Men's Hoops Set for Saturday-Night Affair at Niagara

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell heads back out on the road on Saturday to face Niagara at 7 p.m. The Bison will be looking for a performance similar to last year's game with the Purple Eagles, which was one of the team's best of the season. Bucknell shot 57 percent from the field in the second half on the way to a 68-50 win at Sojka Pavilion. That came against a Niagara squad that went on to have a winning season and advance to the semifinals of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament.

Both teams have new looks from last season, however. Bucknell is looking to replace its top three scorers from 2022-23, while Niagara brought back only five lettermen. The Purple Eagles, under the direction of fifth-year head coach Greg Paulus, have eight newcomers, seven of whom are transfers.

While Bucknell is playing for the third time in six days, Niagara has been idle since Monday, when it had Notre Dame on the ropes in South Bend. The Purple Eagles led by 12 early, and the game was tied with five minutes to play before Notre Dame nudged ahead and won 70-63.

Bucknell is coming off an 80-61 loss at Penn on Wednesday, and after playing at Niagara on Saturday, the Bison head right back to Philadelphia for a Tuesday-night tilt at La Salle.

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (0-2) at Niagara (0-1)
Where: Gallagher Center, Niagara University, N.Y.
When: Saturday, Nov. 11, 7 p.m.
Streaming: ESPN+
Local Radio: The Valley (100.9 FM)
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: PurpleEagles.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

With a Win over Niagara, Bucknell Would ...

... give John Griffin III his first win as a head coach.
... defeat the Purple Eagles for the fifth straight time and move to 6-5 in the all-time series.
... snap a five-game road losing streak dating back to last season.

Headlines

Bucknell looks to get in the win column for the first time this season when its busy November slate continues on Saturday night at Niagara. This is the second game of a four-game road trip, and the Bison will be playing four times in the first eight days of the season and a school-record-tying nine times in the month of November.
Slow starts have hurt the Bison in losses to Delaware and Penn in the first two games of the season. Bucknell was outscored 97-58 in the first halves of those two contests, while only being outscored 61-60 in the second halves.
Bucknell's best 12-minute stretch thus far came at the start of the second half at Penn on Wednesday. The Bison opened the half on an 11-2 run and eventually pulled within nine after trailing by as many as 22 in the first half, but the Quakers pulled away again in the late stages and won 80-61.
Jack Forrest has been Bucknell's top scorer in both games, logging 18 points against Delaware and 11 against Penn. Forrest is off to a 7-for-14 start from 3-point distance.
The Bison have gotten good minutes from reserve guard Josh Bascoe thus far. The junior handed out a career-high eight assists against Delaware, and then he scored a career-high 10 points with four assists at Penn. Bascoe has 12 assists and only three turnovers in 47 minutes of action this season.
Rebounding has been an issue for Bucknell in the first two games. The Bison are -40 on the glass after Penn outrebounded them 52-22 on Wednesday. Nearly a quarter of Bucknell's points allowed on the season have been second-chance opportunities.
Bucknell is just getting going in its 129th season of basketball, dating back to its first game on Feb. 14, 1896, a 16-14 victory over Lock Haven.
Bucknell is looking to rebound from a 12-20 season a year ago. The Bison went 5-13 in Patriot League play and fell 64-59 at American in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament.
The Bison were picked ninth in this year's Patriot League preseason poll, one spot ahead of Army West Point. Defending-champion Colgate was the preseason No. 1 pick. Griffin is one of five new head coaches in the Patriot League this season.
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 four straight sub-.500 seasons, something that has not happened since 2000-01 to 2003-04.
The Bison must replace their top three scorers in Xander Rice (14.1 ppg), Alex Timmerman (11.4 ppg), and Andre Screen (11.2 ppg), along with veteran forward Jake van der Heijden (3.3 ppg). Rice (Monmouth), Timmerman (Winthrop), and van der Heijden (North Florida) are all playing as fifth-year graduate students this year, while Screen is now at Butler.
In their place are incoming transfers Quin Berger (Saint Joseph's) and Pip Ajayi (Mercyhurst) and true freshmen Brandon McCreesh and Patrick O'Brien.
Niagara will be playing its second game of the season after dropping its opener 70-63 at Notre Dame last Monday. The Purple Eagles led by 12 early and by one at halftime, and the game was tied at 59-59 with 5:00 to go before the Irish slowly pulled away. Luke Bumbalough and Ahmad Henderson II paced Niagara with 14 points each, and Yaw Obeng-Mensah tallied 13 points and eight rebounds.
Niagara has eight newcomers and only five returnees from last year's team, which finished 16-15 overall and 10-10 in the MAAC before falling to Iona in the MAAC Tournament semifinals. The Purple Eagles have seven transfers, four of whom are fifth-year grad transfers. Greg Paulus' team was picked ninth in the MAAC preseason poll.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Niagara game will stream live on ESPN+, with Todd Callen on the call from the Gallagher Center.
Doug Birdsong is back for his 24th season as Bucknell's play-by-play announcer, and he will have the radio call on WVLY 100.9 FM in the Susquehanna Valley.
The audio feed is also available online free of charge via BucknellBison.com.
Live statistics can be accessed via PurpleEagles.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

