Men’s Basketball Takes Down Penn State, 76-67

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – Three days after letting a second-half lead get away against Princeton, Bucknell flipped the script on Saturday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center, overcoming a 10-point second-half deficit to run past Penn State 76-67. Jack Forrest scored 23 points, Noah Williamson scored 21, and Josh Bascoe logged 11 points and a career-high 10 assists to send the Bison into the two-week final exams break on a high note.

The Bison (3-7), who were playing their 10th game in four weeks to start the season, trailed 37-27 early in the second half before outscoring the Nittany Lions (4-4) 49-30 over the final 18 minutes. Bucknell shot 69.2 percent from the field in the second stanza and beat Penn State for the first time since a 90-80 win early in the 2013-14 season.

"We played a good basketball game for 32 minutes against Princeton, and the takeaway from that game was we needed to do it for 40 minutes," said head coach John Griffin III. "Today we executed for 40 minutes, and that's a credit to the tough mindset that our guys are developing. We've played 10 games in less than a month without much practice time. So these guys are learning how to win basketball games on the fly. To beat a physical Big Ten team on the road is a huge step forward, and now we will get a chance to focus on finals and take a long look at the areas where we need to improve."

Happy faces in Happy Valley! 🦬#rayBucknell #TheBisonWay pic.twitter.com/jBqjYP1NCl
— Bucknell MBasketball (@Bucknell_MBB) December 2, 2023

Forrest was the catalyst early with 16 first-half points, and then Williamson scored 15 of his 21 in the second half, finishing 9-for-13 from the field. The 7'0" center's 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2:50 to play was one of the biggest shots of the night. It gave the Bison a 64-62 lead, and after Nick Kern split a pair of free throws, Williamson scored in the lane off a feed from Bascoe. Qudus Wahab, who had 18 points for Penn State, missed two free throws, and then Quin Berger hit a dagger three in the right corner on his first shot attempt of the game to stretch the margin to 69-63 with 1:35 to go.

Bucknell went 5-for-6 at the foul line to build on the lead, and Williamson put an exclamation point on the day with a dunk in the final 10 seconds.

Coming out of the locker room with a 33-27 advantage, Penn State scored the first four points of the second half to take its largest lead of 10 points at 37-27. Bucknell responded well, as Williamson's jam off a Bascoe feed ignited a 16-4 run. Ian Motta gave the Bison a huge lift coming off the bench, scoring three times in transition, the last knotting the game at 43-43 with 11:38 to go.

Forrest's face-up three from the right wing gave the Bison their first lead of the second half at 48-47 at the 10:13 mark. At that juncture, Penn State had only one offensive rebound all day, but the Nittany Lions grabbed four on the next two possessions, which led to five straight points for Zach Hicks. His 3-pointer with 8:32 left gave the Lions a 52-48 lead.

Bijiek canned a big 3-pointer at the other end, and then Bascoe's breakaway layup gave the Bison the lead back at 53-52, and it was game-on from there. There were 13 lead changes in the game, nine coming in the second half.

Bucknell shot a season-high 58.0 percent from the field, including 10-for-21 accuracy from the 3-point arc. The Bison outrebounded Penn State 25-24 and had 15 assists against 14 turnovers against a high-pressure defense that came in ranked 15th nationally in forcing turnovers (17.1).

Bijiek and Motta both added eight points for Bucknell, and Bascoe and Forrest combined for six of the team's 10 steals. The Bison were +4 in the steals category in the game.

Penn State shot 46.9 percent overall and hit just 4 of 19 tries from downtown. The Nittany Lions were 17-for-22 from the foul line. In addition to Wahab's 18, Ace Baldwin Jr. had 17 points off the bench, and Hicks finished with 13.

Penn State got out to a quick 9-2 lead, but Forrest and Bijiek hit 3-pointers to help the Bison settle into the game. Back-to-back buckets by Williamson put Bucknell ahead for the first time at 15-14, and the lead changed hands three more times over the next four minutes.

Forrest's pull-up three in transition ended a 5:20 scoreless drought and a 6-0 Penn State run. Another Williamson post move pulled the Bison within 28-27, but the Lions scored the final five points of the half, the last three coming on three Baldwin free throws with 0:02 left.

Bucknell is back in action on Dec. 16 at home against Radford at 3:30 p.m.

Gallery: (12-2-2023) Men's Basketball at Penn State

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Team Stats

Jack Forrest

Noah Williamson

Josh Bascoe

Ian Motta

Players Mentioned

Josh Bascoe

Quin Berger

Jack Forrest

Ian Motta

Noah Williamson