Men's Basketball Wraps Up Non-League Play Saturday vs. La Salle at The Palestra

Saturday, December 28

Philadelphia, Pa. (The Palestra)

2 p.m.

Bucknell University

La Salle

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Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Men's Basketball Wraps Up Non-League Play Saturday vs. La Salle at The Palestra

12/26/2019 8:30:00 AM | Men's Basketball

After playing on the road at Siena last Saturday, the Bison men's basketball team team was able to take some time off to be with family and friends for Christmas. The team is due back on campus for a 6 p.m. practice on Thursday evening, in advance of Saturday afternoon's game against La Salle at The Palestra. This will be the Bucknell's final tuneup before the start of Patriot League play on Jan. 2.

After a strong start in that area early in the season, the Bison have struggled defensively in recent weeks. They made big strides in a 65-64 win over Albany just before the final exam break, but on Saturday at Siena the Bison saw the Saints shoot 52 percent in the first half and outscore them 29-7 at the free-throw line. Some good news for the Bison is the continued outstanding play of point guard Jimmy Sotos, who produced his second straight 23-point game on Saturday. Sotos took over the team scoring lead at 13.3 points per game, just ahead of Avi Toomer at 13.0.

The Bison will be taking on a resurgent La Salle team. After going 10-21 last season, the Explorers are now 8-3 after winning their last four games in a row. Bucknell has had good success against La Salle in recent years, however. The Bison have won the last two games in the series as part of a current five-game winning streak against teams from the Atlantic 10.

Here's more info on Saturday's game at La Salle:

What: Bucknell (4-8) at La Salle (8-3)
Where: The Palestra, Philadelphia, Pa.
When: Saturday, Dec. 28, 2 p.m.
Webcast: ESPN+
Local Radio: Eagle 107 (107.3 FM WEGH)
Listen Live: BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com
Live Stats: GoExplorers.com

COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Probable Starters
G: Jimmy Sotos (13.3 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 4.1 apg)
G: Andrew Funk (10.3 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.3 apg)
G: Avi Toomer (13.0 ppg, 3.8 rpg, 1.2 apg)
F: Bruce Moore (10.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 1.0 apg)
C: Paul Newman (5.4 ppg, 7.0 rpg, 0.7 apg)

With a Win over La Salle, Bucknell Would ...

... finish the non-conference schedule with a 5-8 record.
... snap a five-game road losing streak and improve to 2-5 on the road this season (the Bison have not lost six straight road games since 2009-10).
... close out the 2019 calendar year with a 20-14 record.
... close out the decade of the 2010s with a 216-115 record.
... defeat the Explorers for the third straight time and improve to 9-19 all-time against them.
... win its sixth straight game against the Atlantic 10.
... give head coach Nathan Davis his 94th win as Bucknell's head coach.

Headlines

Bucknell checks off a few "lasts" when it takes on La Salle on Satuday at The Palestra. It is the last non-conference game of the regular season, the last game of the calendar year, and the last game of the decade.
The Bison will be looking to go into Patriot League play on a positive note, with the league opener just around the corner on Jan. 2 against Army West Point at Sojka Pavilion.
This is Bucknell's first game at The Palestra since Dec. 1, 2004, a 65-52 loss to Penn. The Bison followed that loss with an 11-game winning streak, and they went on to win the Patriot League Tournament and defeat Kansas in the first round of the NCAA Tournament that season.
The Bison bring home two Philadelphia natives who played high school basketball in the tough Philadelphia Catholic League: junior center Paul Newman (Philadelphia, Pa./Roman Catholic) and sophomore guard Andrew Funk (Warrington, Pa./Archbishop Wood).
Junior point guard Jimmy Sotos has upped his scoring in recent games. He is coming off back-to-back 23-point games against Albany and Siena, and he has reached the 20-point mark in three of his last four games and four times overall this season. Sotos has scored 35 points in the last two second halves (20 vs. Albany, 15 vs. Siena) and is now the team's leading scorer at 13.3 points per game on the season.
On the injury front, Newman (three games) and junior forward John Meeks (two games) returned to action at Siena. On the other hand, senior forward Ben Robertson was unable to go due to injury.
Bucknell currently has five players averaging at least 10 points per game, led by Sotos at 13.3 ppg. He is followed by Avi Toomer (13.0), Meeks (10.5), Bruce Moore (10.4) and Funk (10.3). Bucknell is one of 11 Division I teams with five double-digit scorers. The others are Buffalo, Coastal Carolina, Colgate, Dayton, Georgia Southern, Gonzaga (6), Kent State, LSU, North Carolina State and South Dakota.
Bucknell was picked second to Colgate in the Patriot League preseason poll. Those two teams played in the 2019 Patriot League Tournament final, with the Raiders prevailing 94-80 to thwart Bucknell's hopes of a third straight NCAA Tournament appearance.
Bucknell and Colgate shared the 2019 Patriot League regular-season title with 13-5 conference records. It was Bucknell's fifth straight PL regular-season crown and eighth in the last nine years. The run of five regular-season titles in a row is the second-longest current streak in the nation, behind only Gonzaga (7).
La Salle brings a four-game winning streak into Saturday's game. The Explorers are 8-3 on the season, nearly matching their total of 10 wins from all of last season. Their three losses have come against Big Five rivals Villanova, Temple and Penn. Most recently, La Salle upended Fairleigh Dickinson 66-58. With the exception of three neutral-site games in Florida as part of the Gulf Coast Showcase, La Salle has played every game this season in Philadelphia. The Explorers are 4-1 at home, and their only true road games have come against Penn, Villanova and Drexel.
Second-year head coach Ashley Howard has remade his roster this season. The Bison defeated the Explorers 92-79 at Tom Gola Arena last December, but only three La Salle players who saw action in that game have played a game this year. Those three happen to be the team's top three scorers this season: Isiah Deas (11.6), Ed Croswell (10.6) and David Beatty (9.9). The Explorers have made big strides defensively, where they have limited opponents to 39.2% shooting from the field and 27.2% from 3-point range. The Bison will need to check Croswell on the glass. He had 10 offensive rebounds and La Salle had 20 as a team in last year's game.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-La Salle game will not be televised, however it will stream live on ESPN+.
The game can be heard in the Susquehanna Valley on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM). Doug Birdsong handles the play-by-play duties. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off.
Live statistics can be accessed at GoExplorers.com.
The audio feed is available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com and Eagle107.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

