Men's Basketball Arrives in Hawai'i for Diamond Head Classic

What: Bucknell (4-5) vs. at Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic (Tournament info)
Where: Stan Sheriff Center, Honolulu, Hawai'i
When: Dec. 22 vs. Rhode Island (5-3), 10 p.m. ET; Dec. 23 vs. TCU (8-1) or Charlotte (3-5), 10 p.m. ET or 12:30 a.m. ET; Dec. 25 (time and opponent TBA)
TV: ESPN family of networks and Watch ESPN app (Dec. 22 on ESPN 3, all others on ESPN2 or ESPNU)
Local Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Listen Live: BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com
Live Stats: StatBroadcast.com

• COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Kimbal Mackenzie (15.6 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 3.8 apg)
G: Jimmy Sotos (9.6 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 5.0 apg)
G: Avi Toomer (9.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.8 apg)
F: Bruce Moore (9.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.9 apg)
C: Nate Sestina (14.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg, 0.6 apg)

Bucknell at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic ...

Bucknell is making its first-ever appearance in the state of Hawai'i. The Bison have now played games in 41 of the 50 states.
On the way out to Hawai'i, the Bison stopped in Northern California to play St. Mary's on Wednesday night. It was a long night for Bucknell, as the Gaels shot 54.7 FG% and pulled away for an 85-56 decision.
Bucknell's campus is located 4,808 miles from Honolulu, but the Hawaiian capital does have some Bucknell ties. The late Neal Blaisdell, Bucknell Class of 1927, served as mayor of Honolulu from 1955-69. Blaisdell was a standout football player at Bucknell — he was a star in the backfield and led the 1924 team to an 8-2 record — and was inducted into the Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame in 1998. Blaisdell, who also played basketball and baseball, earned Bucknell's Alumni Award for Meritorious Achievement in 1968.
Bucknell's first-round opponent, Rhode Island, is coached by David Cox, who played basketball at William & Mary under Bucknell Athletics Hall-of-Famer Charlie Woollum.
The Bucknell-Rhode Island winner will meet the winner of the Charlotte-TCU game. TCU joins Bucknell and Rhode Island as 2018 NCAA participants in this field. The sixth-seeded Horned Frogs fell to Syracuse in the game immediately following the Bucknell-Michigan State contest in Detroit.
This tournament will mark the very first time Bucknell has ever played a game on Christmas.
During Bucknell's stay in Honolulu, the team is planning to visit Pearl Harbor. This will be the culmination of quite a World War II experience for the Bison. As part of its European tour this past August, the team had a chance to visit the Normandy region of France, including stops at Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery.
The Bison will have a unique father-son experience at the Diamond Head Classic. Freshman Walter Ellis' father, LaPhonso, will be one of the color analysts for ESPN. LaPhonso is slated to call Bucknell's second game in the tournament, and potentially the third depending on how the Bison fare.

Headlines

Bucknell is in the midst of the longest single road trip in school history this week. The Bison visited Saint Mary's on Wednesday night in Moraga, Calif., and then continued on to Honolulu for the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.
The Bison came out of an 11-day break for final exams with a strong effort at No. 15/14 Ohio State last Saturday. Bucknell could not connect on a last-second 3-point attempt and fell 73-71 at Value City Arena.
The Saint Mary's game was a homecoming for Bucknell senior Matt O'Reilly, who is a native of Moraga. O'Reilly attended Campolindo High School but played his senior season of high school basketball with Prolific Prep Academy out of Napa, Calif. O'Reilly's minutes have been severely limited by a back injury this season, but he made his first collegiate start against Saint Mary's and played 11 minutes in front of his hometown friends and family. It will likely be his final appearance of the season, due to the injury.
The Bison have had balanced scoring thus far, with seven players averaging at least 6.6 ppg. Bucknell had a different leading scorer in five straight games during one recent stretch, and seven players have produced at least one double-digit scoring game this season. Only once all season have the Bison had the same leading scorer in consecutive games, and that was Kimbal Mackenzie in the first two contests of the season.
Bucknell benefitted from the return of sophomore forward John Meeks against Ohio State. Meeks was projected to get significant minutes this season, but he missed the first seven games of the season due to injury. He played 16 minutes against the Buckeyes and tallied seven points, three rebounds, and a key steal in the closing seconds that gave the Bison a shot to win the game. He followed that up with nine points on 4-for-4 shooting at Saint Mary's.
Senior center Nate Sestina has lived up to his Preseason All-Patriot League billing thus far. The Bison are 4-3 this season with Sestina in the lineup — he missed the Fairfield and Canisius games with an injury — and he is averaging 14.4 points and 7.6 rebounds per game. Sestina, who served as the backup center behind former Patriot League Player of the Year Nana Foulland for the last three seasons, is shooting 50.0% from the field and 82.1% from the foul line in his first year as a starter. He had a career-high 24 points at La Salle just before the exam break.
Junior wing Avi Toomer has begun to heat up as well. Toomer scored a career-high 17 points in the win over Monmouth, and then he repeated that total at La Salle before tallying 13 points at Ohio State. In the last four games, Toomer is 17-for-34 from the field and 10-for-18 from the arc.
Bucknell is looking to continue its run of success following the graduation of one of its all-time great senior classes. The trio of point guard Stephen Brown, forward Zach Thomas and center Nana Foulland were all First Team All-Patriot League selections last year, and they accounted for 4,801 career points. Despite the heavy graduation hit, four of Bucknell's five opening-night starters managed to start at least 10 games last season. And the only one that didn't — senior center Nate Sestina — was a Preseason All-Patriot League selection.
Bucknell has another difficult non-conference schedule this season. Not including the field at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic, Bucknell's nine non-league foes combined for a 193-108 (.641) overall record and a 112-48 (.700) mark within their respective leagues last year. Six of the nine teams won at least 21 games, and seven of the nine had winning records. And then Bucknell's first-round opponent in Hawaii will be Rhode Island, which went 26-8 overall and 15-3 in the A-10 last season.
Last season, Bucknell finished 25-10 overall and 16-2 in the Patriot League. The Bison swept Loyola, Boston University and Colgate — with the latter two wins coming by a combined 60 points — to win the Patriot League Tournament crown. Bucknell's eighth NCAA Tournament appearance resulted in a narrow 82-78 first-round loss to third-seeded Michigan State in Detroit.

