Wednesday, February 1
Washington, D.C.
7 p.m.
Bucknell University
9-15,2-9Patriot
78
at
71
American
14-8,6-5Patriot
1
2
F
Bucknell
44
34
78
American
32
39
71
Men’s Basketball Earns Hard-Fought 78-71 Road Win over American
2/1/2023 9:19:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The next Bucknell Basketball luncheon is slated for Thursday, Feb, 2 at noon at the Bull Run Tap House on Market Street in Lewisburg. Head men's coach Nathan Davis and head women's coach Trevor Woodruff will be joined by student-athletes from both teams for Q&A.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Xander Rice led four Bucknell players in double figures with a season-high 23 points, sending the Bison to a 78-71 victory over American on Wednesday night at Bender Arena. Ian Motta scored 16 points in his return to the starting lineup, Jack Forrest added 14 points, and Andre Screen had 10 to help the Bison snap a three-game losing streak.
Bucknell broke out of a team-wide shooting slump by hitting at a 55.6 percent clip on the night, including a stellar 9-for-13 from the 3-point arc. The Bison led by as many as 19 points midway through the second half and then hung on at the end after a few missed free throws and turnovers allowed American to creep as close as five in the final minute.
"This entire time I've been very happy with how we've practiced and our effort level in the games, but we just hadn't played with the confidence and focus for 40 minutes on game day," said head coach Nathan Davis. "It was terrific to see the guys rewarded for a great effort tonight. Now we need to get back at it tomorrow so we can repeat tonight's performance on Saturday against Army."
Bucknell (9-15, 2-9 PL) scored the final eight points of the first half to go up 44-32 at the break, and then Rice hit his fourth 3-pointer of the night on the first possession of the second half to stretch the margin to 15. American closed within nine on a Jaxon Knotek 3-point play before the Bison scored the next 10 in a row.
Josh Adoh's steal led to a Motta runout, Screen followed with a 3-point play, Forrest fed Ruot Bijiek for a layup, and Forrest swished a three coming out of the under-12 break for a 61-42 lead.
The Bison went nearly four minutes without a field goal later in the game, but a big 3-pointer from Bijiek and buckets from Rice and Forrest kept Bucknell's lead in double figures. Johnny O'Neil hit a three, and after Bucknell missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Geoff Sprouse drove for a layup that cut it to eight at 74-66 with 1:34 left.
American pulled within five at 76-71 with 39 seconds left, and then the Bison turned the ball over on a sideline out-of-bounds in the backcourt. Elijah Stephens missed a 3-pointer from the corner, Colin Smalls grabbed the offensive rebounds but his pass went out of bounds for a turnover.
Motta and Alex Timmerman both went 1-for-2 at the line in the final 20 seconds, and the Eagles couldn't connect on a couple of long-distance threes.
American (14-8, 6-5 PL) saw its two-game winning streak come to an end, despite shooting 50.0 percent from the field. The Eagles were just 4-for-15 from the 3-point arc but did plenty of damage on backdoor cuts out of their Princeton-style offense. AU scored 48 points in the paint to Bucknell's 32, but the Bison had a 20-10 edge in points off turnovers.
The Bison shot out of the gates quickly, hitting seven of their first eight shots on the way to an 18-9 lead. Rice scored seven points in a span of two possessions with a long three and then a 4-point play. Forrest's pull-up trey in transition capped that surge.
While Bucknell was on fire early, so was American thanks to a flurry of layups. The Eagles pulled within two at 32-30 on a Lincoln Ball layup, but Motta and Screen answered with two straight buckets for the Bison.
Stephens's free throws cut Bucknell's lead to 36-32 with 3:34 left in the half, but the Bison pitched a shutout the rest of the way. A free throw and a layup from Screen and then five more points from Rice in the final 90 seconds sent Bucknell to the locker room with a 44-32 lead.
Rice recorded his second 20-point game in a row and fourth of the season. He was 8-for-13 from the field and 4-for-6 from the arc.
Sprouse led American with 16 points. Matt Rogers had 12, and Stephens and O'Neil had 10 each. O'Neil also tallied a game-high 12 rebounds.
Bucknell returns home on Saturday to face Army at 7 p.m. The Bison will be going for a season sweep of the Black Knights after winning 68-66 on Jan. 18.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Xander Rice led four Bucknell players in double figures with a season-high 23 points, sending the Bison to a 78-71 victory over American on Wednesday night at Bender Arena. Ian Motta scored 16 points in his return to the starting lineup, Jack Forrest added 14 points, and Andre Screen had 10 to help the Bison snap a three-game losing streak.
