Men's Basketball Heads to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to Face Siena Saturday Evening

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The highly anticipated Bucknell-Siena men's basketball game at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza has arrived. The game was announced on July 26, and it marks the return of Division I college basketball to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton region for the first time in 19 years.

The game will be a homecoming for Scranton native Gerry McNamara, who is in his first season as head coach at Siena. The last Division I game played here was on Dec. 27, 2005, when McNamara's Syracuse team defeated Towson 86-52 before a crowd of more than 8,200. Siena's No. 2 scorer Justice Shoats is also a Wilkes-Barre native who is playing well in his first season after transferring from Lock Haven.

Sentimentality aside, this is a big game for both teams, as the Bison and Saints are both looking to snap losing streaks. After a 4-2 start, Bucknell is looking to bounce back from losses to Rider and Maryland. The Bison were averaging a league-best 80.3 points through six games but have been held to 60.0 in the last two. Siena started the season 3-0 but has since dropped four straight, most recently a 75-64 setback to Jacksonville in Fort Myers, Fla.

A fun note is that McNamara became the first Siena head coach to win the first two games of his tenure since John Griffin in 1982-83. Griffin's son, John Griffin III, is now Bucknell's head coach. The younger Griffin and McNamara went head to head on the court in both high school and college, with Griffin's teams winning both. Most notably, his Bison squad won at No. 17/29 Syracuse 74-69 early in the 2005-06 season.

It's been a busy start to the season, as this is Bucknell's ninth game in the month of November. After the Siena game, the Bison will have two more before taking a break for final exams. Bucknell hosts St. Bonaventure on Wednesday and then travels to Radford next Sunday. The Bonnies are 6-0 heading into this weekend's ESPN NIT Season Tip-Off in Orlando. The Highlanders are 6-2 after winning the Ocean Bracket of the Sunshine Slam earlier this week.

GAME DIGEST
What: Siena (3-4) at Bucknell (4-4)
Where: Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza, Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
When: Saturday, Nov. 30, 6 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Local Radio: The Valley 100.9 FM
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES | BUY TICKETS

With a Win over Siena, Bucknell Would ...

... snap a two-game losing streak and move back over .500 on the season at 5-4.
... end a four-game losing streak against the MAAC.
... improve to 3-5 all-time against the Saints and defeat them for the third time in the last four meetings.

Headlines

Bucknell and Siena get together on Saturday evening in a much-awaited neutral-site game at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. The game was announced last July and will be a homecoming for Siena first-year head coach Gerry McNamara.
This is Bucknell's first game at Mohegan Arena at Casey Plaza. The PIAA District 2 basketball championships have been held in the venue for the last nine years, but the last Division I college basketball game played here was on Dec. 27, 2005, when McNamara's Syracuse team defeated Towson 86-52 before a crowd of more than 8,200.
Both teams are looking to shed losing streaks. Losses to Rider and Maryland have dropped the Bison back to .500 at 4-4 on the season. Siena started the season 3-0 but has since lost four straight.
Bucknell head coach John Griffin III's father, John, was the head coach at Siena from 1982-86. When this year's Saints squad won its first two games, McNamara became the first Siena coach since Griffin to start his tenure 2-0.
Bucknell is looking to reverse its fortunes against the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. The Bison dropped home games to Mount St. Mary's and Rider earlier this season, and they have lost four straight against MAAC foes dating back to a win at Niagara early last season.
Two of Bucknell's four losses have come against major conference opponents in Kentucky and Maryland. The Bison fell 91-67 in College Park on Wednesday. Next month they will travel to Gonzaga and Syracuse as part of a challenging non-conference schedule.
The schedule says Bucknell has competed in eight games so far this month, but in reality it's 8.6 games when factoring in the five overtime periods the team has already played. The Bison lead all Division I teams in overtime games (3) and overtime periods (5), and they even played back-to-back 2OT games in a span of four days against Mount St. Mary's and Richmond. It was the first time Bucknell played consecutive 2OT games since 1978-79, when the Bison defeated Saint Joseph's and American.
Three of Bucknell's wins this season have featured dramatic second-half comebacks. The Bison trailed by as many as 12 at Delaware on opening night before ending the game on a 12-0 run to win 85-73. At Southern Indiana, Bucknell held the Screaming Eagles to one point in the last 3:58 of regulation and then led from the first possession on in overtime. At home against Richmond, the Bison trailed by as many as 21 in the first half and by 18 at the break before storming back to win 80-76 in 2OT.
Noah Williamson was a preseason All-Patriot League selection and is off to a strong start, averaging 15.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, and a league-high 1.9 blocks per game. Williamson scored a career-high 32 points in the win over Southern Indiana, and he scored 22 of his 26 after halftime to lead the comeback charge against Richmond.
Josh Bascoe (14.3 ppg) scored at least 15 points in the first five games of the season and is the league's No. 6 scorer. Bascoe ranks in the top 10 in the league in six statistical categories, and he ranks eighth in the nation in minutes played at 36.3 per game.
Ruot Bijiek has upped his offensive production this season and comes in averaging 11.0 ppg. That includes a 14.8 ppg mark over his last five games. Entering the season, the junior forward had never scored more than 14 points in a game, but in the last two weeks he has posted a pair of 20-point games against Richmond and Maryland.
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 were 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).
Siena got out to a dream start with wins over Brown, Bryant, and American to start the season. The first two were overtime thrillers, and the third was an eight-point home win over the Eagles. Since then, however, the Saints have dropped games to UAlbany, Xavier, Miami (Ohio), and Jacksonville, the latter two coming at the Fort Myers Tip-Off in Florida.
Siena has three double-digit scorers, led by Major Freeman at 13.9 ppg. Wilkes-Barre native Justice Shoats tallies 13.6 ppg off the bench, and Brendan Coyle averages 11.6 ppg thanks in large part to 21-for-47 shooting (.447) from 3-point range. Shoats, a Lock Haven transfer, started his Siena career with 23 points against Brown, 31 against Bryant, and 18 against American.
Siena and Bucknell both lead their respective leagues in blocked shots. The Bison tally a Patriot League-high 4.3 per game, while the Saints average a MAAC-best 5.6.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Siena game will be streamed on ESPN+ with "Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong joined by analyst Kevin Clark.
Joe Vasile will have the local radio call on The Valley 100.9 FM.
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.

