Men's Basketball in D.C. Saturday to Face American

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Men's Basketball in D.C. Saturday to Face American

1/25/2019 12:37:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Bison edged Eagles 55-54 in Lewisburg two weeks ago

What: Bucknell (12-7, 6-1 PL) at American (9-9, 3-4 PL)
Where: Bender Arena, Washington, D.C.
When: Saturday, Jan. 26, 2019, 4 p.m. ET
Webcast: Patriot League Network
Local Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Listen Live: BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com
Live Stats: AUEagles.com

• COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Kimbal Mackenzie (16.1 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 3.2 apg)
G: Jimmy Sotos (9.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 6.1 apg)
G: Avi Toomer (9.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 1.6 apg)
F: Bruce Moore (10.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 0.7 apg)
C: Nate Sestina (16.0 ppg, 7.9 rpg, 1.2 apg)

With a Win over American, Bucknell Would ...

Extend its season-high winning streak to six games in a row and improve to 13-7 overall and 7-1 in the Patriot League.
Maintain sole possession of first place in the Patriot League.
Improve to 6-3 in true road games and 8-4 in road/neutral games this season.
Sweep the season series from the Eagles and improve to 43-22 all-time against them.
Improve to 288-118 all-time in Patriot League play and 113-27 in the PL over the last nine seasons.
Up head coach Nathan Davis' record to 81-40 at Bucknell.

Headlines

Bucknell and American square off for the second time in 14 days when they get together in D.C. on Saturday. The Bison edged the Eagles 55-54 at Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 12.
Bucknell is riding a five-game winning streak dating back to a Jan. 5 loss at Boston University. That is tied for the 22nd-longest active streak in the nation, through Wednesday's games.
The Bison own sole possession of first place in the Patriot League, with Lehigh and Army one game behind. The Bison have road wins over both the Mountain Hawks and Black Knights this season.
Bucknell has had a knack for coming from behind this season. The Bison have won a game after trailing by 10 or more points six different times this season, including their first three Patriot League wins.
Close games have also been the norm for the Bison. Five of Bucknell's six Patriot League wins, and seven of its 12 overall victories, have been decided by three points or fewer. Nine of the team's 19 games have been decided by three points or fewer, and the Bison are 7-2 in those games.
Jimmy Sotos has provided the winning points in the final seconds in each of Bucknell's last two victories. The sophomore point guard went coast-to-coast for the winning bucket with 1.2 seconds remaining in last Saturday's 85-83 victory at Lehigh, and then on Wednesday he was fouled on a 3-point shot with 5.8 seconds to go and made all three free throws in a 71-68 win over Loyola.
Kimbal Mackenzie is averaging 19.3 points over his last three games, and he has regained the team scoring lead at 16.1 ppg. That is the fifth-highest mark in the Patriot League.
Nate Sestina has lived up to his Preseason All-Patriot League billing thus far. The Bison are 12-5 this season with Sestina in the lineup — he missed the Fairfield and Canisius games with an injury — and he is averaging 16.0 points and 7.9 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, was named to the All-Tournament Team at the Diamond Head Classic. Sestina was the Patriot League Player of the Week on Jan. 7 after averaging 24.5 points and 10.5 rebounds against Army and Boston University. His 27 points against the Terriers was a career high, until he surpassed it with 32 on perfect 11-for-11 shooting against Holy Cross.
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 — Nate Sestina — was a Preseason All-Patriot League selection.
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.
American is tied for fifth place with Loyola and Navy with 3-4 Patriot League records. The Eagles snapped a three-game losing streak with a 70-66 win at Boston University on Wednesday, giving them a season sweep of the Terriers. Bucknell on Wednesday had to deal with the league's leading scorer in Loyola's Andrew Kostecka, and now the Bison will face the PL's No. 2 scorer in Sa'eed Nelson, who averages 19.8 points per game to go along with 5.6 rebounds and 4.9 assists. Sam Iorio, who averages 39.7 minutes per game in league play, scores at a 14.6 ppg clip, followed by Mark Gasperini at 10.0. American is statistically the top defensive team in the Patriot League. They lead the conference in scoring defense (68.3), scoring margin (+3.3), 3-point field goal percentage defense (.288), and blocked shots (4.2), while ranking second in field goal percentage defense (.427). The Bison scored a season-low 55 points against American the first time around, but managed to pull out a one-point win anyway. The 55 points matched Bucknell's lowest total in the Nathan Davis era, and it was the team's fewest points in a victory since a 52-51 win at Navy in 2014-15.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-American game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network at PatriotLeague.tv.
The game 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.
Live statistics can be accessed at AUEagles.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

Jimmy Sotos sank three free throws with 5.8 seconds remaining in the game to give Bucknell a 71-68 victory over Loyola Maryland on Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison were able to hold off the Greyhounds, who went on a 10-0 run over two minutes to tie the score at 68 with 35.3 seconds left in regulation.
Bucknell took a 37-25 lead into halftime thanks to some spirited bench play. Nate Jones made three 3-pointers and freshman Kahliel Spear hit a pair of threes and blocked two shots in three minutes of action. Spear, playing for the first time in a league game, came on after both Nate Sestina and Paul Newman experienced early foul difficulty. He made his first career threes on back-to-back possessions, leading to a Loyola timeout and extending the Bison lead up to 28-15.
Kimbal Mackenzie scored a team-high 16 points for the Bison to go along with five assists and three steals. Avi Toomer had a strong all-around game, scoring 14 points, corralling seven rebounds and notching two steals in just under 21 minutes of action. Bruce Moore was the third Bison player in double figures, scoring 11 points.
Bucknell went 7-for-11 from the 3-point arc in the first half, including a combined 5-for-6 from Jones and Spear off the bench. The Bison finished 10-for-23 from long distance and shot 45.5% from the field overall. They were also a perfect 11-for-11 from the free-throw line. It was Bucknell's first perfect free-throw performance with at least 10 attempts since going 19-for-19 against Lafayette in the 2012 Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
Loyola shot 46.3% from the field, including 60.0% in the second half. The Greyhounds were 5-for-18 from the 3-point arc and 13-for-19 from the foul line.
With the win, the Bison moved 100 games over .500 (126-26) against Patriot League foes at Sojka Pavilion.

