Sunday, January 31
Lewisburg, Pa.
2 p.m.
Bucknell University
4-4,4-4Patriot
92
vs
68
Lehigh
3-7,3-7Patriot
1
2
F
Lehigh
35
33
68
Bucknell
46
46
92
Men's Basketball Runs Past Lehigh 92-68 for Fourth Straight Win
1/31/2021 4:10:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell senior John Meeks scored a career-high 32 points, leading the Bison to a 92-68 win over Lehigh on Sunday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. With the win, the Bison (4-4, 4-2 PL Central) swept all four regular-season games from the Mountain Hawks (3-7, 1-5 PL Central) and clinched a top-six seed in the Patriot League Tournament.
Meeks dominated play, scoring with a variety of driving layups, spins in the paint, and jump shots. Meeks made 11 of his 16 field goal attempts and all nine of his free throw tries. He finished a plus-37 in his 29 minutes of play. It was his second 30-point game of the season and third straight game with at least 23.
The attention paid to Meeks opened things up for his teammates, and the Bison scored a season-high 92 points, while shooting a season-best 51.5 percent (34-for-66) from the field and making all 14 foul shots. Bucknell played solid defensively, as well, holding the Mountain Hawks to 32.3 percent (21-for-65) shooting for the game.
Andrew Funk scored 17 points, while Walter Ellis scored 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc. Ellis also hit four 3-pointers in Saturday's win over Lehigh and went 8-for-12 from long distance in the two games. Xander Rice played a solid all-around floor game, scoring eight points, handing out a career-high seven assists and grabbing four rebounds. The center combo of Paul Newman and Andre Screen totaled 12 points, 16 rebounds and blocked four shots.
Jeameril Wilson scored a game-high 16 points for Lehigh, while Evan Taylor added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
"I thought we had played pretty well for the last few games, but we just did everything a little bit better today," said head coach Nathan Davis. "We rebounded much better, and we played good team defense for the most part. Offensively, it's just about playing together. Everyone on the floor can make shots. It's just a matter of sharing the ball and taking the right shots. Of course it also helps to have John Meeks out there."
Bucknell made big runs at the start of both halves, and the Bison trailed only once in the game at 2-0. After Nic Lynch's opening bucket, Funk hit a 3-pointer to ignite a 12-2 Bucknell run. Lehigh started the game 1-for-7 from the field, then hit three shots in a row to pull within one, but the Bison never relinquished the lead.
It was 19-17 after a Jalin Sinclair jumper for Lehigh, but that would be the Mountain Hawks' last field goal for a span of 5:41. In the meantime, Meeks scored 10 points in an 18-3 run that gave Bucknell some separation. A transition 3-pointer from Funk off a dish from Miles Latimer made it 37-20 with 6:07 left in the half. Bucknell led 46-35 at intermission.
Just like in the first half, the Bison conceded the opening bucket before taking flight. This time it was a crushing 16-0 run over a 4:34 span, bumping a nine-point margin all the way to 25 at 62-37. Funk and Ellis hit threes in that surge, Meeks tacked on six more points, and big men Newman and Screen scored in the paint, the latter on a pretty tip-dunk that momentarily popped out of the rim before spinning back in.
Meeks exited after his two free throws made it 70-45 with 11:35 to go. The game got a bit ragged for a few moments and Lehigh knocked down a couple of open 3-pointers in an 11-0 run to pull within 70-56. Meeks promptly came back in the game, scored on two straight layups and then made a no-look pass to Newman for a slam. Ellis followed with his fourth 3-pointer of the game and in just over 90 seconds the lead was back up to 23 at 79-56.
After getting outrebounded 43-34 in Bethlehem on Saturday, the Bison flipped the script and gained a 42-34 edge on the glass in this one. Bucknell limited Lehigh to 22 points in the paint and played terrific defense on the Mountain Hawks' top two scorers in Marques Wilson and Lynch, who were a combined 3-for-16 from the field. Wilson, who scored 26 points in the first meeting of the season between the two teams, did not make his first field goal until a three with 10:00 to play in the game.
"I thought our runs in each half really started at the defensive end of the floor," said Davis. "We did a very good job of keeping them out of the paint, and then we rebounded the ball much better today, which allowed us to get out in transition. Marques Wilson is a great player who is really tough to guard. But we did a good job closing the gaps and making him kick it out. It was probably the best team defense we have played this season."
The 24-point win over Lehigh was Bucknell's largest in the series since a 28-point victory (87-59) in Davis Gym in 1998.
After opening the season 0-4, the Bison have now won four in a row to pull back to .500 on the season. This is the first time Bucknell has followed a losing streak of at least four games with a winning streak of at least four since 2015-16. That year, Bucknell dropped its final seven non-conference games, then started Patriot League play 5-0.
At 4-2 in the Patriot League Central Division, the Bison are assured of finishing no worse than second in the division, which guarantees a top-six seed. Bucknell has only two division games remaining, both against Lafayette to close out the regular season. Lafayette is 3-1 in the division and has two with Lehigh coming up next week before the Bucknell series Feb. 20-21.
The Bison return to action next Saturday, Feb. 6, for a match-up with Loyola in Baltimore, Md.
