Bucknell Men's Basketball Edged by Lafayette, 65-62

Monday, February 3

Lewisburg, Pa.

7 p.m.

Bucknell University

9-15,5-6Patriot

Lafayette

15-7,7-4Patriot

Lafayette

Bucknell

Photo by: Marc Hagemeier

Bucknell Men's Basketball Edged by Lafayette, 65-62

2/3/2020 9:34:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell charged back from as many as 15 down to take the lead in the second half, but the Bison could not coax a shot to drop in the final five minutes and fell to Lafayette 65-62 on Monday night at Sojka Pavilion.

John Meeks and Jimmy Sotos led the Bison with 13 points apiece, while Avi Toomer logged eight points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Those three combined for 25 of Bucknell's 35 second-half points, as the Bison rallied from a double-digit deficit against Lafayette for the second time this season. Back on Jan. 5, Bucknell erased a 13-point margin with a 17-0 and then kept right on going in a 78-66 win. This time, the Bison went ice cold down the stretch and could not finish off the sweep.

Justin Jaworski scored 20 points to lead Lafayette, which won its fourth game in a row to improve to 15-7 overall, 7-4 in the Patriot League. It was Jaworski's 3-pointer with 4:54 to play that gave the Leopards the lead for good, although the game wasn't decided until the very last second.

Bucknell (9-15, 5-6) trailed by 15 late in the first half and by 13 at 40-27 at intermission, but the Bison stormed out of the gates in the second stanza and took the lead by the 12:09 mark. They hit their first four and eight of their first 11 shots of the half. Toomer was the catalyst in that stretch, when he grabbed six rebounds, handed out a pair of assists, blocked a shot and scored five points. His transition 3-pointer at the 12:10 mark, just after a big Kahliel Spear blocked shot at the other end, gave Bucknell its first lead of the night at 50-48.

That's one way to capture the lead... wow! @Bucknell_MBB | @PatriotLeague pic.twitter.com/B2PIbQGfsr
— CBS Sports Network (@CBSSportsNet) February 4, 2020

After Jaworski halted Bucknell's 14-2 run with a long 2-pointer, Toomer assisted on a three by Sotos on the next Bison possession to take a 53-50 lead. Again Jaworski had a response, this time with a 28-footer, and the game went back-and-forth for the next few minutes.

After Myles Cherry missed two free throws that might have given Lafayette a four-point lead, Sotos came up with a steal and fed Andrew Funk for a fastbreak layup and a 60-all tie. The Leopards then missed three long jumpers on one possession, and the Bison got the lead back on two free throws from Meeks after his offensive rebound with 5:14 to play.

Those would be Bucknell's last points of the game, however. Jaworski got loose on the right wing for his fourth triple of the night, giving the Leopards a 63-62 lead with 4:54 to play. The Bison missed their final 11 field-goal attempts of the night, nine coming after the Meeks free throws put them ahead, but they got enough stops to stay in the game.

Two shots right at the rim wouldn't go with just over a minute to play, and a long pass the other way led to an E.J. Stephens dunk with 1:07 left. Sotos had a good look at a tying 3-pointer but that one wouldn't drop. The Bison countered with a strong defensive possession that led to a Jaworski miss with 22 seconds left.

After a timeout, Toomer's 3-point attempt from the right side rimmed out, and Jaworski was fouled with 3.9 seconds left. A 90-percent free-throw shooter on the season, Jaworski left the front end of his 1-and-1 short, and the Bison had life.

After a timeout, a long inbounds pass was deflected out by Lafayette near midcourt. The Bison inbounded into the frontcourt and quickly called their final timeout to set up a play for a 3-pointer with 2.3 seconds left. Sotos' crosscourt pass found Meeks, but he lost the handle going up and time expired.

"I've got to find a way to help us start games better," said head coach Nathan Davis. "We just can't keep falling behind like that. I'm proud of the fight the team showed in coming back, but in the first half we let a bad result at one end of the floor affect us at the other end. That happens a few times against a good team, and before you know it you're down 15."

Just like Bucknell started the second half 8-for-11, that is how Lafayette started the game. The Leopards scored 11 of the game's first 13 points and later led 20-8 after two straight buckets from Lukas Jarrett.

Bucknell had a good defensive stretch when it held Lafayette without a field goal for a span of 5:33, but after pulling within seven points on a Sotos fastbreak layup, the Bison went cold again and missed six straight shots. A Tyrone Perry floater in the lane gave the Leopards their largest lead at 40-25, but the Bison needed only eight minutes in the second half to match that point total.

Bucknell shot 35.5 percent on the night while hitting 7 of 28 from the 3-point arc. Lafayette shot 43.4 percent and 9-for-23 from the arc. The Leopards were an uncharacteristic 0-for-5 from the foul line in the second half, 10-for-17 overall. The Bison finished 11-for-15 from the line.

Now the Bison are tasked with playing five of their final seven regular-season games on the road, starting Saturday at Loyola at 5 p.m.

Additional Notes:
Bucknell outrebounded Lafayette 40-34 … 13 of those boards came at the offensive end, which marked the team's most since it had 13 at Syracuse on Nov. 23 … Spear had seven points and four rebounds in 15 minutes off the bench … Meeks returned to the starting lineup after missing Saturday's game against Boston University due to illness … he has now scored in double figures in all of his Patriot League appearances … Bucknell saw its nine-game series winning streak against Lafayette come to an end.