Men's Basketball Visits Navy Wednesday Night in Annapolis

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell goes for a third straight win against teams in the top half of the Patriot League standings when it pays a visit to Navy on Wednesday night at Alumni Hall. The Bison defeated third-place American last Wednesday at Bender Arena -- the Eagles then turned around and handed Colgate its first Patriot League loss -- and then Bucknell beat fourth-place Army at home on Saturday to sweep the season series from the Black Knights.

Now the Bison must face a red-hot Navy squad that has moved up to fifth place at 6-6 after a 1-5 PL start. The Midshipmen have won five of their last six and are coming off blowout wins over Lafayette (53-34) and Holy Cross (86-68).

Both teams' centers had big games in the most recent wins. Bucknell's Andre Screen went 6-for-6 from the field against Army and finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots. Navy's Daniel Deaver was even better against Holy Cross, going for 35 points and 16 rebounds.

Navy won the first meeting 63-46 at Sojka Pavilion and has now won eight straight in the series. The Bison had won 19 of the previous 20 just prior to this stretch, and Bucknell's series lead is down to 44-43 dating back to 1920.

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (10-15, 3-9 PL) at Navy (13-11, 6-6 PL)
Where: Alumni Hall, Annapolis, Md,
When: Wednesday, Feb. 8, 7 p.m.
Streaming: ESPN+
Local Radio: WVLY (100.9 FM)
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: NavySports.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Xander Rice (14.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 3.7 apg)
G: Jack Forrest (8.2 ppg, 3.5 rpg, 1.5 apg)
F: Ian Motta (5.5 ppg, 2.4 rpg, 0.7 apg)
F: Alex Timmerman (11.7 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 1.7 apg)
C: Andre Screen (10.9 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 1.2 bpg)

With a Win over Navy, Bucknell Would ...

... win its third straight game and improve to 11-15 on the season.
... snap an eight-game series losing streak and beat the Midshipmen for the first time since Jan. 30, 2019.
... improve to 45-43 all-time against the Midshipmen.
... improve to 4-9 on the road this season and win at Alumni Hall for the first time since Jan. 24, 2018.

Headlines

Bucknell has won two straight games for the first time in Patriot League play this season, and now the Bison will look to make it three straight and gain a split of the season series with Navy on Wednesday in Annapolis.
Both of Bucknell's victories last week came against teams currently in the top four in the Patriot League standings. Last Wednesday at Bender Arena, the Bison defeated American 78-71, ending the Eagles' two-game winning streak. American came right back on Saturday and handed first-place Colgate its first conference loss in more than a year. Later that evening, the Bison defeated Army 73-67 to sweep that season series.
Bucknell led by as many as 19 against American and by as many as 14 against Army before holding off late comeback attempts.
Senior Xander Rice broke out of a three-game scoring drought with big performances in the last three games, and now Rice comes into the Navy game needing just three points to become Bucknell's 45th 1,000-point scorer.
Since being held to a season-low four points by Navy on Jan. 25, Rice has scored 61 in the last three contests. After posting back-to-back 20+ point performances against Loyola and American, Rice had 17 points, six assists, and no turnovers in Saturday's win over Army. Rice, who is set to play in his 104th consecutive game, is the Patriot League's third-leading scorer at 14.9 ppg.
Jack Forrest entered the starting lineup for the first time at Army and had a huge night. The Saint Joseph's transfer matched his career high with 25 points, including 18 in a sensational first half, in the 68-66 win at West Point. 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. Forrest has averaged 12.8 ppg since joining the starting unit and is 13-for-26 from the 3-point arc in that span.
Ian Motta made the most of his return to the starting lineup last Wednesday at American. Motta had come off the bench in the previous four games and had combined for 16 points in the first 10 Patriot League games before exploding for 16 in the win over the Eagles. Motta is shooting 46.2% from the 3-point arc on the season.
Andre Screen and Ruot Bijiek are both coming off strong games against Army. Screen went 6-for-6 from the field and finished with 15 points, seven rebounds, and three blocked shots. The freshman Bijiek played 29 minutes off the bench and matched his season high with 12 points while blocking a career-high four shots.
Bucknell and Navy have a brother-sister hoops tandem. Bison sophomore guard Elvin Edmonds IV is the younger brother of Navy senior guard Imani Edmonds. Imani started nine games last season before suffering a season-ending injury, and she has not been able to play this season.
An experienced Navy team that starts four seniors and a junior has bounced back nicely from a five-game losing streak that left it at 1-5 to start Patriot League play. The Midshipmen are 5-1 since then and are allowing only 56.2 ppg in that stretch. Since falling 73-69 to American on Jan. 28, they have won two one-sided road games, 53-34 at Lafayette and 86-68 at Holy Cross.
Senior Daniel Deaver was named Patriot League Player of the Week on Monday after a monster 35-point, 16 rebound performance against Holy Cross. Deaver leads the team in both scoring (12.6) and rebounding (6.4), and his 15.4 ppg average in PL games is fifth-best in the league. Tyler Nelson (12.0) and Sean Yoder (10.9) also score in double figures.
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-Navy game will be streamed on ESPN+, with Pete Medhurst and Mike Heary on the call from Alumni Hall.
"Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong 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 NavySports.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Bucknell vs. Navy Series Notes

