Bucknell Runs Away from Holy Cross in Second Half, Hits 15 Threes in 69-48 Win

Monday, February 17

Worcester, Mass.

7 p.m.

Bucknell University

11-17,7-8

Holy Cross

3-25,2-13

Team	1	2	F
Bucknell	30	39	69
Holy Cross	25	23	48

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Bucknell Runs Away from Holy Cross in Second Half, Hits 15 Threes in 69-48 Win

2/17/2020 9:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

WORCESTER, Mass. – Andrew Funk scored 19 points, hitting five of Bucknell's season-high-tying 15 3-pointers, and the Bison ran away from Holy Cross 69-48 on Monday night at the Hart Center. Bucknell has now pieced together back-to-back wins to improve to 7-8 in Patriot League play with three games remaining in the regular season.

John Meeks added 18 points and seven rebounds, and Avi Toomer scored 10 points to help Nathan Davis become the fastest head coach to reach 100 Bucknell victories.

The 21-point win was Bucknell's largest of the season, and the 48 points allowed was the team's best defensive performance of the year. The Bison limited Holy Cross to 37-percent shooting for the game and outscored the Crusaders 45-12 from the 3-point line.

Leading 30-25 after an erratic first half from both sides, Bucknell blew the lid off the game with a huge second half. Funk and Walter Ellis hit back-to-back 3-pointers to cap a 17-5 run to start the half and give the Bison a commanding 47-30 lead.

The margin grew to as many as 23 after another Ellis triple made it 59-36 with 7:45 to play. Holy Cross answered with a quick 6-0 run before Meeks hit a step-back three late in the shot clock. Ellis hit one more trey, his third of the night and the team's 15th, and the Bison were well on their way.

"This was a good, focused effort on short rest on the road," said head coach Nathan Davis. "We were getting stops on the defensive end, which helped us get out in transition some and get the ball moving around with some flow. We are going to need more inside scoring moving forward, but it was nice to see some shots fall. We want to be playing our best at this time of year, so it's great to win two in a row and hopefully build some momentum heading to Lehigh."

Eight of Bucknell's 11 first-half field goals came from downtown, and that was the difference in its 30-25 halftime lead. Both teams went 11-for-28 from the field and 0-for-2 from the foul line, but the Bison went 8-for-18 from the arc compared to Holy Cross' 3-for-10.

Threes from Funk, Sotos and Toomer came as part of a 4-for-5 shooting start, but then the Bison missed eight in a row as both teams went cold. The score was stuck on 11-10 in Bucknell's favor for a span 6:19 before Sotos finally broke the spell with a steal and breakaway layup.

Later in the half the game was tied at 21 after a Clayton Le Sann layup for Holy Cross, but Funk hit his third trey of the half and Meeks nailed two in a row to spark a 9-2 run.

Bucknell shot 43 percent from the field and won despite not making a free throw in the game (0-4). Outside shooting was the key, as the Bison went 15-for-33 (.457) from the arc. They previously hit 15 threes in back-to-back games against Hofstra and Canisius early in the season.

Funk equaled his career best with five treys, while Meeks set a new personal best with four. Ellis went 3-for-6 from deep, making him 9-for-14 in the last three games.

Talk about right place, right time.

Andrew Funk grabs the loose ball and hits all cotton. pic.twitter.com/hqgoCYtS3z
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) February 18, 2020

Walter Ellis. PURE from outside.@Bucknell_MBB grows its commanding lead. pic.twitter.com/9JaE5FvXuE
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) February 18, 2020

The Bison finished with a 39-34 rebounding edge and forced 15 turnovers. They held a 9-2 edge in second-chance points, a 15-2 edge in fastbreak points, and a 17-2 margin in bench scoring.

Holy Cross used only seven players in the game and had three starters play 40 minutes. Matt Faw led the Crusaders (3-25, 2-13 PL) with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Leading scorer Joe Pridgen, the favorite to win Patriot League Rookie of the Year honors was held to 12 points, more than five below his season average, and the Bison forced him into six turnovers.

Davis is now 100-62 in his fifth season as Bucknell's head coach. He is the fifth Bison mentor to reach 100 wins, joining Charlie Woollum (318), Pat Flannery (234), Dave Paulsen (134) and Malcolm Musser (110). Paulsen was previously the fastest to reach the 100-win mark, hitting the plateau in his 166th game.

The Bison are now idle until Sunday, when they travel to Lehigh for a noon game at Stabler Arena.