Men's Basketball Looks to Build on Army Win as Holy Cross Visits Sojka Pavilion Saturday

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bison men's basketball squad put an end to an eight-game losing streak on Wednesday night at West Point with a 68-66 win over an Army squad that had won six of its last seven games and was off to a 5-1 start in Patriot League play. Now Bucknell will look to build on that good road win when Holy Cross comes to Sojka Pavilion on Saturday afternoon for a 2 p.m. start.

Saturday's game will be the first of two home contests that will be televised locally on WQMY-TV. The Feb. 4 Army game will also air on the network. Both games will also be streamed on ESPN+.

Jack Forrest had a major impact on the win at Army. The Saint Joseph's transfer, who is just rounding into shape after missing most of the preseason and the first 10 games of the regular season with an injury, made his first Bucknell start and matched his career high with 25 points. Forrest had 18 points in the first half and finished 5-for-7 from the 3-point arc. Alex Timmerman just missed a double-double with 12 points and nine rebounds. Xander Rice saw his impressive streak of 20 straight double-digit scoring games come to an end as he was held to nine points, but he had five assists as well as the pass that led to Andre Screen's game-winning free throws with 0:02 remaining.

The Bison continue to play solid defense. They just played the two highest-scoring teams in the Patriot League on the road in Colgate and Army and conceded an average of only 68.5 points. Bucknell has allowed 67.5 points per game on the season, about 12 ppg better than last year, and leads the Patriot League in field-goal percentage defense (.418).

Bucknell and Holy Cross have met once already this season, a 60-58 Crusaders victory at the Hart Center on Dec. 30. The Bison fought back from an 18-point second-half deficit to tie the game in the late stages, but they could not get a few shots around the basket to fall in the final minute. Timmerman led the Bison with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Gerrale Gates had 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Crusaders. Gates currently leads the Patriot League in both scoring (17.4) and rebounding (9.3). Holy Cross started 3-1 in Patriot League play but has since dropped three straight, including a 77-71 verdict to first-place Colgate on Wednesday.

Bucknell will play at home again on Wednesday against Navy before playing three of the next four on the road.

GAME DIGEST
What: Holy Cross (6-14, 3-4 PL) at Bucknell (8-12, 1-6 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Saturday, Jan. 21, 2 p.m.
TV: WQMY-TV
Streaming: ESPN+
Local Radio: The Valley (100.9 FM)
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
TICKETS
COMPLETE GAME NOTES
DIGITAL GAME PROGRAM

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Elvin Edmonds IV (7.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 2.4 apg)
G: Xander Rice (15.1 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.9 apg)
G: Jack Forrest (7.1 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 0.9 apg)
F: Alex Timmerman (12.0 ppg, 6.9 rpg, 1.7 apg)
C: Andre Screen (11.1 ppg, 5.9 rpg, 1.1 bpg)

With a Win over Holy Cross, Bucknell Would ...

... win its second straight game and improve to 9-12 overall and 2-6 in the Patriot League.
... avenge a two-point loss to the Crusaders earlier this season.
... improve to 49-32 all-time against Holy Cross and 13-4 under Nathan Davis.
... halt a three-game home losing streak.

Headlines

Bucknell put an end to an eight-game losing streak on Wednesday, winning 68-66 against a red-hot Army squad that had won six of its previous seven. It wasn't easy, as the Bison saw the Black Knights erase a 17-point second-half deficit, but Andre Screen made two free throws with 0:02 left to win it.
One of the big stories on Wednesday was the performance of guard Jack Forrest in his first Bucknell start. The Saint Joseph's transfer matched his career high with 25 points, including 18 in a sensational first half. Forrest finished 9-for-15 from the field and 5-for-7 from 3-point distance. His previous 25-point game came against La Salle while playing for Saint Joseph's in 2021.
Bucknell played extremely well in building that 17-point lead and finally seemed to break out of a 10-game-long shooting slump. The Bison had been shooting just 23.8% from the 3-point arc in Patriot League play and 29.8% in the last 10 games, but they went 8-for-17 from downtown against Army.
Bucknell's recent shooting struggles have not included free-throw accuracy. The Bison went 19-for-20 from the line at Colgate last Saturday, and over the last seven games they are 83-for-104 (.798). Bucknell leads the Patriot League in free-throw shooting at 73.3% on the season.
Screen has now won two games this season with late free throws. He also hit a tiebreaking free throw with 5.9 seconds remaining in a 66-65 win over Presbyterian at the Greenlight Sunshine Slam on Nov. 21. The 7'1" center has been very good at the charity stripe of late, hitting 15 of 17 in his last five appearances.
Senior Xander Rice has upped his scoring output in his senior season and comes into the game as the Patriot League's third-leading scorer at 15.1 ppg.