This will be the 88th all-time meeting between the Bison and Midshipmen, with Bucknell clinging to a 44-43 edge in the series.
Navy has won the last eight meetings on the heels of a 19-1 stretch for Bucknell. This is Navy's longest series winning streak since it opened the series with 10 straight wins from 1920-50.
The Mids won 12 of 16 from the Bison prior to joining the Patriot League in 1991-92.
The first meeting between the two teams came 103 years ago in Annapolis, a 15-13 Navy win. According to the New York Times game story: The Naval Academy barely nosed out Bucknell at basket ball this afternoon, the score being 15 to 13. The game was one of the best contested and most expertly played staged here for years. Both teams had a splendid system of defense and the individual playing was of a high standard.
As conference rivals, Bucknell leads 40-31, with the home team winning most of the time. Since Navy joined the league, Bucknell is 27-8 against the Mids at home but is only 13-23 against Navy in Alumni Hall, although the Bison have won seven of their last 12 there.
Bucknell is 5-3 all-time against Navy in the Patriot League Tournament, including the Midshipmen's 76-75 win in the 1997 championship game. Navy won the first three postseason clashes, but the Bison have won the last five, including a 70-65 decision in the 2017 semifinal round.
Navy swept last season's series with two 18-point wins. The Midshipmen prevailed 73-55 in Annapolis and 81-63 in Lewisburg. The latter meeting was the first time Navy ever scored 80 points on Bucknell's campus, and it was only the eighth time hitting 80 in 86 all-time meetings.
Last season's first meeting was tied at 32 at the half, and Bucknell led 35-34 after a transition layup by Xander Rice, but that was one of only four Bison buckets in the first 14 minutes of the second half. Daniel Deaver led Navy with 20 points on 8-for-8 shooting, while John Carter Jr. scored 11 of his 18 at the foul line. Rice paced the Bison with 14 points. Elvin Edmonds IV tallied 12 points, and Andre Screen had 11 points and seven rebounds.
The rematch in Lewisburg followed a similar script, as the early stages of the second half proved to be the difference. Navy led 35-27 at intermission and then scored on its first nine possessions of the second half to take control. Andrew Funk scored a game-high 17 points for the Bison, while Tyler Nelson and Jaylen Walker scored 14 points each for the Midshipmen.
This year's first meeting at Sojka Pavilion was a defensive struggle. Bucknell led 7-4 midway through the first half, but while Navy eventually made a run, the Bison just could not get anything going offensively and fell 63-46. Bucknell managed only 12 field goals in 48 attempts, including 5-for-24 from 3-point range. Sean Yoder led Navy with 17 points, while Screen paced the Bison with 12.

