Men's Basketball Set for Home Opener Wednesday vs. Mount St. Mary's

Men's Basketball Set for Home Opener Wednesday vs. Mount St. Mary's

11/12/2024 11:56:00 AM | Men's Basketball

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- On the heels of a successful 2-1 road trip on the opening week of the 2024-25 season, the Bucknell men's basketball team is looking forward to getting in front of some friendly faces in Sojka Pavilion. The Bison play their next four games at home, starting Wednesday against Mount St. Mary's at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on ESPN+ with radio coverage on Eagle 107 and BucknellBison.com.

Fans are reminded about the new mobile ticketing system in place this year for all men's and women's basketball games. Search "Bucknell Basketball" in your Apple Store or Google Play Store, download the app, and then register with your email address. Tickets may be purchased through the app and then scanned right from your phone upon entry to Sojka Pavilion. Tickets can also easily be tansferred to someone else through the app.

For Bucknell students, free orange and blue Hawaiian shirts will be given away while supplies last.

The Bison head into their home opener with a 2-1 record. Bucknell debuted with a come-from-behind 85-73 win at Delaware last Monday and then rallied again to beat Southern Indiana 75-69 in overtime. Most recently, the Bison fell 100-72 to No. 23 Kentucky on Saturday at Rupp Arena.

Noah Williamson, who scored a career-high 32 points in the win at USI, leads the Bison in scoring (19.3) and rebounding (8.7). Josh Bascoe has scored 18, 15 and 15 points in his first three games and is averaging 16.0 ppg, and Ian Motta has produced career-high-tying 18-point games against Kentucky and Delaware.

Mount St. Mary's is off to a 1-1 start, with an opening night 98-62 win against Notre Dame of Maryland followed by an 86-52 loss to Maryland. First year head coach Donny Lind's squad is led by Dallas Hobbs at 19.0 ppg.

Bucknell leads the all-time series 13-11 dating back to the first meeting in 1912. The Bison and Mountaineers are officially getting together for the first time since Bucknell's 81-65 win at Sojka Paviloni in 2016, however the two teams did square off in Emmitsburg in a "Behan Strong" charity exhibition game prior to last season. The Mount prevailed in double overtime in that one.

GAME DIGEST
What: Mount St. Mary's (1-1) at Bucknell (2-1)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Wednesday, Nov. 13, 7 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Local Radio: Eagle 107
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES | BUY TICKETS

With a Win over Mount St. Mary's, Bucknell Would ...

... start a season 3-1 for the first time since 2015-16.
... improve to 14-11 all-time against The Mount.
... improve to 214-85 at Sojka Pavilion.

Headlines

After playing two preseason scrimmages and their first three regular-season games on the road, the Bison are ready for some home games. Mount St. Mary's visits Sojka Pavilion for the home opener on Wednesday, which kicks off a four-game homestand.
The Bison went 2-1 on the opening week road trip, starting with good wins over Delaware and Southern Indiana before falling at No. 23 Kentucky on Saturday.
The Bison started a season with two straight wins on the road for the first time since 2005-06 (Rider, Syracuse).
Bucknell's two wins at Delaware and Southern Indiana were punctuated by strong finishes. In the opener at Delaware, the Bison trailed by as many as 12 in the first half, they took their first lead with 3:47 remaining in the game, and then they broke a 73-all tie with a dominant 12-0 run to end the game. Last Thursday in Evansville, Bucknell held the Screaming Eagles to one point in the final 3:58 of regulation to force overtime, and then the Bison outscored USI 12-6 in the extra period.

Bucknell Scoring Differential in First 3 Games
First 37 Minutes -29
Last 3 Minutes of Regulation and OT +22

Junior center Noah Williamson dominated Southern Indiana with a career-high 32 points. The 7-foot center went 14-for-18 from the foul line, and he scored Bucknell's last four points of regulation and its first seven points in overtime. Williamson was a Third Team All-Patriot League selection after a breakout sophomore season and was one of five players named to this year's Preseason All-Patriot League Team. He also had 19 points and 12 rebounds against Delaware and is averaging 19.3 points and 8.7 rebounds through two games.
Seniors Josh Bascoe and Ian Motta are also off to a good starts. Motta recorded a career-high-tying 18 points against both Delaware and Kentucky. Bascoe has scored at least 15 points in every game so far and is averaging 16.0 ppg.
This is year No. 2 under head coach John Griffin III, a 2008 Bucknell graduate who was a standout guard for the Bison. Bucknell went 14-19 overall and 10-8 in the Patriot League last season. The Bison were playing their best basketball at the end of the year and finished in a four-way tie for second place, although tiebreakers relegated them to the No. 5 seed in the Patriot League Tournament. An 80-57 rout of American in the PL quarterfinals was the team's fourth straight victory, and then the Bison took top-seeded Colgate to the final seconds in a 68-65 loss in the semifinals.
The Bison returned all but three members of last year's team. Josh Adoh graduated and is using his extra COVID year at Cal State San Bernardino, a reigning Division II Final Four team. Also graduated from last year's team are top scorer Jack Forrest (16.0 ppg, First Team All-Patriot League) and walk-on Alek Delev.
That continuity leaves the Bison with one of its oldest teams in several years. Of the 15 players on the roster, 10 are either seniors (4) or juniors (6).

