Bison Host American Saturday on 19th Annual Dirk Sojka's Slam Dunk with Bison Basketball

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- One of the most special days on the Bison Athletics calendar each year is "Dirk Sojka's Slam Dunk with Bison Basketball", and the 19th annual event is set for Saturday afternoon when the Bison host American at 2 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion. All proceeds from the game, including a raffle drawing and a robust selection of silent auction items, will benefit SUNCOM Industries, a local organization that provides a workplace for people with developmental and physical disabilities. The late Dirk Sojka, son of former Bucknell University president Gary Sojka and his wife Sandy, was employed by SUNCOM prior to his passing.

Saturday's hoops matchup will be televised on CBS Sports Network, and it features two teams looking to build on victories on the opening night of Patriot League play. Bucknell used a big second half to race past Holy Cross 70-58 at Sojka Pavilion on Wednesday. Josh Bascoe (21 points) and Ruot Bijiek (14 points) both set career scoring highs, and Elvin Edmonds IV added 14 points and six assists to lead the Bison. Bucknell led 23-20 at the half and then caught fire in a 47-point second half. American was a 75-66 winner over Lehigh at Bender Arena on Wednesday. Matt Rogers scored 16 points on 7 of 9 shooting to help the Eagles improve to 7-7 overall this season. Rogers, a 6'9" pivot, is one of the league's top players. He was a Second Team All-Patriot League selection last season and was named to the Preseason All-Patriot League Team this year. Rogers (15.6 ppg) and Bucknell's Jack Forrest (15.2 ppg) rank second and third, respectively, in the Patriot League scoring race.

Saturday's game will be Bucknell's third in a row at home, and after a trip to Lehigh on Wednesday, the Bison will be back in Sojka Pavilion next Saturday to host defending-champion Colgate at 3:30 p.m. That will be Alumni Day at Bucknell. Numerous former Bison standouts will be back for the alumni game earlier in the day, and the 1988-89 team will be honored on the 35th anniversary of their East Coast Conference championship. Hall-of-Fame coach Charlie Woollum and several members of that squad are expected to be in attendance.

Bucknell's holiday ticket sale continues through Jan. 10. Click on the image below to purchase tickets, and use the promo code RAY4SNOW to get 50% off all tickets.

GAME DIGEST
What: American (7-7, 1-0 PL) at Bucknell (4-10, 1-0 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Saturday, Jan. 6, 2 p.m.
Watch: CBS Sports Network
Local Radio: The Valley 100.9 FM
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

Bucknell Tentative Starters
G: Josh Bascoe (9.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 4.9 apg)
G: Elvin Edmonds IV (10.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 3.1 apg)
G: Jack Forrest (15.2 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.2 apg)
F: Ruot Bijiek (7.7 ppg, 2.6 rpg, 1.0 apg)
C: Noah Williamson (10.6 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 0.6 bpg)

With a Win over American, Bucknell Would ...

... win its second straight game and start Patriot League play 2-0.
... improve to 2-0 in the league for the first time since 2019-20.
... improve to 48-28 all-time against American.
... improve to 3-4 at home this season and 210-81 all-time at Sojka Pavilion.

