Men's Basketball Drops 81-71 Decision at Siena

Saturday, December 21

Albany, N.Y.

6 p.m.

Bucknell University

4-8,0-0Patriot

Siena

3-5,0-0MAAC

Team	1	2	F
Bucknell	31	40	71
Siena	43	38	81

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

12/21/2019 8:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

ALBANY, N.Y. – Jimmy Sotos had a big night with 23 points, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists, but Bucknell could not overcome a big disparity at the free-throw line and 28 points from Elijah Burns in an 81-71 loss at Siena on Saturday night at the Times Union Center.

John Meeks added 12 points and seven rebounds off the bench in his return from a two-game injury absence and Andrew Funk added 10 points, but the Bison fell to 4-8 on the season. Manny Camper logged 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Saints, who improved to 3-5 overall and 3-0 at home.

Bucknell trailed 49-31 after Siena scored the first six points of the second half, but the Bison struck back with an 11-0 run, keyed by a Sotos 3-pointer and his steal and breakaway layup. But just after Bucknell pulled within seven at 49-42, Siena caught a couple of breaks on the way to an 8-0 run.

Donald Carey tried a 3-pointer from the left corner that hit the side of the backboard and caromed right to Burns for a put-back. Then Jalen Pickett threw in a deep 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock, and Jordan King followed with another trey in transition to push Siena's lead right back up to 15 at 57-42.

The Bison had another surge in them, however, as Walter Ellis and Funk connected on 3-pointers s part of a 10-1 run. Xander Rice's turnaround jumper made it a 64-56 game with 7:31 to play.

Sotos came up with one of his four steals and drove it right at Pickett for a layup, and one possession later Sotos hit a corner three to cut the deficit to six at 70-64. The Bison seemed poised to get even closer when Toomer got out in transition after another defensive stop, but he was called for a charging foul on a bang-bang play at the basket.

A foul on the perimeter led to Burns splitting a pair at the foul line, and then Burns got loose for a layup to give Siena a 73-64 lead with 3:01 left. Sotos answered with a tough running layup, but the Bison ran out of steam over the next minute, missing two layups and the front end of a 1-and-1.

The Saints put the game away at the foul line, hitting their final six of the night. Siena came into the game shooting 68.7 percent from the line as a team, but it went 29-for-35 (.829) in this one.

"Winning games is hard, but at some point we have to stop talking about that and start doing the little things you need to do to win games," said head coach Nathan Davis. "We have to get excited about getting around a screen or a proper defensive rotation. Championship teams do those things. I firmly believe that we are capable of it, but we have to start doing it."

Siena led 43-31 at halftime, even though Bucknell made more shots from the field (14-13). The difference came at the free-throw line, where the Saints made their first 15 of the night before finishing the half 15-for-16, while the Bison never got to the stripe.

Siena scored first on a pair of Camper free throws 16 seconds in, and the Saints led the rest of the way. It was just a 3-point game at 17-14 after a Rice jumper followed by tough layup in traffic by Ellis. But the Saints answered with eight straight points on the way to a 19-6 run that pushed the margin to 16 at 36-20.

Bucknell scored seven straight later in the half, capped by a Sotos 3-pointer in transition. Meeks dunked in transition off a nice feed from Funk, but the Saints scored five of the final seven points of the period to get their lead back into double digits.

Bucknell finished with 28 made field goals to Siena's 23 and eight 3-pointers to Siena's six, but the 29-7 gap at the foul line was the difference. The Bison shot 44.4 percent on the night, while the Saints connected at a 45.1 percent clip.

The Bison did a solid job on Pickett, the MAAC Preseason Player of the Year, who finished with 12 points on 5-for-12 shooting with six turnovers. But four other Saints joined him in double figures, led by Burns with his career-high 28 on 10-for-13 shooting.

Paul Newman also returned from injury after missing the last three games. Newman picked up two quick fouls but got back in the flow later in the game and finished with eight points.

The Bison are back in action next Saturday against La Salle at The Palestra in Philadelphia at 2 p.m. That will be Bucknell's final non-conference game of the regular-season.