2022-23 Patriot League Scoring Leaders
1. Gerrale Gates, Holy Cross   17.4
2. Jalen Rucker, Army   16.4
3. Xander Rice, Bucknell   15.1
4. Evan Taylor, Lehigh   14.9
5. Tucker Richardson, Colgate   14.9

Rice became the first Bison player with 20 straight double-figure scoring games since Stephen Brown did it in the final 21 games of the 2017-18 season. That streak ended on Wednesday when he was held to nine points at Army.
Holy Cross held on to defeat Bucknell 60-58 on the opening day of Patriot League play back on Dec. 30. That ignited a 3-1 conference start for the Crusaders, with the only loss coming in overtime to American. But since a 63-55 home win over Loyola on Jan. 8, Holy Cross has dropped its last three to Lehigh (76-58), Lafayette (62-48), and Colgate (77-71).
The Crusaders feature one of the league's best players in senior forward Gerrale Gates, who leads the PL in both scoring (17.4 ppg) and rebounding (9.3 rpg). Gates had 23 points and 14 boards in the first meeting with Bucknell, and he is currently riding a streak of three straight double-doubles.
Holy Cross has four players scoring in double figures on the season, with Bo Montgomery (11.3), Will Batchelder (10.8), and Joe Octave (10.1) supporting Gates. Batchelder, who hit the go-ahead bucket late in the Crusaders' win over the Bison at the Hart Center, is coming off a 20-point game against Colgate.
The Bison were picked eighth in the Patriot League preseason coaches' poll, ahead of Holy Cross and Lafayette. Defending-champion Colgate was the preseason No. 1 pick.
Bucknell finished 9-23 a year ago. The Bison were playing well at the end of the season, however, with an overtime win at Lafayette in the Patriot League Tournament first round capping a 3-1 stretch. Bucknell was eliminated by Colgate in the quarterfinal round.
Bucknell won eight Patriot League regular-season titles in a nine-year span from 2011-19, and the Bison went to the NCAA Tournament in 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2018 during that stretch. Now Bucknell is trying to rebound from a rare run of three straight sub-.500 seasons, something that has not happened since 2007-08 to 2009-10, although the Bison did win conference tournament games in each of the last three years.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Holy Cross game will be televised locally on WQMY-TV in the Sranton/Wilkes-Barre market. Adam Marco and Doug Walsh will have the TV call, while "Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong will call the action for the live stream on ESPN+.
Kevin Foedinger will handle the local radio broadcast on The Valley, WVLY 100.9 FM.
The audio feed is also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.
Live in-game statistics can be accessed at BucknellBison.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Bucknell vs. Holy Cross Series Notes
The Bucknell-Holy Cross rivalry has been one of the league's best through the years. Some of the highlights:

The Bison and Crusaders have combined to win 11 of the last 22 Patriot League titles.
These two teams have met 17 times in the 32 Patriot League Tournaments, with Bucknell winning nine of the 17. That includes four times in the championship game. Bucknell defeated Holy Cross in the 2005 and 2006 title tilts, while the Crusaders topped the Bison in the final in 1993 and 2007.
The Bison and Crusaders had never met until the formation of the Patriot League in 1990-91, but this will be the 81st meeting in 32 years. The two teams did not play during the 2020-21 season under the COVID-modified Patriot League schedule that placed them in different divisions.
Bucknell leads the series 48-32. The road team has won just 13 of the last 35, although the away side won both game in last year's set.
Bucknell is 25-12 against Holy Cross in Lewisburg and 18-6 at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell is 18-17 vs. Holy Cross at the Hart Center, with one of the wins coming in the 2005 Patriot League championship game.
The Bison had won five straight meetings until the Crusaders prevailed 78-72 at Sojka Pavilion in the second of two contests last season. Xander Rice scored 21 points for the Bison, who trimmed an 11-point deficit to two in the final minutes before Holy Cross put the game away at the foul line. Gerrale Gates led Holy Cross with 19 points and 10 rebounds.
In last year's first meeting, Andre Screen recorded 12 points and 13 rebounds for his first career double-double in Bucknell's 68-65 win at the Hart Center. Screen clinched the game with two free throws with 4.8 seconds to play. Andrew Funk hit three critical shots in the final six minutes of the game after scoring his 1,000th career point earlier in the day. Funk tallied 14 points, Rice added 16, and Malachi Rhodes had six points and a career-high 10 rebounds. Gates carried Holy Cross with 32 points, 13 rebounds and five assists, although the Bison did limit him to two points over the final eight minutes of a tight game.
This season's first meeting came right down to the wire, as Holy Cross's 60-58 win was not decided until Rice's 3-point try came off the back iron at the buzzer. The Bison stormed back from 18 points down to tie the game at 57 on a Jake van der Heijden layup with 2:00 remaining. Will Batchelder put Holy Cross back in front with a shot in the lane with 1:28 left, and then the Crusaders benefitted from Bucknell's three missed layups in the final minute. Alex Timmerman led the Bison with 18 points and nine rebounds, while Gates had 23 points and 14 rebounds for the Crusaders.

