped a 24-all tie, and the Bison improved to 11-5 on the season when leading at halftime.
Foulland, this week's Patriot League Rookie of the Week, hit 7 of 11 shots from the field and has now scored in double figures in 15 of his last 22 games. The 15 points were two shy of his career high.
Bucknell has one more home game remaining in the regular season, and that comes this Sunday against Boston University at noon. Seniors Steven Kaspar, Cory Starkey and Joshea Singleton will all be honored prior to the game.
