Saturday, January 16
Lewisburg, Pa.
2 p.m.
Bucknell University
1-4,1-4Patriot
75
vs
70
Lehigh
1-4,1-4Patriot
1
2
F
Lehigh
19
51
70
Bucknell
30
45
75
Men's Basketball Defeats Lehigh, 75-70, Earning First Win of Season
1/16/2021 4:18:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Andrew Funk scored a season-high 18 points, making four 3-pointers, and the Bucknell men's basketball team secured its first win of the season, 75-70 over Lehigh on Saturday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison, now 1-4 on the season and 1-2 in the Patriot League Central Division, made a season-high 12 3-pointers on 26 attempts (46.2%), while the Mountain Hawks (1-4, 1-2 PL Central) shot only 3-for-12 (25%) from behind the arc.
The Bison led for the entire contest, stretching their lead over the Mountain Hawks to as many as 15 in the second half thanks to timely 3-point shooting and solid defense. But Marques Wilson and the Mountain Hawks battled back to cut the deficit to just three, 73-70, with 13 seconds remaining. With his team uncharacteristically struggling at the foul line, sophomore Xander Rice made a pair of clutch free throws with 8.2 seconds left to seal the win.
Wilson came in averaging 18.0 points per game but was held to just two in the first half as the Bison ran out to a 30-19 lead at the break. Wilson then exploded for 24 in the second half, all coming in the final 15:24. He finished with a game-high 26, while center Nic Lynch followed with 14, four shy of his season average coming in.
Bucknell senior John Meeks, making his season debut after missing the first four games due to injury, scored 12 points in 19 minutes. Rice had 10 points and 4 assists, while Miles Latimer scored 10 of Bucknell's 27 bench points.
Funk recorded a season-high 8 rebounds, while shooting an economical 7-for-12 from the field and 4-for-7 from three-point range. Bucknell came into the day shooting 26.7 percent as a team from 3-point distance, but the Bison were on target from long range for most of the day. The threes came in handy on a day when they struggled to score in the paint, going 12-for-27 (.444) from inside the arc.
"I thought we competed at a much higher level today," said head coach Nathan Davis. "We played with more of a purpose and with more physicality. The addition of Miles Latimer and John Meeks are big keys to making us an overall tougher team. Those are two really tough competitors. We still need to rebound better. I thought a couple of those offensive rebounds helped get Lehigh going in the second half. We forced them to take a lot of tough shots, but when they miss we have to finish the play."
Both teams had trouble finding the basket in the early going. Lehigh missed its first six shots and 11 of its first 12, but the Bison could only build a 9-3 lead thanks to a 3-for-11 start of their own. The Mountain Hawks tied the game on a couple of occasions, but strong play from Funk got the Bison going.
Funk drove hard to the basket for a layup, he hit a 3-pointer to snap an 11-all tie, and then he drove again and kicked to Rice for a trey from the right corner. The Bison would never trail again.
Bucknell stretched that 11-point halftime margin up to 15 at 48-33 after a Funk 3-pointer with 12:57 to play. Lehigh had been 0-for-8 from the arc until that point, but an offensive rebound led to their first three of the night from Evan Taylor.
Lehigh cut the gap to 10 on another Taylor bucket, but the Bison answered with three big buckets from newcomers. Latimer, a junior transfer playing in his third game in a Bucknell uniform, knocked down a 3-pointer off a kick-out pass from freshman Andre Screen in the post. After a Wilson layup, freshman Deuce Turner drove the lane for one of his three second-half layups, and then Screen made a sweet move in the paint for a layup of his own and a 57-42 lead.
The Mountain Hawks would not go away, however. They made it a single-digit game again on a Jake Betlow 3-pointer with 6:08 to play. Bucknell, which had been a terrific free-throw shooting team all season until the late stages in this one, missed 8 of 11 at the stripe, including two front ends of 1-and-1s, to keep Lehigh in it.
Wilson's layup made it a 70-64 game with 2:02 to go, but then Latimer made perhaps the biggest play of the day for the Bison. He used a nice up-and-under move for a 3-point play with 1:38 to go to stretch the lead back to nine.
But Bucknell missed four straight free throws and committed a turnover in the backcourt against the press, and Jeameril Wilson's layup with 13 seconds left made it 73-70.
This time the Bison easily broke the press and ran five seconds off the clock before Lehigh could foul Rice. He swished both free throws, and Lehigh was off the mark on a contested 3-pointer as time expired.
Bucknell shot 51.9 percent in the second half and 45.3 percent overall from the field. The Bison were 15-for-25 from the foul line after a 10-for-12 start. Lehigh shot 62.5 percent in the second half after going 8-for-32 (.250) in the opening stanza. The Mountain Hawks shot 43.8 percent overall and hit 11 of 15 at the foul line.
After starting the first four games in place of Meeks, Jake van der Heijden provided solid minutes off the bench with a couple of 3-pointers, and Bucknell outscored Lehigh by 12 points in his 15 minutes of action. Centers Paul Newman and Screen had modest scoring games, but Newman had six rebounds and four blocked shots, and Screen logged seven rebounds and a block.
The Bison, who have now beaten Lehigh six straight times in Sojka Pavilion, travel to Bethlehem, Pa., on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tip against the same Mountain Hawks squad. The game can be seen on ESPN+ and will also be televised in the Lehigh Valley on Service Electric.