Bucknell's Returning Production in 2024-25
Points   71.4%
Rebounds   78.0%
Assists    84.0%
Blocks   91.2%
Steals    71.8%
3FG 61.7%

Mount St. Mary's is crossing state lines for the first time this season. After opening with a 98-62 rout of Notre Dame of Maryland, the Mountaineers fell 86-52 to Maryland in College Park on Friday.
Donny Lind is in his first year as head coach at The Mount replacing Dan Engelstadt, who took an assistant coaching position at Syracuse. Lind was formerly an assistant under Mike Jones, the father of former Bucknell guard Nate Jones, at UNC Greensboro and Radford.
Dallas Hobbs is coming off a 21-point performance at Maryland, and he is averaging 19.0 ppg while hitting 14 of 24 shots from the field.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Mount St. Mary's game will be streamed on ESPN+ with "Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong and former Bison assistant coach Terry Conrad calling the action.
Joe Vasile will have the local radio call on Eagle 107 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.

Last Time Out

Koby Brea hit six of Kentucky's 13 3-pointers and scored a game-high 20 points to lead the No. 23 Wildcats to a 100-72 victory over Bucknell before 20,048 fans at Rupp Arena on Saturday afternoon. Ian Motta matched his career high with 18 points and Josh Bascoe added 15 for the Bison.
Brea, a Dayton transfer who led the nation in 3-point shooting (.498) last season, went 6-for-8 from the arc and is now 10-for-12 in two games this season. The Wildcats shot 48.1% overall, and when they did miss they grabbed 22 offensive rebounds on the way to a 57-35 edge on the glass. The Bison had outrebounded their first two opponents but were at a distinct size disadvantage in this one.
Bucknell shot 39.7% overall and hit 12 of 33 attempts from the arc, with eight different players hitting threes. Coming off the short turnaround after winning in overtime at Southern Indiana on Thursday, the Bison were hampered early in this one as center Noah Williamson, coming off a 32-point game, picked up two fouls in the first 2:03 and starting forward Ruot Bijiek was limited to four minutes due to injury.
Williamson finished with seven points and five rebounds in 24 minutes. Pip Ajayi filled in well with five points and a Bucknell career-best nine rebounds.
The Bison had some bright moments throughout, but every time they made a little run the Wildcats seemed to answer with a 3-pointer. It was a 10-6 game after a Spadone 3-pointer, but treys by Brea and Kerr Kriisa keyed a 12-1 run, and the Wildcats led by double digits the rest of the way.

Bucknell vs. Mount St. Mary's Series Notes

Bucknell and Mount St. Mary's first met all the way back in 1912, and the Bison hold a 13-11 edge in the all-time series.
This will be the first official meeting between the two teams since 2016, when the Bison prevailed 81-65 at Sojka Pavilion. The two teams met in a charity exhibition game to benefit the "Behan Strong" foundation, in support of former Bison Pat Behan's battle with ALS. The Mount won a double-overtime thriller at Knott Arena.
In that 2016 meeting in Lewisburg, Zach Thomas stuffed the boxscore with 16 points, eight rebounds, seven assists, four blocked shots and three steals, helping Bucknell to the 16-point victory over Mount St. Mary's. The Bison broke open a tie game with nine minutes to go with a 22-5 run. Kimbal Mackenzie also scored 16 points with four assists. Nana Foulland had 14 points, nine rebounds and five blocks, and Stephen Brown tallied eight of his 11 points in that decisive run at the end of the game. Junior Robinson scored a game-high 20 points to lead Mount St. Mary's.

Patriot League Success

Bucknell is 326-172 (.655) all-time in Patriot League regular-season games, the best record of any league team. Last year marked the 27th time in 34 years that the Bison finished with a PL record of .500 or better.
Bucknell won three straight Patriot League regular-season titles from 2011-13, becoming the first team in league history to accomplish that feat. The Bison had won five in a row and eight of the previous nine before finishing T-6th in 2019-20.
Bucknell has made nine Patriot League Tournament appearances as the No. 1 seed and seven as the No. 2 seed.
Bucknell won Patriot League Tournament titles in 2005, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2018. The Bison have made it to the semifinals 25 times and to the championship game 13 times in the league's first 34 years.
The Bison are the only team to go unbeaten in league play in a season (14-0 in 2006).

Home Cooking

Since Sojka Pavilion debuted in 2003, the Bison are 213-85 (.715) overall and 154-47 (.766) against Patriot League foes.
Bucknell won a record 15 home games in 2016-17, and then it matched that figure a year later.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell's four-game home stretch continues on Saturday when Richmond visits Sojka Pavilion. The Spiders are 1-1 with a 101-68 win over Mt. Olive and a 79-72 loss to Marist. They will visit Charlotte on Wednesday before traveling to Lewisburg.