Headlines

Bucknell and American will be vying for a 2-0 start in the Patriot League when the two sides clash on Saturday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. All five home teams won in round one of league play on Wednesday, and the Bison and Eagles were two of them. Bucknell started slowly against Holy Cross but rode a 47-point second half to a 70-58 win. American hit 10 3-pointers and shot 55.1% from the field in a 75-66 home victory over Lehigh.
These are two of the five teams in the Patriot League with new head coaches this year. Bucknell's John Griffin III has taken the reins at his alma mater, and former Maryland standout Duane Simpkins has the Eagles off to a good start in his first year as a head coach.
Bucknell and American both traveled to Italy in August and actually played a couple of the same teams there. Both sides won handily against Stella Azzura in Rome. The Bison defeated Orange1 Bassano just outside Florence, while the Eagles split two games against that club.
The Bison will be looking to avenge a loss to American in last year's Patriot League Tournament. Bucknell swept the regular-season series, but the Eagles won 64-59 in the first round of the tournament. The Bison had been 3-0 all-time against AU in the Patriot League Tournament until then.
Bucknell faced some very good competition in November and December. The team's 13 non-league opponents had a combined 99-69 (.584) through the end of the calendar year. Ten of the 13 had records of .500 or better.
Junior guard Josh Bascoe continued his breakout season with a career-high 21 points against Holy Cross on Wednesday. He kept the Bison in the game when they were struggling offensively in the first half. Bascoe started 5-for-7 from the field while the rest of the team was just 2-for-19 at that time. Since joining the starting lineup at Duke on Nov. 17, he is averaging 35.1 minutes per game. Prior to this season, he had played more than 19 minutes in a game only once.
Jack Forrest will play in his 100th career game on Saturday. Forrest, who played one season at Columbia and two at Saint Joseph's before coming to Bucknell a year ago, earned Patriot League Player of the Week honors on Dec. 4 after eclipsing the 20-point mark against both Princeton (21) and Penn State (23). It was the first career PL Player of the Week honor for Forrest, who now ranks third in the Patriot League in scoring at 15.2 ppg. Forrest leads the league in free-throw percentage (.895), 3-pointers per game (2.6), and minutes per game (35.5).
Sophomore Ruot Bijiek is starting to give the Bison some much-needed scoring at the 4 spot. Bijiek set a career high with 13 points in the final non-league game against Saint Peter's, and then he topped that with 14 against Holy Cross on Wednesday. Bijiek, who is 8-for-12 from the field in his last two games, hit four second-half 3-pointers against the Crusaders to help the Bison pull away.
Bucknell is in the midst of 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, while American was slotted No. 3.
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.
American was one of the league's top teams throughout non-conference play, finishing with a 6-7 record. The Eagles typically start three seniors, a junior, and a freshman, and they lead the Patriot League in scoring (73.8), field-goal percentage (.455), and 3-point percentage (.363). Playing at a faster pace under Simpkins, American's scoring average is up better than eight points per game from last season.
Senior Matt Rogers was a Preseason All-Patriot League selection after earning Second Team honors in 2022-23. Rogers is the league's No. 2 scorer at 15.6 ppg, just ahead of Bucknell's Forrest, and he is third in the league in rebounding at 6.5 rpg. The Eagles don't lose much when Rogers exits the game, as backup post Jermaine Ballisager Webb leads the league in field-goal percentage (.656) and averages 7.7 ppg even though he only plays 12.9 minutes per game.
In the backcourt, Elijah Stephens leads the league in assists (5.4) and is second in assist-turnover ratio (2.4). Geoff Sprouse (.395), Lorenzo Donadio (.410), and freshman Matt Mayock (.424) can all light it up from downtown.

How to Get the Game

Saturday's game will be the first Patriot League contest of the year that is part of the league's CBS Sports Network package. Jason Knapp and Mo Cassara are back on the call this season.
"Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong and former Bucknell assistant coach Terry Conrad will slide over to the radio side and will provide the call on The Valley 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 BucknellBison.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Notable Numbers

Josh Bascoe is one of only 28 players in the nation with at least four games of eight or more assists this season.
Bucknell has been strong from the free-throw line of late after a slow start to the season. The Bison are 107-129 (.829) from the stripe over the last seven games. Center Noah Williamson has been a big part of that resurgence, as he is 30-36 (.833) during that span.
Williamson ranks sixth nationally in free-throw percentage among all 7-footers with a minimum 2.5 makes per game.

Free-Throw Percentage, Players 7'0" or Taller
1. Quinten Post, Boston College   7-0   .816
2. Kennan Fitzmorris, Stony Brook  7-0   .778
3. Branden Carlson, Utah    7-0   .768
4. Will Baker, LSU 7-0   .760
5. Zach Edey, Purdue 7-4   .767
6. Noah Williamson, Bucknell 7-0   .745

Bucknell went 15-for-15 from the foul line against Radford on Dec. 16. That is tied for the sixth-most made free throws without a miss in team history. The record is 22-for-22 against Lafayette on Feb. 1, 1989.
Bucknell has shot the three much better at home (37.1%) than on the road (29.0%) this season.
Josh Bascoe in the win over Penn State had 11 points, 10 assists, five rebounds, and three steals. The only other Bison besides Bascoe in the last 20 years to have a game with at least 10 points, 10 assists, five rebounds, and three steals was Steven Kaspar, who went 12-10-7-3 against Navy on Jan. 15, 2014. Bascoe is the only Patriot League player with a 10-assist game this season.