Bucknell broke out of a team-wide shooting slump by hitting at a 55.6 percent clip on the night, including a stellar 9-for-13 from the 3-point arc. The Bison led by as many as 19 points midway through the second half and then hung on at the end after a few missed free throws and turnovers allowed American to creep as close as five in the final minute.
"This entire time I've been very happy with how we've practiced and our effort level in the games, but we just hadn't played with the confidence and focus for 40 minutes on game day," said head coach Nathan Davis. "It was terrific to see the guys rewarded for a great effort tonight. Now we need to get back at it tomorrow so we can repeat tonight's performance on Saturday against Army."
Bucknell (9-15, 2-9 PL) scored the final eight points of the first half to go up 44-32 at the break, and then Rice hit his fourth 3-pointer of the night on the first possession of the second half to stretch the margin to 15. American closed within nine on a Jaxon Knotek 3-point play before the Bison scored the next 10 in a row.
Josh Adoh's steal led to a Motta runout, Screen followed with a 3-point play, Forrest fed Ruot Bijiek for a layup, and Forrest swished a three coming out of the under-12 break for a 61-42 lead.
Ruuuuuuuu! The freshman gives us our largest lead of the night at 58-42. #rayBucknell
— Bucknell MBasketball (@Bucknell_MBB) February 2, 2023
Watch: https://t.co/tXf8IpkLxg@PatriotLeagueTV | @ESPN pic.twitter.com/E8Bis4h2TU
The Bison went nearly four minutes without a field goal later in the game, but a big 3-pointer from Bijiek and buckets from Rice and Forrest kept Bucknell's lead in double figures. Johnny O'Neil hit a three, and after Bucknell missed the front end of a 1-and-1, Geoff Sprouse drove for a layup that cut it to eight at 74-66 with 1:34 left.
American pulled within five at 76-71 with 39 seconds left, and then the Bison turned the ball over on a sideline out-of-bounds in the backcourt. Elijah Stephens missed a 3-pointer from the corner, Colin Smalls grabbed the offensive rebounds but his pass went out of bounds for a turnover.
Motta and Alex Timmerman both went 1-for-2 at the line in the final 20 seconds, and the Eagles couldn't connect on a couple of long-distance threes.
American (14-8, 6-5 PL) saw its two-game winning streak come to an end, despite shooting 50.0 percent from the field. The Eagles were just 4-for-15 from the 3-point arc but did plenty of damage on backdoor cuts out of their Princeton-style offense. AU scored 48 points in the paint to Bucknell's 32, but the Bison had a 20-10 edge in points off turnovers.
The Bison shot out of the gates quickly, hitting seven of their first eight shots on the way to an 18-9 lead. Rice scored seven points in a span of two possessions with a long three and then a 4-point play. Forrest's pull-up trey in transition capped that surge.
GREAT START for the Bison! Ian Motta with the steal and breakaway jam gives us a 20-11 lead at the first media TO. BU started 7-8 FG (3-3 3FG) and is now 8-11. #rayBucknell
— Bucknell MBasketball (@Bucknell_MBB) February 2, 2023
Watch: https://t.co/tXf8IpkLxg@PatriotLeagueTV | @ESPN pic.twitter.com/xjU3jJm1dF
While Bucknell was on fire early, so was American thanks to a flurry of layups. The Eagles pulled within two at 32-30 on a Lincoln Ball layup, but Motta and Screen answered with two straight buckets for the Bison.
Stephens's free throws cut Bucknell's lead to 36-32 with 3:34 left in the half, but the Bison pitched a shutout the rest of the way. A free throw and a layup from Screen and then five more points from Rice in the final 90 seconds sent Bucknell to the locker room with a 44-32 lead.
Rice recorded his second 20-point game in a row and fourth of the season. He was 8-for-13 from the field and 4-for-6 from the arc.
Sprouse led American with 16 points. Matt Rogers had 12, and Stephens and O'Neil had 10 each. O'Neil also tallied a game-high 12 rebounds.
Bucknell returns home on Saturday to face Army at 7 p.m. The Bison will be going for a season sweep of the Black Knights after winning 68-66 on Jan. 18.
Team Stats
Buck
Americ
FG%
.556
.500
3FG%
.692
.267
FT%
.643
.733
RB
24
33
TO
11
14
STL
8
5
Game Leaders
Scoring
Pts
23
FGM
8
3FGM
4
FTM
3
Pts
14
FGM
6
3FGM
2
FTM
0
Pts
10
FGM
4
3FGM
0
FTM
2
Players Mentioned
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