Freshman Tyler Perkins recorded 24 points and 14 rebounds, and Penn used a big first half and a wide disparity on the glass to defeat Bucknell 80-61 on Wednesday night at The Palestra. Elvin Edmonds IV and Philadelphia native Jack Forrest scored 11 points each for the Bison, who cut a 22-point deficit down to nine with a strong opening 12 minutes of the second half.
Josh Bascoe had another strong game off the bench with 10 points and four assists, but the Bison dropped their road opener and fell to 0-2 after a pair of setbacks to two good teams in Delaware and Penn.
The Bison emerged from the locker room with renewed energy after a difficult first half, opening the stanza on an 11-2 run to get back in the game. Once down by as many as 22, Bucknell got as close as nine on a 3-point play by Edmonds with 8:42 remaining.
The Bison had a couple of chances to get closer but couldn't get a few good looks to fall and also left some points at the foul line, and Penn was able to run it back out late. The Quakers limited Bucknell to only two more field goals after the Edmonds bucket that cut it to nine, and three big shots by Cam Thrower, who was 1-for-7 at the time, keyed an 11-1 run.
Penn shot 49.2% from the field and amassed a decisive 52-22 rebounding edge. That included 20 offensive rebounds that led to a 21-9 margin in second-chance points.
Bucknell blocked 10 shots in the game, its most since rejecting 10 against Loyola in 2018. Ian Motta, Ruot Bijiek, and Pip Ajayi blocked three shots apiece.
Bucknell shot 37.5% from the field, including 7-for-24 from the 3-point arc, and went 12-for-19 from the foul line. The Bison committed only 10 turnovers while forcing 16.

Bucknell vs. Niagara Series Notes

The Bison and Purple Eagles are meeting for the second straight season and for 11th time overall. Bucknell has won the last four meetings to even the all-time series at 5-5.
Last year at Sojka Pavilion, Bucknell turned in one of its best performances of the season in a 68-50 win over Niagara. The Bison led by four at the half, then shot 57% in the second half while outscoring the Purple Eagles 41-27.
Bucknell's last trip to Niagara came as part of the 2012 2K Sports Classic, when the Bison won three games in three days to capture the subregional. After trailing by as many as 12 late in the first half, Bucknell outscored Niagara 50-28 in the second half on the way to an 88-71 victory. Mike Muscala, then a senior, recorded 18 points, 16 rebounds, seven assists, and three blocked shots. Six Bison scored in double figures for the Bison, who shot 52.5% from the field and hit 9 of 18 from the arc.
Prior to last season's game, Niagara's most recent trip to Sojka Pavilion was a memorable game in a storybook 2004-05 season for the Bison. The Purple Eagles rolled in three days before Christmas with the highest-scoring offense in the nation, averaging 89.7 points per game. But Bucknell's 14th-ranked defense won out, as Charles Lee's 17-foot jumper with 0.9 seconds remaining gave the Bison a 76-74 victory. The Bison would follow with road wins over Saint Joseph's and No. 10/7 Pittsburgh, and the season culminated with a Patriot League championship and an NCAA first-round upset of Kansas.
These two teams first met on Jan. 12, 1982 in Buffalo, and the Purple Eagles won 92-75 on the way to a 19-10 season. The Bison avenged that loss with a 67-48 win in Davis Gym the following year.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell's four-game road stretch continues on Tuesday when the Bison head back to Philadelphia to face La Salle at 7 p.m.
The Bison fell 82-72 at Tom Gola Arena last season, despite a career-high 18 points from Ian Motta.

Men's Hoops Set for Saturday-Night Affair at Niagara

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Quin Berger

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Brandon McCreesh

Ian Motta

Patrick O'Brien

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden

Men's Hoops Set for Saturday-Night Affair at Niagara

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Quin Berger

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Brandon McCreesh

Ian Motta

Patrick O'Brien

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Jake van der Heijden

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