Notable Numbers

Through 20 games in 2022-23, Bucknell has been much-improved defensively over last season, when the Bison struggled to get stops. Bucknell ranks No. 1 in the Patriot League in field-goal percentage defense, third in scoring defense, and fourth in 3-point defense.

Scoring Defense Opp. FG% Opp 3FG%
2021-22 79.4 .466 .373
2022-23 67.5 .418 .336

Bucknell has held nine of its 20 opponents under 40% from the field this season and is 7-2 in those games. Bucknell is 1-11 when the opponent shoots 40% or better, with Army (.433) the lone exception.
The Bison are looking for additional scoring options, as the team has had only two double-digit scorers in each of the last eight contests.
Xander Rice was named Tournament MVP of the Ocean Bracket at the Sunshine Slam during Thanksgiving Week. On Dec. 18 against Merrimack, he was held to 11 points, but he did hand out nine assists without a turnover. Rice, who ranks fourth in the Patriot League in assist/TO ratio (1.8), is one of only 35 Division I players — Lafayette's CJ Fulton is the only other Patriot League player to do it — to log nine or more assists with no turnovers in a game this season, and he is only the fourth different Bison to do it in the last 18 years.

Last Time Out

Andre Screen hit two tiebreaking free throws with two seconds remaining in the game to back up a career-high-tying 25-point performance from Jack Forrest, and Bucknell came away with a 68-66 victory over red-hot Army West Point on Wednesday night at Christl Arena.
Bucknell was in the midst of one of its most complete performances of the season, leading by 17 midway through the second half against an Army team that came in with a 5-1 Patriot League record and six wins in its last seven. The Black Knights made a furious comeback, scoring 10 straight points to tie the game on an Ethan Roberts layup with 15 seconds left.
The Bison ran a great play out of a timeout, as Screen rolled to the basket after setting a pick and took a nifty pass from Xander Rice before drawing a foul going up. Screen made both free throws with 2.1 seconds remaining, and Jalen Rucker's desperation shot came after the buzzer.
Forrest scored 18 of his points in the first half and matched his career high of 25, set against La Salle when he played for Saint Joseph's. Alex Timmerman finished with 12 points and nine rebounds. Rice tallied nine points and saw his streak of 20 straight double-digit scoring games come to an end, but he did have five assists and the game-winning pass to Screen on the final play.
Ethan Roberts led Army with 17 points, including eight of Army's 10 in that final run. Rucker, who came in averaging 22.0 points per game in Patriot League play, was held to 13. Elvin Edmonds IV had primary defending duties on Rucker, who was 6-for-17 from the field and 0-for-5 from the 3-point arc. Rucker had won each of the last two Patriot League Player of the Week awards after recent games of 35 and 29 points, and he entered the game leading all Division I players with a .725 3-point percentage in the month of January.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell will play at home again on Wednesday when it faces off against Navy for the first time this season. The Bison will be looking to shake a seven-game series losing streak to the Midshipmen.
Navy won its Patriot League opener 75-58 at Boston University, but then lost five straight to fall to 1-5 in conference play. The Midshipmen got back on course on Wednesday, beating Boston University for a second time, 63-45 in Annapolis. Navy renews its service academy rivalry with Army on Saturday at West Point.

Men's Basketball Looks to Build on Army Win as Holy Cross Visits Sojka Pavilion Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Andrew Funk

Malachi Rhodes

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden

Men's Basketball Looks to Build on Army Win as Holy Cross Visits Sojka Pavilion Saturday

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Andrew Funk

Malachi Rhodes

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden

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