How to Get the Games

Every game at the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic will be televised via the ESPN family of networks. Bucknell's opening game against Rhode Island can be seen online on ESPN3 and the WatchESPN app. Games two and three will air on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.
ESPN's announcer pairings for the tournament will be Kanoa Leahy (pxp)/Cory Alexander (analyst) and Roxy Bernstein (pxp)/LaPhonso Ellis (analyst). The Leahy/Alexander duo will call Bucknell's game against Rhode Island, and Bernstein/Ellis will have the team's second game of the tournament.
The games can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong calling the action. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off.
The audio feed is available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Numbers Worth Noting

After committing a season-high 19 turnovers against La Salle just before the final exam break, the Bison have totaled just 15 miscues in the last two games against Ohio State (8) and Saint Mary's (7), two strong defensive squads. The Bison handled the ball well against Ohio State, as four of the eight turnovers came on moving screen violations and another on an offensive charging foul.
Bucknell has turned in a number of spirited rallies thus far in 2018-19. In addition to 13-point comeback wins over St. Bonaventure and Vermont, the Bison rallied from 15 down to tie the game in the final seconds against Fairfield, only to see the Stags win it on a shot with 0:03 left. Against Canisius, Bucknell cut a 20-point second-half deficit down to six before the rally stalled. And last week against Ohio State, the Bison trailed by 11 with 4:00 to play and had a shot in the air to potentially win the game in the final seconds.
Senior Kimbal Mackenzie has a knack for taking charges. He drew four offensive fouls in the La Salle game on Dec. 4, and he has a team-high nine drawn charges this season.
Mackenzie has connected on a 3-pointer in 23 straight games.
Junior Bruce Moore is shooting 55.0% from the 3-point arc this season (11-20), and over the last six games he is 10-for-16 (.625) from long distance.
Sophomore Jimmy Sotos struggled in the turnover category early in the season, but over the last two games against Ohio State and Saint Mary's, he has nine assists with only one turnover.
Sophomore Paul Newman has played well in the first extended action of his career, and he has emerged as one of the Patriot League's top shot-blockers. Newman ranks second in the league with 1.0 blocks per game, even though he plays just 19.1 minutes per game.
Junior Ben Robertson has given the Bison quality minutes off the bench. Robertson is averaging a career-high 13.3 minutes per game and is shooting 64.7% (11-17) from the field.
Bucknell's shot chart from the La Salle game was a statistical analyst's dream. In a game in which the Bison scored 92 points, all 29 made field goals were either dunks (6), layups (12), or 3-pointers (11). In fact, Bucknell did not attempt a 2-point shot outside the paint all night.

Last Time Out

Jordan Ford scored 21 of his game-high 28 points in the opening half, and Saint Mary's defeated Bucknell 85-56 on Wednesday night at McKeon Pavilion.
Bruce Moore equaled his career high with 18 points, and Kimbal Mackenzie added 14 for the Bison.
Ford, the Gaels' lightning-quick point guard, nearly hit his season average of 22 points in the first period, as he helped Saint Mary's run out to a 42-28 halftime lead. Jordan Hunter had 15 points and Tanner Krebs 12 for the Gaels, who shot 55% on the night and hit 10 of 21 attempts from the 3-point arc. Bucknell was held to 35% shooting and managed just five treys in 25 attempts.
The victory was No. 400 for Saint Mary's head coach Randy Bennett

Who's Got Next?

The games in Hawai'i are Bucknell's final contests before the start of Patriot League play. The Bison open the league slate on Jan. 2 at Army West Point.

Men's Basketball Arrives in Hawai'i for Diamond Head Classic

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Stephen Brown

Walter Ellis

Nana Foulland

Kimbal Mackenzie

John Meeks

Bruce Moore

Paul Newman

Matt O'Reilly

Ben Robertson

Nate Sestina

Jimmy Sotos

Zach Thomas

Avi Toomer

Men's Basketball Arrives in Hawai'i for Diamond Head Classic

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Stephen Brown

Walter Ellis

Nana Foulland

Kimbal Mackenzie

John Meeks

Bruce Moore

Paul Newman

Matt O'Reilly

Ben Robertson

Nate Sestina

Jimmy Sotos

Zach Thomas

Avi Toomer

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