Bucknell vs. American

Bucknell has an overall 42-22 lead in an all-time series with American that includes some historic dates. The very first meeting on Jan. 14, 1939 also happened to be the first game ever played in Davis Gym (AU won 38-33). Coincidentally, American was also the opponent for the very last game ever played in Davis Gym on Jan. 11, 2003 (a 63-52 Bison win).
As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell leads 27-10, including victories in the 2005 and 2006 PL Tournament semifinals.
Bucknell has won 24 of 31 series meetings in Lewisburg, including 16 out of 18 at Sojka Pavilion, but the Bison are just 10-7 at Bender Arena since American joined the Patriot League in 2001-02.
Bucknell has won five straight games in the series, including a 55-54 verdict at Sojka Pavilion back on Jan. 12.
In that first meeting, Nate Sestina hit a game-tying 3-pointer with 2:43 remaining and then the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:17 to play, helping the Bison to the one-point win in a game where both teams shot under 40%. Twice in the final minute Bucknell missed front ends of 1-and-1s to give American a chance to take the lead, but the defense came up with timely stops. Sa'eed Nelson's 25-footer at the final buzzer rimmed out. Sestina overcame foul trouble to score a team-high 14 points for the Bison, while Bruce Moore chipped in 10 points and a career-high 15 rebounds. Nelson had 18 points, seven assists and six boards for the Eagles.
Bucknell has had some rough shooting nights in Bender Arena in recent years. The Bison are 16-for-71 (.225) from 3-point range in their last six games in Bender, even though they are 5-1 in those contests.

Numbers Worth Noting

Senior Nate Jones started the season 0-for-7 from the 3-point arc. Since then, he is 11-for-19 (.579), including a 3-for-4 performance last time out against Loyola.
After getting dominated on the glass in back-to-back games against Boston University and Colgate earlier this month, the Bison have made a concerted effort to improve their rebounding margin. In the four games since then, Bucknell is +21 on the boards.
Junior Bruce Moore has been a big key to that rebounding improvement. He posted a career-high 15 rebounds against American on Jan. 12, and he added 10 against Holy Cross and eight against American in the two games after that. In this four-game stretch he is averaging 9.0 per game and has lifted his season rebounding average from 3.3 to 4.5 per game. Moore is also averaging 12.0 points per game over the same four-game stretch.
Bucknell had lost 24 straight games dating back five years when the opponent shot 50% or better from the field. The Bison broke that streak in the Jan. 14 home win over Holy Cross, when the Crusaders hit on an even 50%, and now Bucknell has won two straight in that circumstance after Lehigh shot 51.7% on Saturday.
When Nate Sestina went 11-for-11 against Holy Cross, he raised his career field-goal percentage from .529 to .540. Sestina set the Bucknell single-game record and tied the Patriot League mark on his way to a career-high 32 points. He made his lone 3-point field goal attempt and all 10 of his two-point field goals, while also making nine out of 10 free throw attempts. Donald Brown held the previous Bucknell mark of made field goals in a game without a miss, making all 10 of his shots against Lehigh, exactly 15 years earlier, Jan. 14, 2004.
Sestina's 32 points tied the Sojka Pavilion record for points scored by a Bison player, matching the output by Chris Hass, on March 5, 2015, against Holy Cross, and Zach Thomas, on Jan. 31, 2018, against Army. Sestina also had seven rebounds in the victory.
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 13 drawn charges this season.
Sophomore Jimmy Sotos struggled in the turnover category early in the season, but over the last 12 games, he has 79 assists with only 26 turnovers. Sotos averages 6.7 assists per game in Bucknell's victories and 4.9 in the losses.
As a team, the Bison rank 35th nationally in assists per made field goal (.591).
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 third in the league with 1.4 blocks per game, even though he plays just 14.6 minutes per game.
Sophomore John Meeks has provided a big lift since returning from injury at Ohio State on Dec. 15. In 10 games since coming back, Meeks has totaled 59 points on 52.3% shooting and 22 rebounds. He averages 17.2 ppg per 40 minutes.
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.
Bucknell's non-conference schedule was ranked as the 77th-hardest in the nation, according to statistical analyst Ken Pomeroy. Bucknell's 12 non-league foes combined for a 260-141 (.648) overall record and a 144-70 (.673) mark within their respective leagues last year. Nine of the 12 teams won at least 20 games, and 10 of the 12 had winning records.
Bucknell went 3-0 against the Atlantic 10 this season. The Bison averaged 88 points per game in wins over St. Bonaventure, La Salle and Rhode Island.
Mackenzie has played 134 of a possible 140 minutes in the second halves of Patriot League games thus far.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell hosts Navy on Wednesday at 7 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion. The first 500 fans will receive free rally towels, courtesy of W&L Subaru.
The Bison will be looking to extend their 10-game winning streak against the Midshipmen.