Bucknell University
Colgate
Men's Basketball Returns Home Wednesday Night to Face Colgate
1/8/2019 4:51:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Bison home for first time in 40 days; first 1,000 fans receive free water bottle courtesy of Geisinger
*Note: The next Backcourt Club Luncheon will be held this Thursday, Jan. 10 at noon at Matty's Sporthouse Grill in Lewisburg. Head coach Nathan Davis and select Bison student-athletes will speak and take questions. The $10 admission fee includes lunch.*Â
What:Â Colgate (9-6, 1-1 PL) vs. Bucknell (7-7, 1-1 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa. |Â BUY TICKETS
When:Â Wednesday, Jan. 9, 7 p.m.
TV/Internet:Â Patriot League Network
Local Radio:Â Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Listen Live: BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com
Live Stats:Â BucknellBison.com
• COMPLETE GAME NOTES
Happenings
- Water Bottle Giveaway: FREE water bottle for first 1,000 fans at Sojka Pavilion, courtesy of Geisinger.
- Boy Scout Night
- Community NightÂ
Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Jimmy Sotos (9.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 6.1 apg)
G: Kimbal Mackenzie (15.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 3.4 apg)
G: Avi Toomer (9.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.6 apg)
F: Bruce Moore (10.0 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 0.6 apg)
C: Nate Sestina (16.3 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 1.0 apg)
With a Win over Colgate, Bucknell Would ... Â
- Improve to 8-7 overall and 2-1 in the Patriot League.
- Defeat the Raiders for the sixth straight time.
- Improve to 68-44 all-time against the Raiders.
- Improve to 172-56 all-time at Sojka Pavilion and 123-26 against PL foes at Sojka
- Improve to 283-118 all-time in Patriot League play and 108-27 in the PL over the last nine seasons.Â
Headlines
- Bucknell plays its first home game in 40 days on Wednesday when Colgate comes to Lewisburg for a rematch of last year's Patriot League championship game. Â
- The Bison and Raiders are two of the six Patriot League teams that are off to 1-1 starts in league play. Bucknell is one of three teams, along with Holy Cross and Lafayette, that played their first two Patriot League games on the road. The Bison defeated Army (64-63) on Jan. 2 before losing at Boston University (87-80) on Saturday. Colgate began PL play with a 72-66 loss at Navy before holding off American 73-69 at home on Saturday.Â
- Saturday's game in Boston was Bucknell's eighth game in a stretch of eight straight contests away from home. This was the first time that Bucknell played eight or more consecutive games at road/neutral sites since 1931-32. Included in that run was the team's longest-ever trip in terms of mileage, as the Bison faced Saint Mary's in California before continuing west to play in the state of Hawai'i for the first time at the Diamond Head Classic Dec. 22-25.
- Bucknell turned in a strong performance in Hawai'i, finishing in third place in the eight-team field. The Bison opened with a come-from-behind 84-82 win over Rhode Island. After an 82-65 semifinal loss to a TCU team that was ranked just outside the top-25, the Bison routed UNLV 97-72 in the bronze-medal game.Â
- Senior center Nate Sestina has lived up to his Preseason All-Patriot League billing thus far. The Bison are 7-5 this season with Sestina in the lineup — he missed the Fairfield and Canisius games with an injury — and he is averaging a team-best 16.3 points and 8.4 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 is this week's Patriot League Player of the Week after averaging 24.5 points and 10.5 rebounds against Army and Boston University. His 27 points last time out against the Terriers was a career high.
- 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.Â
- 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. Â
- 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.
- 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.
- Colgate returned a number of key players from last year's squad that won 19 games and advanced to the Patriot League championship game. Among them are point guard Jordan Burns, who is averaging a team-best 16.2 points and 5.0 assists per game. Preseason All-Patriot League forward Will Rayman puts up 12.7 ppg, and Rapolas Ivanauskas, a transfer from Northwestern, has made an immediate impact with 13.1 ppg and a league-high 9.2 rpg. Colgate was picked third in this year's Patriot League preseason poll, one spot behind Bucknell. Both teams received first-place votes in the poll.Â
How to Get the Game
- The Bucknell-Colgate game can be seen online on the Patriot League Network via 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. Â
- The audio feed is available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.Â
- Live statistics can be accessed at BucknellBison.com.
- Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.Â
Last Time Out
- Despite a career-high 27 points from Nate Sestina, the Bison dropped an 87-80 decision at Boston University on Saturday. Sestina went 10-for-15 from the field and 5-for-7 from 3-point distance.
- Bucknell's trend of slow starts continued, as the Terriers ran out to a 13-2 lead. The Bison still trailed by 11 (43-32) at halftime before rallying within three points in the second half. Boston University made big plays down the stretch, however, and then went 10-for-10 at the foul line to ice the game.
- In addition to Sestina's 27 points, Kimbal Mackenzie had 19 and Bruce Moore 16. Moore scored 10 straight Bucknell points in one second-half stretch to help fuel the comeback attempt.
- Bucknell suffered a rare loss when shooting over 50% from the floor. The Bison hit on 53.4%, dropping them to 3-1 this season and 34-6 under Nathan Davis in games where the team shot 50% or better.
- A big key to the game was rebounding. Boston University turned 13 offensive rebounds into 20 second-chance points, and the Terriers finished with an overall 37-29 edge on the glass.