Last Time Out

Josh Bascoe scored a career-high 21 points, Ruot Bijiek added a career-high 14, and the Bison opened Patriot League play with a 70-58 win over Holy Cross on Wednesday evening at Sojka Pavilion. Leading 23-20 at the half after both teams got out to frosty starts, the Bison came out on fire in the second stanza, hitting seven of their first nine attempts from 3-point distance, running their lead up to as many as 18.
Elvin Edmonds IV matched Bijiek with 14 points while contributing six assists, five rebounds, and a pair of steals. Bijiek also stuffed the stat sheet, adding five rebounds, three assists, two steals, and two blocks. Jack Forrest was the fourth Bison in double figures, scoring 10 points and adding three steals. Pip Ajayi was terrific off the bench with seven points and a season-high nine rebounds along with two steals.
Joe Octave scored 17 points and Caleb Kenney had 16 points, eight rebounds, and three steals to lead the Crusaders, who saw their three-game series winning streak against the Bison snapped.
Former Bison head coach Dave Paulsen made his return to Sojka Pavilion, this time on the visitors' bench alongside his associate head coach Bryson Johnson, who is Bucknell's all-time leading 3-point shooter. Not long after a pregame tribute was played on the arena video boards, Paulsen and Bison first-year head coach John Griffin III saw their teams struggle offensively at the outset. But after going just 1-for-13 from downtown in the first half, the Bison started 7-for-9 in the second and used a 16-2 run to pull away.

Bucknell vs. American Series Notes

Bucknell has an overall 47-28 lead in an all-time series with American that includes some historic dates.
The very first meeting on Jan. 14, 1939 also happened to be the first game ever played in Davis Gym (AU won 38-33). Coincidentally, American was also the opponent for the very last game ever played in Davis Gym on Jan. 11, 2003 (a 63-52 Bison win).
As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell leads 32-16, including victories in the 2005 and 2006 PL Tournament semifinals and the 2020 quarterfinals.
Bucknell has won 27 of 35 series meetings in Lewisburg, including 19 out of 22 at Sojka Pavilion, but the Bison are just 12-13 at Bender Arena.
Bucknell swept both regular-season meetings from the Eagles last season, but American pulled out a close one in the first round of the Patriot League Tournament. All three clashes came in a span of only 17 days in February.
In the first meeting last season, Xander Rice led all scorers with 23 points in Bucknell's 78-71 win at Bender Arena. Ian Motta added 16 points, Jack Forrest had 14 points and Andre Screen 10 for the Bison, whose 55.6 FG% was their best of the season against a Division I opponent. Geoff Sprouse led AU with 16 points.
In the rematch at Sojka Pavilion on Feb. 13, Forrest matched his career high with 25 points, 18 coming in the second half, and Screen and Rice also had big nights to help Bucknell soar past American, 73-51. It was a complete performance for Bucknell, which shot 53.7% from the field, including a 10-for-16 showing from the 3-point arc. Defensively, the Bison held American to 42.0% from the field and 3-for-13 from long range, and they piled up a whopping 37-21 rebounding advantage. Matt Rogers finished with 20 points for AU.
The Eagles won 64-59 in the opening round of the Patriot League Tournament. Johnny O'Neil led American with 19 points, and his blocked shot followed by two clinching free throws helped determine the outcome. Rice had 17 points and Forrest 12 for the Bison.
In the three games against American last season, the Bison went an eye-popping 28-for-47 (.596) from 3-point range. One of those was a three-quarter-court heave from Elvin Edmonds IV to beat the halftime buzzer in the postseason game.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell plays its first road conference game of the season at Lehigh on Wednesday. The Mountain Hawks first play at Loyola on Saturday and will be looking to get on the board after opening league play with a loss at American.
Lehigh took both games from the Bison last season and has won four straight in the series on the heels of a 10-2 stretch for Bucknell.

Bison Host American Saturday on 19th Annual Dirk Sojka's Slam Dunk with Bison Basketball

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Noah Williamson

Bison Host American Saturday on 19th Annual Dirk Sojka's Slam Dunk with Bison Basketball

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Noah Williamson

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