Notable Numbers

Through 25 games in 2022-23, Bucknell has been much-improved defensively over last season, when the Bison struggled to get stops. Bucknell ranks No. 2 in the Patriot League in field-goal percentage defense and fifth in scoring defense.

Scoring Defense   Opp. FG%   Opp 3FG%
2021-22     79.4     .466     .373
2022-23 68.4 .430    .346

Bucknell's point differential on the season is now all even. The Bison have scored 1,710 points and allowed 1,710.
Bucknell has held nine of its 25 opponents under 40% from the field this season and is 7-2 in those games. Bucknell is 3-14 when the opponent shoots 40% or better.
Jack Forrest needs three 3-point field goals for 100 in his career.
Xander Rice has 121 career 3-pointers and is now tied with Darryl Shazier for 19th on Bucknell's all-time list.
Rice is also on 1,000-point watch, as he now has 997 in his career after scoring 61 in the last three games.
Rice's .841 career free-throw percentage would be the fourth-best in school history.
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 (1.5), is one of only 37 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.
Bucknell's "free throw defense" has been terrific this season. Opponents are shooting only 57.3% from the foul line at Sojka Pavilion, and their overall 64.3% mark on the season is fifth-lowest in the nation.

Last Time Out

Bucknell won its second straight game, defeating Army 73-67 on Saturday night before a spirited crowd at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison led for nearly the entire contest and swept the season series from the Black Knights, who entered the night in third place in the Patriot League.
Xander Rice was one of four Bison in double figures with a team-high 17 points
Bucknell led by as many as 11 points in the first half and by five at halftime. Army rallied to take a brief lead about six minutes into the second stanza, but a 15-2 Bison run gave them a seemingly commanding 65-51 lead with 2:29 to play. Army freshman Ethan Roberts made things interesting, however, knocking down four straight 3-pointers in the final minute to get the Black Knights as close as four. Rice made 6 of 8 free throws in the final 28 seconds to help preserve the victory.
The Orange and Blue shot 24-for-51 (47.1%) from the field and 19-for-24 (79.2%) from the foul line, while Army countered with 27-for-66 (40.9%) shooting from the floor and 5-for-11 (45.5%) at the charity stripe. Army did outrebound Bucknell, 37-29, and turned 14 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points.
Rice drew 10 fouls in the game, resulting in a season-high 12 free throw attempts, making eight. He also handed out a game-high six assists without committing a turnover in over 34 minutes of action.
Andre Screen contributed 15 points, making all six of his field goal attempts, seven rebounds, and three blocks, while freshman Ruot Bijiek matched his career-high offensively with 12 points and added a new career-high defensively with four blocks. Bijiek also made four big free throws in the late stages of the contest. Alex Timmerman scored 10 points while battling foul difficulty for much of the night.
Roberts finished with a career-high 32 points, making six of his eight three-point attempts, including those four makes in a 42-second span. Fellow plebe Coleton Benson was Army's other double-digit scorer with 15, as the two rookies combined for 47 of the team's 67 points.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell hosts Colgate on Saturday at noon at Sojka Pavilion.
Colgate won the first meeting of the season between the two teams, 71-65 in Hamilton, N.Y., on Jan. 14. That was part of an 11-0 start to Patriot League play for the Raiders, who dropped their first conference game of the season on Saturday at American.
This Saturday's game will feature one of the annual highlights of the home schedule, "Dirk Sojka's Slam Dunk with Bison Basketball". All proceeds, including a raffle drawing and silent auction, will benefit SUNCOM Industries, a local organization that provides a workplace for people with developmental and physical disabilities.

Men's Basketball Visits Navy Wednesday Night in Annapolis

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Andrew Funk

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

Men's Basketball Visits Navy Wednesday Night in Annapolis

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Andrew Funk

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Alex Timmerman

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