Bucknell University Athletics
Saturday, February 15
Lewisburg, Pa.
2 p.m.
Bucknell University
10-17,6-8Patriot
72
vs
68
American
13-12,9-5Patriot
1
2
F
American
30
38
68
Bucknell
35
37
72
Photo by: Jon Lambert
Men's Basketball Defeats American 72-68 on Day Mike Muscala's Jersey is Retired
2/15/2020 4:45:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Kahliel Spear came off the bench to score a career-high 20 points along with nine rebounds to lead the Bucknell men's basketball team to a 72-68 win over American on Saturday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison snapped a five-game losing streak and improved to 10-17 on the season, 6-8 in the Patriot League, while the Eagles saw their three-game winning streak end and fell to 13-12 overall and 9-5 in conference play.
It was already a feel-good day at Sojka Pavilion as Bucknell's all-time scoring leader Mike Muscala was honored at a morning event and then had his jersey retired at halftime. Muscala, a two-time Patriot League Player of the Year who is now in his seventh year in the NBA, then watched his alma mater lead nearly wire-to-wire to become the first team to reach 300 Patriot League victories.
John Meeks scored 11 points, Walter Ellis had 10 off the bench, and guards Jimmy Sotos, Andrew Funk and Avi Toomer combined for 14 assists in the victory. Spear was the star of the day, as he doubled his previous career high with the 20 points and matched his career best with the nine rebounds. He was 7-for-10 from the field, 2-for-3 from the 3-point arc, and 4-for-6 from the foul line in 23 minutes of action.
Bucknell hit 10 3-pointers in 25 attempts while American was just 2-for-18 from the arc. The Bison led 10-2 early and by 12 after Spear's layup with 7:35 to play, and then they survived some shaky free-throw shooting down the stretch.
"We made winning plays for a much longer period of time, and that was the difference today," said head coach Nathan Davis, who collected his 99th win as Bucknell's head coach. "I didn't like giving up 52 points in the paint, but holding them to 2-for-18 from three was big. There is not a big difference between winning and losing. We were far from perfect today, but we did enough of those little things we need to do to come out on top."
After American scored the first bucket of the game, the Orange and Blue rattled off 10 straight quick points on 3-pointers by Meeks and Sotos, and a pair of layups by Paul Newman. The Bison led 27-16 with 4:28 to go in the first half, before American closed on a 14-8 run to make the halftime score 35-30 in favor of Bucknell.
Spear scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half. He scored on a variety of layups inside and he canned a pair of threes. After American tied the game at 37-37 on a Connor Nelson layup with 14:30 to go, Spear gave the Bison the lead right back with a tip-in followed by a dunk off a nice feed from Sotos.
Spear later hit the two threes and had a 3-point play, giving him 15 points in a span of 6:36 to help push the margin back into double figures.
The Bison uncharacteristically struggled from the free throw line late in the game. They entered the day shooting 81 percent as a team in the final five minutes of games, but were just 6-for-16 in the last 3:10 in this one. Following a stretch of his team missing seven out of eight from the line, Sotos righted the ship by hitting a pair from the charity stripe with 24 seconds left to play, extending the Bison lead to 69-64. Bucknell made just enough free throws to prevent American from having the ball in a one-possession game. Ellis finished it off by going 1-for-2 with 0:03 left to make it a four-point game.
For the Eagles, Sa'eed Nelson scored a game-high 28 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists. Nelson became the eighth player in Patriot League history to score 2,000 career points, and with 2,008 total points he now ranks seventh in league history. He is the third player in American history to reach 2,000 points.
Bucknell shot 44.6 percent overall and finished 12-for-25 from the foul line. American shot 43.1 percent and also struggled at the stripe, hitting 10 of 20.
American outscored Bucknell 52-28 in the paint, but the Bison had a 30-6 edge from downtown and also committed only nine turnovers.
Bucknell now has a quick turnaround before facing Holy Cross on Monday at 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
Additional Notes:
Bucknell is now 300-130 in 30 seasons of Patriot League play … Holy Cross has the next-most PL wins with 237 … the Bison improved to 17-2 against American at Sojka Pavilion and 43-24 all-time against the Eagles … Bucknell recorded double-figure 3-pointers for the ninth time this season … Ellis is now 19-for-41 from three (.463) in his last 10 games.