Gallery: (1-31-2021) Men's Basketball vs. Lehigh
Meeks dominated play, scoring with a variety of driving layups, spins in the paint, and jump shots. Meeks made 11 of his 16 field goal attempts and all nine of his free throw tries. He finished a plus-37 in his 29 minutes of play. It was his second 30-point game of the season and third straight game with at least 23.
The attention paid to Meeks opened things up for his teammates, and the Bison scored a season-high 92 points, while shooting a season-best 51.5 percent (34-for-66) from the field and making all 14 foul shots. Bucknell played solid defensively, as well, holding the Mountain Hawks to 32.3 percent (21-for-65) shooting for the game.
Andrew Funk scored 17 points, while Walter Ellis scored 12 points on 4-for-4 shooting from beyond the arc. Ellis also hit four 3-pointers in Saturday's win over Lehigh and went 8-for-12 from long distance in the two games. Xander Rice played a solid all-around floor game, scoring eight points, handing out a career-high seven assists and grabbing four rebounds. The center combo of Paul Newman and Andre Screen totaled 12 points, 16 rebounds and blocked four shots.
Jeameril Wilson scored a game-high 16 points for Lehigh, while Evan Taylor added a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds.
"I thought we had played pretty well for the last few games, but we just did everything a little bit better today," said head coach Nathan Davis. "We rebounded much better, and we played good team defense for the most part. Offensively, it's just about playing together. Everyone on the floor can make shots. It's just a matter of sharing the ball and taking the right shots. Of course it also helps to have John Meeks out there."
Bucknell made big runs at the start of both halves, and the Bison trailed only once in the game at 2-0. After Nic Lynch's opening bucket, Funk hit a 3-pointer to ignite a 12-2 Bucknell run. Lehigh started the game 1-for-7 from the field, then hit three shots in a row to pull within one, but the Bison never relinquished the lead.
It was 19-17 after a Jalin Sinclair jumper for Lehigh, but that would be the Mountain Hawks' last field goal for a span of 5:41. In the meantime, Meeks scored 10 points in an 18-3 run that gave Bucknell some separation. A transition 3-pointer from Funk off a dish from Miles Latimer made it 37-20 with 6:07 left in the half. Bucknell led 46-35 at intermission.
Just like in the first half, the Bison conceded the opening bucket before taking flight. This time it was a crushing 16-0 run over a 4:34 span, bumping a nine-point margin all the way to 25 at 62-37. Funk and Ellis hit threes in that surge, Meeks tacked on six more points, and big men Newman and Screen scored in the paint, the latter on a pretty tip-dunk that momentarily popped out of the rim before spinning back in.
Meeks exited after his two free throws made it 70-45 with 11:35 to go. The game got a bit ragged for a few moments and Lehigh knocked down a couple of open 3-pointers in an 11-0 run to pull within 70-56. Meeks promptly came back in the game, scored on two straight layups and then made a no-look pass to Newman for a slam. Ellis followed with his fourth 3-pointer of the game and in just over 90 seconds the lead was back up to 23 at 79-56.
After getting outrebounded 43-34 in Bethlehem on Saturday, the Bison flipped the script and gained a 42-34 edge on the glass in this one. Bucknell limited Lehigh to 22 points in the paint and played terrific defense on the Mountain Hawks' top two scorers in Marques Wilson and Lynch, who were a combined 3-for-16 from the field. Wilson, who scored 26 points in the first meeting of the season between the two teams, did not make his first field goal until a three with 10:00 to play in the game.
"I thought our runs in each half really started at the defensive end of the floor," said Davis. "We did a very good job of keeping them out of the paint, and then we rebounded the ball much better today, which allowed us to get out in transition. Marques Wilson is a great player who is really tough to guard. But we did a good job closing the gaps and making him kick it out. It was probably the best team defense we have played this season."
The 24-point win over Lehigh was Bucknell's largest in the series since a 28-point victory (87-59) in Davis Gym in 1998.
After opening the season 0-4, the Bison have now won four in a row to pull back to .500 on the season. This is the first time Bucknell has followed a losing streak of at least four games with a winning streak of at least four since 2015-16. That year, Bucknell dropped its final seven non-conference games, then started Patriot League play 5-0.
At 4-2 in the Patriot League Central Division, the Bison are assured of finishing no worse than second in the division, which guarantees a top-six seed. Bucknell has only two division games remaining, both against Lafayette to close out the regular season. Lafayette is 3-1 in the division and has two with Lehigh coming up next week before the Bucknell series Feb. 20-21.
The Bison return to action next Saturday, Feb. 6, for a match-up with Loyola in Baltimore, Md.
Team Stats
Lehigh
Buck
FG%
.323
.515
3FG%
.320
.400
FT%
.818
1.000
RB
34
42
TO
13
12
STL
8
6
Game Leaders
Pts
32
FGM
11
3FGM
1
FTM
9
Pts
17
FGM
6
3FGM
3
FTM
2
Pts
12
FGM
4
3FGM
4
FTM
0
Pts
8
FGM
2
3FGM
1
FTM
3
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
G
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's Basketball
C
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's Basketball
C
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