Sunday, January 30
Lewisburg, Pa.
6 p.m.
Bucknell University
5-17,2-8Patriot
82
vs
80
Loyola
12-9,6-4Patriot
1
2
OT 1
F
Loyola Maryland
30
40
10
80
Bucknell
32
38
12
82
Photo by: Marc Hagemeier
Funk Leads Men’s Basketball to 82-80 OT Win over Loyola
1/30/2022 8:28:00 PM | Men's Basketball
LEWISBURG, Pa - Andrew Funk scored 27 of his game-high 34 points after halftime, and Xander Rice made all four of his free-throw attempts in the final 13 seconds of overtime to lead the Bucknell men's basketball team to an 82-80 overtime victory over Loyola on Sunday evening at Sojka Pavilion.
The Bison and Greyhounds played a thriller for the second time in three weeks, with Bucknell avenging a 71-67 loss in Baltimore that was not decided until the final 10 seconds. Bucknell upped its season record to 5-17 overall and 2-8 in the Patriot League, while denying Loyola (12-9, 6-4 PL) a chance to join Patriot League co-leaders Army and Navy in a tie for first place.
This was a wild one in front of a CBS Sports Network audience, with most of the 12 ties and 12 lead changes coming in crunch time. Bucknell led for the first 23 minutes of the game, but never by more than eight. Loyola jumped ahead by five early in the second half, but then the score was within one possession for all but 17 seconds of the final 19 minutes of regulation and overtime.
The Greyhounds led 69-67 after Jaylin Andrews split a pair of free throws with 25 seconds remaining in regulation. Funk curled off a screen to the right flank, took a kick-out pass from Rice, and swished the fifth of his six 3-pointers on the night.
Spencer was fouled at the other end with 5.6 seconds remaining, but the 87-percent free-throw shooter only split a pair to send the game to overtime.
The lead changed hands four times early in the overtime period, the last coming when Alex Timmerman made a nice feed to a cutting Elvin Edmonds IV for a layup. Timmerman followed with two free throws – the Bison were 23-for-25 at the line on the night – to make it a 77-74 game.
After Veljko Ilic's layup brought Loyola within 78-77 with 1:42 to go, the Bison had two empty possessions but forced Spencer, the Patriot League's leading scorer, into three contested misses at the other end.
Rice rebounded the second of those and converted both free throws for an 80-77 lead with 13 seconds left. After a Loyola timeout, Spencer's 3-point attempt was off the mark, and Rice again tracked down the loose ball in the paint, drew a foul, and made both at the line for an 82-77 lead with 2.5 seconds left. Andrews banked in a shot from halfcourt at the buzzer to make the final 82-80.
Funk's 34 points came on 12-for-19 shooting from the floor, 6-for-10 from 3-point distance, and 4-for-5 from the foul line. Not only did he record his third 30-point game and ninth 20-point game of the season, but Funk also chased Spencer all night on the defensive end and helped hold the Loyola guard to a season-low-tying 11 points on 4-for-10 shooting, although he did have six assists and five steals. Spencer was averaging 19.4 points per game coming in.
"I thought this was probably the best game of Andrew Funk's career," praised head coach Nathan Davis. "He made not just a lot of shots, but a lot of timely shots. Cam Spencer is obviously a tremendous player, and Andrew did a good job forcing the ball out of his hands and at least making his shots contested shots."
Bucknell shot 53.2 percent for the game, including a 9-for-21 (.429) showing from the 3-point arc. The Bison were almost done in by turnovers, however, as 20 giveaways led to a remarkable 27-0 edge for Loyola in points off turnovers.
Loyola finished at 49.1 percent from the field, 7-for-22 from 3-point range, and 19-for-26 from the foul line.
Andrews led the Greyhounds with 19 points, Milos Ilic had a career-high 17, and Golden Dike tallied a season-high 17.
Rice backed up Funk's 34 points with 14 points, six rebounds, and eight assists. Andre Screen battled foul trouble all night and finished with eight points in 17 minutes, and the Bison got big lifts from backup posts Malachi Rhodes and Timmerman.
Rhodes had a perfect shooting night, hitting 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from the foul line for nine points in 13 minutes. One of the biggest shots of the night was his tiebreaking 3-pointer with 6:48 to go in regulation. Timmerman was a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line on the way to eight points.