- Max Mahoney had a big day for the Terriers with 26 points, 14 rebounds and four assists.Â
- The loss was Bucknell's first in Case Gym, where it had been 4-0 previously.Â
Bison Are Kings of the comeback
- Bucknell's epic 26-point rally in the win at Army marked the fourth time this season the Bison have erased a double-digit deficit to win a game, all of them coming on the road.
Opponent                Deficit                            Result
at St. Bonaventure  13 (52-39 with 12:13 left 2nd half)      won 88-85 (OT)
at Vermont         13 (36-23 with 18:06 left 2nd half)      won 69-61
vs. Rhode Island    11 (38-27 with 2:38 left 1st half)        won 84-82
at Army           26 (39-13 with 19:42 left 2nd half)      won 64-63
- And then there were these near-misses:
Opponent        Deficit                            Result
Fairfield          15 (36-21 with 1:30 left 1st half)        Bison tied game with 0:09 left, lost 58-56 on shot with 0:03 left
at Ohio State      11 (69-58 with 4:28 left 2nd half)        Bison had shot in air to win game but lost 73-71
Bucknell vs. Colgate
- This will be the 112th all-time meeting between Bucknell and Colgate in a series that dates back to 1920. The Bison have a 67-44 series lead. The only other opponents that Bucknell has played at least 100 times are Lehigh (171), Lafayette (165), Gettysburg (126) and Penn State (103).Â
- As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell is 46-17, including 24-5 in Lewisburg.Â
- Bucknell is 15-6 in its last 21 games in Hamilton. Â
- Bucknell has won five straight against Colgate, including all three meet-ups last year. The Bison won a defensive struggle in Hamilton, 63-51, behind 17 points and 15 rebounds from Zach Thomas. Back in Lewisburg later in the year, Bucknell made an incredible comeback to win 65-64 on Kimbal Mackenzie's 3-pointer at the buzzer (see below). And then on March 7 at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell captured the Patriot League title with a convincing 83-54 victory. Stephen Brown led the way with 22 points and six assists, and Nate Sestina came off the bench to record 16 points (7-9 FG) in 18 minutes.Â
A Look Back at Last Year's Bucknell-Colgate Regular-Season Game at Sojka PavilionÂ
- Kimbal Mackenzie drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer, capping a dramatic 65-64 comeback victory for the Bison over Colgate last Feb. 12 at Sojka Pavilion. Trailing 64-56, the Bison scored nine straight points in the final 21 seconds, punctuated by Mackenzie's three right in front of the Bison bench.Â
- Mackenzie started the run by scoring on a put-back jumper in the paint and drawing a foul. He converted the free throw, and the Bison defense forced a Colgate turnover on the inbounds play. Mackenzie had his ensuing 3-point attempt blocked, but he grabbed his own miss and fed Nana Foulland for a layup. The Raiders were called for a flagrant foul on the play, leading to two free throw attempts for Foulland and possession of the ball for the Bison. Foulland split a pair at the line, cutting the Colgate lead to 64-62 with 11 seconds remaining.
- After a Bison timeout, all five players touched the ball. Zach Thomas looked inside to Foulland, who kicked the ball out to Stephen Brown at the top of the key. Brown swung the ball to Bruce Moore, who then passed to Mackenzie in the corner. The ball was deflected on the way, but Mackenzie made a nice one-handed catch on the short hop, and with a defender flying out at him, he swished the game-winner. Mackenzie was immediately swarmed by his teammates on the bench, and they were soon joined by the students storming the court.
- The winning flurry was the top story on ESPN's SportsCenter that night.
That crazy @Bucknell_MBB finish was the top story on @SportsCenter tonight! #rayBucknell pic.twitter.com/RCn4pj5sVC
— Bucknell Athletics (@Bucknell_Bison) February 13, 2018
Numbers Worth Noting
- 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 12 drawn charges this season.Â
- Sophomore Jimmy Sotos struggled in the turnover category early in the season, but over the last seven games against tough competition, he has 49 assists with only 15 turnovers.
- As a team, the Bison rank 41st nationally in assists per made field goal (.584).Â
- 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 1.5 blocks per game, even though he plays just 16.1 minutes per game.Â
- Sophomore John Meeks has provided a big lift since returning from injury at Ohio State on Dec. 15. In seven games since coming back, Meeks has totaled 42 points (16-27 FG) and 19 rebounds in 77 minutes.Â
- 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.Â
- The Bison have been a slow-starting team but also a very good second-half team for much of this season, both offensively and defensively. In the first eight minutes of games this year, the Bison are 50-for-136 (.368) from the field. But they shoot just under 50% percent while holding opponents under 40% shooting in the second halves.
                 First Half     Second Half
Points per game    31.4          40.1
FG%Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .415Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .492
3FG%Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .349Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .379
FT%Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .664Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .737
Opponent PPGÂ Â Â Â Â 37.2Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â 35.2
Opponent FG%Â Â Â Â .472Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .395
Opponent 3FG%Â Â Â .382Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .268
Opponent FT%Â Â Â Â Â .755Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â .741
Who's Got Next?
- Bucknell continues its three-game homestand on Saturday against American at noon at Sojka Pavilion. Also taking place on Saturday is the 15th Annual Dirk Sojka's Slam Dunk with Bison Basketball. Fans will have a chance to participate in a raffle drawing and silent auction, with all proceeds going to benefit Suncom Industries.