Postgame Press Conference:
Mike Muscala Halftime Video:
Gallery: (2/15/2020) Men's Basketball vs. American
Gallery: (2/19/2020) Mike Muscala Day
Gallery: (2/15/2020) Men's Basketball vs. American 3
It was already a feel-good day at Sojka Pavilion as Bucknell's all-time scoring leader Mike Muscala was honored at a morning event and then had his jersey retired at halftime. Muscala, a two-time Patriot League Player of the Year who is now in his seventh year in the NBA, then watched his alma mater lead nearly wire-to-wire to become the first team to reach 300 Patriot League victories.
John Meeks scored 11 points, Walter Ellis had 10 off the bench, and guards Jimmy Sotos, Andrew Funk and Avi Toomer combined for 14 assists in the victory. Spear was the star of the day, as he doubled his previous career high with the 20 points and matched his career best with the nine rebounds. He was 7-for-10 from the field, 2-for-3 from the 3-point arc, and 4-for-6 from the foul line in 23 minutes of action.
Bucknell hit 10 3-pointers in 25 attempts while American was just 2-for-18 from the arc. The Bison led 10-2 early and by 12 after Spear's layup with 7:35 to play, and then they survived some shaky free-throw shooting down the stretch.
"We made winning plays for a much longer period of time, and that was the difference today," said head coach Nathan Davis, who collected his 99th win as Bucknell's head coach. "I didn't like giving up 52 points in the paint, but holding them to 2-for-18 from three was big. There is not a big difference between winning and losing. We were far from perfect today, but we did enough of those little things we need to do to come out on top."
Walter is having fun! Turning D to O, and his back-to-back 3FGs give us a 25-14 lead. pic.twitter.com/HKcNPKseem
— Bucknell MBasketball (@Bucknell_MBB) February 15, 2020
After American scored the first bucket of the game, the Orange and Blue rattled off 10 straight quick points on 3-pointers by Meeks and Sotos, and a pair of layups by Paul Newman. The Bison led 27-16 with 4:28 to go in the first half, before American closed on a 14-8 run to make the halftime score 35-30 in favor of Bucknell.
Spear scored 17 of his 20 points in the second half. He scored on a variety of layups inside and he canned a pair of threes. After American tied the game at 37-37 on a Connor Nelson layup with 14:30 to go, Spear gave the Bison the lead right back with a tip-in followed by a dunk off a nice feed from Sotos.
Spear later hit the two threes and had a 3-point play, giving him 15 points in a span of 6:36 to help push the margin back into double figures.
KAHLIEL SPEAR! Give him his second straight 3FG and a career-high 16 points! Bison now lead 55-46 with 8:47 left.
— Bucknell MBasketball (@Bucknell_MBB) February 15, 2020
Watch the finish on @Stadium and @PatriotLeagueTV. pic.twitter.com/D80TK6gsDi
The Bison uncharacteristically struggled from the free throw line late in the game. They entered the day shooting 81 percent as a team in the final five minutes of games, but were just 6-for-16 in the last 3:10 in this one. Following a stretch of his team missing seven out of eight from the line, Sotos righted the ship by hitting a pair from the charity stripe with 24 seconds left to play, extending the Bison lead to 69-64. Bucknell made just enough free throws to prevent American from having the ball in a one-possession game. Ellis finished it off by going 1-for-2 with 0:03 left to make it a four-point game.
For the Eagles, Sa'eed Nelson scored a game-high 28 points to go along with eight rebounds and four assists. Nelson became the eighth player in Patriot League history to score 2,000 career points, and with 2,008 total points he now ranks seventh in league history. He is the third player in American history to reach 2,000 points.
Bucknell shot 44.6 percent overall and finished 12-for-25 from the foul line. American shot 43.1 percent and also struggled at the stripe, hitting 10 of 20.
American outscored Bucknell 52-28 in the paint, but the Bison had a 30-6 edge from downtown and also committed only nine turnovers.
Bucknell now has a quick turnaround before facing Holy Cross on Monday at 7 p.m. on CBS Sports Network.
Additional Notes:
Bucknell is now 300-130 in 30 seasons of Patriot League play … Holy Cross has the next-most PL wins with 237 … the Bison improved to 17-2 against American at Sojka Pavilion and 43-24 all-time against the Eagles … Bucknell recorded double-figure 3-pointers for the ninth time this season … Ellis is now 19-for-41 from three (.463) in his last 10 games.
Postgame Press Conference:
Mike Muscala Halftime Video:
Team Stats
Americ
Buck
FG%
.431
.446
3FG%
.111
.400
FT%
.500
.480
RB
43
35
TO
12
9
STL
8
3
Game Leaders
Pts
20
FGM
7
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Pts
11
FGM
4
3FGM
2
FTM
1
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
3
FTM
1
Pts
9
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
1
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
G
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