Bucknell made seven of its first nine shots on the night and took an 18-10 lead on Funk's pull-up jumper. The Bison never trailed in the first half but led by just two at 32-30 at intermission after missing its final seven field-goal attempts.
That drought reached 0-for-11 at the start of the second half, and Loyola finally took its first lead at 36-34 on a Dike jump-hook in the lane. The Greyhounds went up 43-38 on a 3-pointer by David Brown III, but Funk immediately answered with a 3-pointer followed by two tying free throws by Rhodes.
It was anyone's game from that point on, as the Bison kept countering Loyola's scores despite a rash of fouls. Funk hit a step-back 3-pointer, similar to his go-ahead three in last week's win at Holy Cross, to give the Bison a 65-63 lead with 2:44 to go.
After Kenneth Jones rattled in a hanging jumper in the lane, Screen appeared to have a sure dunk but was stripped at the last second by Dike. Milos Ilic answered with his fourth 3-pointer of the night to put Loyola back in front 68-65 with 1:49 left. Funk's layup cut the margin to one, and after Andrews went 1-for-2 at the line, Funk rose to the occasion again with that clutch go-ahead 3-pointer with 14 seconds left.
"I thought we played hard," said Davis afterward. "We were far from perfect, but I thought we were much more physical. We made some winning plays. We made shots when we needed to, we got some stops when we needed to, and we got the rebounds when we needed to."
Bucknell finished with a 33-18 rebounding edge while limiting Loyola to three offensive boards and just two second-chance points. The Bison had 15 assists on 25 made field goals but finished with 20 turnovers. Bucknell has actually won two straight games when committing 20 turnovers, including last Saturday's win at Holy Cross.
Funk's three 30-point games are one shy of the Bucknell single-season record, shared by Joe Steiner (1960-61) and Zach Thomas (2017-18). He moved from 41st to 38th on Bucknell's all-time scoring list with 1,060 points, passing Sekou Hamer, Mark Atkinson, and Gordon Mboya.
After snapping a four-game home losing streak, the Bison head back on the road to face Colgate on Wednesday night.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE:
Gallery: (1-30-2022) Men's Basketball vs. Loyola
The Bison and Greyhounds played a thriller for the second time in three weeks, with Bucknell avenging a 71-67 loss in Baltimore that was not decided until the final 10 seconds. Bucknell upped its season record to 5-17 overall and 2-8 in the Patriot League, while denying Loyola (12-9, 6-4 PL) a chance to join Patriot League co-leaders Army and Navy in a tie for first place.
This was a wild one in front of a CBS Sports Network audience, with most of the 12 ties and 12 lead changes coming in crunch time. Bucknell led for the first 23 minutes of the game, but never by more than eight. Loyola jumped ahead by five early in the second half, but then the score was within one possession for all but 17 seconds of the final 19 minutes of regulation and overtime.
The Greyhounds led 69-67 after Jaylin Andrews split a pair of free throws with 25 seconds remaining in regulation. Funk curled off a screen to the right flank, took a kick-out pass from Rice, and swished the fifth of his six 3-pointers on the night.
Spencer was fouled at the other end with 5.6 seconds remaining, but the 87-percent free-throw shooter only split a pair to send the game to overtime.
The lead changed hands four times early in the overtime period, the last coming when Alex Timmerman made a nice feed to a cutting Elvin Edmonds IV for a layup. Timmerman followed with two free throws – the Bison were 23-for-25 at the line on the night – to make it a 77-74 game.
After Veljko Ilic's layup brought Loyola within 78-77 with 1:42 to go, the Bison had two empty possessions but forced Spencer, the Patriot League's leading scorer, into three contested misses at the other end.
Rice rebounded the second of those and converted both free throws for an 80-77 lead with 13 seconds left. After a Loyola timeout, Spencer's 3-point attempt was off the mark, and Rice again tracked down the loose ball in the paint, drew a foul, and made both at the line for an 82-77 lead with 2.5 seconds left. Andrews banked in a shot from halfcourt at the buzzer to make the final 82-80.