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. Manny Camper logged 15 points and 14 rebounds for the Saints, who improved to 3-5 overall and 3-0 at home.
Siena came into the game shooting 68.7% from the line as a team, but it went 29-for-35 (.829) in this one.
Bucknell finished with 28 made field goals to Siena's 23 and eight 3-pointers to Siena's six, but a 29-7 gap at the foul line was the difference. The Bison shot 44.4% on the night, while the Saints connected at a 45.1% clip.
The Bison did a solid job on Jalen 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.

Bucknell vs. La Salle Series History

Bucknell and La Salle are former conference rivals in both the Middle Atlantic Conference and the East Coast Conference.
La Salle has a 19-8 lead in a series that dates all the way back to 1903, but the Bison have won two straight.
Bucknell's series wins came in 1903, 1904, 1979, 2007, 2010, 2012, 2017 and 2018.
The Bison were 0-11 against La Salle on the Explorers' home floor until 2010-11, when Bucknell prevailed 89-77 behind 21 points from Mike Muscala.
Last season, the Bison won 92-79 at Tom Gola Arena behind a career-high 24 points from Nate Sestina, 19 from Kimbal Mackenzie, and a then-career-high 17 along with six rebounds, six assists and three steals from Avi Toomer. Bucknell had to manage foul trouble all day, and all 11 players who saw action in the game scored points. The Bison went 11-for-24 from 3-point range after an 0-for-6 start.

Bucknell vs. the Atlantic 10

Bucknell is 42-76 (.356) all-time against the teams that currently comprise the Atlantic 10, including five straight wins.
The Bison are 8-19 against La Salle, 3-18 against Saint Joseph's, 4-3 vs. Richmond, 4-7 vs. George Mason, 7-2 vs. George Washington, 5-8 vs. Fordham, 4-5 vs. Rhode Island, 3-5 vs. Duquesne, 2-5 vs. St. Bonaventure, 1-2 vs. Davidson, 1-0 vs. Saint Louis, 0-1 vs. VCU and 0-1 vs. Dayton. Bucknell has never played Massachusetts.
Here are Bucknell's last five games against the A-10. The Bison are 5-0 while averaging 87.6 points per game in those five games.

12/22/18 vs. Rhode Island (at Diamond Head Classic) 84-82 W
12/4/18 at La Salle 92-79 W
11/7/18 at Saint Bonaventure 88-85 W (OT)
12/22/17 vs. La Salle 88-81 W
12/19/17 at Richmond 86-78 W

Notable Numbers

Over his last two games, Jimmy Sotos has 46 points and has hit 6-14 (.429) from 3-point range and 14-17 ( .824) from the foul line.
Sotos went 11-for-13 from the foul line against Albany, and he now has enough attempts to qualify for the Patriot League and NCAA leaderboards in free-throw percentage. He currently ranks fourth in the league and 36th nationally at 88.9%. Sotos did have his career-best streak of 24 straight made attempts end in the Albany game.
Avi Toomer had hit multiple 3-pointers in five straight games until going 1-for-3 against Siena on Saturday. Toomer is averaging 15.3 points per game over his last six games and is 15-for-34 (.441) from the arc in that span.
Andrew Funk has hit a 3-pointer in 18 of his last 20 games dating back to last season. His only game without a trey this year was against Yale.
The Bison have had difficulty shutting down opponents' scoring runs this season. Bucknell foes have put together a run of at least 10 or more unanswered points in a row in eight of the 12 games thus far.
After scoring 12 points in 23 minutes at Siena on Saturday, John Meeks is now averaging a team-best 19.7 ppg per 40 minutes.
Paul Newman averages 15.3 rebounds per 40 minutes. He has grabbed 22.6% of the available rebounds while on the floor this season.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell begins its 30th season of Patriot League play at home on Thursday, Jan. 2 against Army West Point. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. on the Patriot League Network.
Bucknell has beaten Army 11 straight times, including a pair of come-from-behind one-point victories last season.
The Bucknell-Army game will feature a matchup of brothers Andrew Funk and Tommy Funk. Tommy is a senior point guard for the Black Knights.