Gallery: (1-16-2021) Men's Basketball vs. Lehigh
The Bison led for the entire contest, stretching their lead over the Mountain Hawks to as many as 15 in the second half thanks to timely 3-point shooting and solid defense. But Marques Wilson and the Mountain Hawks battled back to cut the deficit to just three, 73-70, with 13 seconds remaining. With his team uncharacteristically struggling at the foul line, sophomore Xander Rice made a pair of clutch free throws with 8.2 seconds left to seal the win.
Wilson came in averaging 18.0 points per game but was held to just two in the first half as the Bison ran out to a 30-19 lead at the break. Wilson then exploded for 24 in the second half, all coming in the final 15:24. He finished with a game-high 26, while center Nic Lynch followed with 14, four shy of his season average coming in.
Bucknell senior John Meeks, making his season debut after missing the first four games due to injury, scored 12 points in 19 minutes. Rice had 10 points and 4 assists, while Miles Latimer scored 10 of Bucknell's 27 bench points.
Funk recorded a season-high 8 rebounds, while shooting an economical 7-for-12 from the field and 4-for-7 from three-point range. Bucknell came into the day shooting 26.7 percent as a team from 3-point distance, but the Bison were on target from long range for most of the day. The threes came in handy on a day when they struggled to score in the paint, going 12-for-27 (.444) from inside the arc.
"I thought we competed at a much higher level today," said head coach Nathan Davis. "We played with more of a purpose and with more physicality. The addition of Miles Latimer and John Meeks are big keys to making us an overall tougher team. Those are two really tough competitors. We still need to rebound better. I thought a couple of those offensive rebounds helped get Lehigh going in the second half. We forced them to take a lot of tough shots, but when they miss we have to finish the play."
Both teams had trouble finding the basket in the early going. Lehigh missed its first six shots and 11 of its first 12, but the Bison could only build a 9-3 lead thanks to a 3-for-11 start of their own. The Mountain Hawks tied the game on a couple of occasions, but strong play from Funk got the Bison going.
Funk drove hard to the basket for a layup, he hit a 3-pointer to snap an 11-all tie, and then he drove again and kicked to Rice for a trey from the right corner. The Bison would never trail again.
Bucknell stretched that 11-point halftime margin up to 15 at 48-33 after a Funk 3-pointer with 12:57 to play. Lehigh had been 0-for-8 from the arc until that point, but an offensive rebound led to their first three of the night from Evan Taylor.
Lehigh cut the gap to 10 on another Taylor bucket, but the Bison answered with three big buckets from newcomers. Latimer, a junior transfer playing in his third game in a Bucknell uniform, knocked down a 3-pointer off a kick-out pass from freshman Andre Screen in the post. After a Wilson layup, freshman Deuce Turner drove the lane for one of his three second-half layups, and then Screen made a sweet move in the paint for a layup of his own and a 57-42 lead.
The Mountain Hawks would not go away, however. They made it a single-digit game again on a Jake Betlow 3-pointer with 6:08 to play. Bucknell, which had been a terrific free-throw shooting team all season until the late stages in this one, missed 8 of 11 at the stripe, including two front ends of 1-and-1s, to keep Lehigh in it.
Wilson's layup made it a 70-64 game with 2:02 to go, but then Latimer made perhaps the biggest play of the day for the Bison. He used a nice up-and-under move for a 3-point play with 1:38 to go to stretch the lead back to nine.
But Bucknell missed four straight free throws and committed a turnover in the backcourt against the press, and Jeameril Wilson's layup with 13 seconds left made it 73-70.
This time the Bison easily broke the press and ran five seconds off the clock before Lehigh could foul Rice. He swished both free throws, and Lehigh was off the mark on a contested 3-pointer as time expired.
Bucknell shot 51.9 percent in the second half and 45.3 percent overall from the field. The Bison were 15-for-25 from the foul line after a 10-for-12 start. Lehigh shot 62.5 percent in the second half after going 8-for-32 (.250) in the opening stanza. The Mountain Hawks shot 43.8 percent overall and hit 11 of 15 at the foul line.
After starting the first four games in place of Meeks, Jake van der Heijden provided solid minutes off the bench with a couple of 3-pointers, and Bucknell outscored Lehigh by 12 points in his 15 minutes of action. Centers Paul Newman and Screen had modest scoring games, but Newman had six rebounds and four blocked shots, and Screen logged seven rebounds and a block.
The Bison, who have now beaten Lehigh six straight times in Sojka Pavilion, travel to Bethlehem, Pa., on Sunday for a 2 p.m. tip against the same Mountain Hawks squad. The game can be seen on ESPN+ and will also be televised in the Lehigh Valley on Service Electric.
Team Stats
Lehigh
Buck
FG%
.438
.453
3FG%
.250
.462
FT%
.733
.600
RB
36
34
TO
12
15
STL
4
5
Game Leaders
Pts
18
FGM
7
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
12
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
5
Pts
10
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
2
Pts
10
FGM
2
3FGM
2
FTM
4
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballIn The Herd: Season Opener And Shane Wynn And Kyla Kelly Features
Wednesday, October 15
2025 Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame Inductee Bob Rhein
Monday, October 13
2025 Bucknell Athletics Hall of Fame
Sunday, October 12
Bucknell Men's Water Polo Vs. Mount St. Mary's (10/11/25)
Sunday, October 12