Funk's 34 points came on 12-for-19 shooting from the floor, 6-for-10 from 3-point distance, and 4-for-5 from the foul line. Not only did he record his third 30-point game and ninth 20-point game of the season, but Funk also chased Spencer all night on the defensive end and helped hold the Loyola guard to a season-low-tying 11 points on 4-for-10 shooting, although he did have six assists and five steals. Spencer was averaging 19.4 points per game coming in.
"I thought this was probably the best game of Andrew Funk's career," praised head coach Nathan Davis. "He made not just a lot of shots, but a lot of timely shots. Cam Spencer is obviously a tremendous player, and Andrew did a good job forcing the ball out of his hands and at least making his shots contested shots."
Bucknell shot 53.2 percent for the game, including a 9-for-21 (.429) showing from the 3-point arc. The Bison were almost done in by turnovers, however, as 20 giveaways led to a remarkable 27-0 edge for Loyola in points off turnovers.
Loyola finished at 49.1 percent from the field, 7-for-22 from 3-point range, and 19-for-26 from the foul line.
Andrews led the Greyhounds with 19 points, Milos Ilic had a career-high 17, and Golden Dike tallied a season-high 17.
Rice backed up Funk's 34 points with 14 points, six rebounds, and eight assists. Andre Screen battled foul trouble all night and finished with eight points in 17 minutes, and the Bison got big lifts from backup posts Malachi Rhodes and Timmerman.
Rhodes had a perfect shooting night, hitting 3-for-3 from the field and 2-for-2 from the foul line for nine points in 13 minutes. One of the biggest shots of the night was his tiebreaking 3-pointer with 6:48 to go in regulation. Timmerman was a perfect 6-for-6 at the foul line on the way to eight points.
Bucknell made seven of its first nine shots on the night and took an 18-10 lead on Funk's pull-up jumper. The Bison never trailed in the first half but led by just two at 32-30 at intermission after missing its final seven field-goal attempts.
That drought reached 0-for-11 at the start of the second half, and Loyola finally took its first lead at 36-34 on a Dike jump-hook in the lane. The Greyhounds went up 43-38 on a 3-pointer by David Brown III, but Funk immediately answered with a 3-pointer followed by two tying free throws by Rhodes.
It was anyone's game from that point on, as the Bison kept countering Loyola's scores despite a rash of fouls. Funk hit a step-back 3-pointer, similar to his go-ahead three in last week's win at Holy Cross, to give the Bison a 65-63 lead with 2:44 to go.
After Kenneth Jones rattled in a hanging jumper in the lane, Screen appeared to have a sure dunk but was stripped at the last second by Dike. Milos Ilic answered with his fourth 3-pointer of the night to put Loyola back in front 68-65 with 1:49 left. Funk's layup cut the margin to one, and after Andrews went 1-for-2 at the line, Funk rose to the occasion again with that clutch go-ahead 3-pointer with 14 seconds left.
"I thought we played hard," said Davis afterward. "We were far from perfect, but I thought we were much more physical. We made some winning plays. We made shots when we needed to, we got some stops when we needed to, and we got the rebounds when we needed to."
Bucknell finished with a 33-18 rebounding edge while limiting Loyola to three offensive boards and just two second-chance points. The Bison had 15 assists on 25 made field goals but finished with 20 turnovers. Bucknell has actually won two straight games when committing 20 turnovers, including last Saturday's win at Holy Cross.
Funk's three 30-point games are one shy of the Bucknell single-season record, shared by Joe Steiner (1960-61) and Zach Thomas (2017-18). He moved from 41st to 38th on Bucknell's all-time scoring list with 1,060 points, passing Sekou Hamer, Mark Atkinson, and Gordon Mboya.
After snapping a four-game home losing streak, the Bison head back on the road to face Colgate on Wednesday night.
POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE:
Team Stats
Loyola
Buck
FG%
.491
.532
3FG%
.318
.429
FT%
.731
.920
RB
18
33
TO
8
20
STL
13
5
Game Leaders
Pts
34
FGM
12
3FGM
6
FTM
4
Pts
14
FGM
3
3FGM
2
FTM
6
Pts
9
FGM
3
3FGM
1
FTM
2
Pts
8
FGM
3
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballF
/ Men's BasketballG
/ Men's BasketballC
/ Men's Basketball
C
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