Pat Behan Named Special Adviser to the Head Coach

John Griffin III announced last Friday that Pat Behan '10 has been named Special Adviser to the Head Coach.
A native of Leesburg, Va., and a former member of the Bison men's basketball team, Behan is currently in a battle with ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. While the disease cut short a promising basketball coaching career, he still regularly watches Bucknell games and sends text messages with advice to Griffin, who was his teammate and roommate at Bucknell.
Behan's best season at Bucknell was his junior year, when he earned Second Team All-Patriot League honors and received the Benton A. Kribbs Award as the team MVP. He led the team in scoring (13.8 ppg) and rebounding (6.8 rpg) that year. He had a torrid stretch late in the season when he recorded five straight 20-point games. Behan captained the team as a senior in 2009-10. In his career, he played in 119 of a possible 123 games and totaled 925 points.
In five years as the head coach at St. John's College High School in the Washington, D.C., area, Behan's teams compiled a 127-51 record and sent 26 players on to the college level. In his final season as head coach in 2022-23, he led the Cadets to a 32-4 record, the Washington Catholic Athletic Conference championship, and a No. 18 national ranking.
More information about Pat and his battle with ALS can be found at the BehanStrong website at BehanStrong.com.

Last Time Out

Tafara Gapare came off the bench to score 19 points, including 10 straight in one key juncture in the second half, to lead 6-1 Maryland to a 91-67 win over Bucknell on Wednesday at XFINITY Center. Ruot Bijiek matched his career high with 20 points to lead all scorers, but the Bison could not overcome a nervy start and fell to 4-4 on the season.
Josh Bascoe also hit double figures with 10 points to go with six rebounds and five assists. Brandon McCreesh (9) and Achile Spadone (8) combined for 17 points, and Noah Williamson finished with seven points and a game-high nine rebounds.
Bucknell was already playing shorthanded without starting guard Elvin Edmonds IV, and then Ian Motta left with an injury just 2:34 into the game. The Bison also battled foul trouble, with top scorer Williamson picking up his fourth foul with more than 16 minutes left in the second half.
Maryland took control early, as an opening-minute 3-pointer by Rodney Rice and then two more from deep by Selton Miguel sent the Terrapins on their way to a 15-2 lead. Bucknell kept the margin at 13 at 25-12 after a Bijiek 3-pointer and a McCreesh layup, but the threes kept coming from the Terps. They hit nine in 17 tries in the first half, and two straight from reserve Jayhon Young pushed Maryland's lead to 25.
Bucknell shot 43.4% overall and went 9-for-24 from 3-point range and 12-for-19 from the foul line. The Terrapins shot an even 50 percent and finished 12-for-31 from downtown and 13-for-20 from the foul line.
The Bison outrebounded Maryland 36-33 and held the bigger Terps to seven offensive boards, but Bucknell was held back by 20 turnovers, which led to a 22-7 edge in points off turnovers for Maryland.

Bucknell vs. Siena Series Notes

Siena leads the all-time series 5-2, but Bucknell has won two of the last three after the Saints took the first four.
The two teams first met at Siena's home holiday tournament on Dec. 27, 1985, when John Griffin III's father, John, was the head coach.
Bucknell won the most recent meeting 65-56 in overtime at Sojka Pavilion on Nov. 28, 2021. Alex Timmerman paced the Bison with 20 points and 12 rebounds, and Bucknell outscored Siena 15-6 in the overtime period. Anthony Gaines led the Saints with 20 points.
Bucknell's other win in the series came in a 115-92 shootout at Sojka Pavilion in 2017-18. Zach Thomas set school records for free throws made (19) and attempted (22) as part of a 25-point performance in that game.

Facts & Figures

Noah Williamson against Richmond became the first Bison to block five shots in a game since Nana Foulland against Loyola in 2018.
Williamson's 66 free-throw attempts are third-most in the nation, trailing only Ketron Shaw from UMES (75) and Delonnie Hunt of Richmond (70).
Williamson has certainly been a catalyst for the Bison thus fall. In the team's four wins, he is averaging 22.8 points and 8.5 rebounds while shooting 63.6% from the field. In the three losses, he is averaging 8.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, and shooting 31.6%.
Bucknell is shooting 37.6% from 3-point range on the road but just 30.3% at home this season.

Bucknell Announces Two Early Signees

Bucknell head men's basketball coach John Griffin III last week announced the signings of highly regarded guards Pat Curtin and Jacob Meachem to the 2025 recruiting class. Curtin is a 6'3" combo guard from Ellicott City, Md. (Glenelg Country School), and Meachem is a 5'10" point guard from Pottstown, Pa. (The Hill School).

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).

Men's Basketball Heads to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to Face Siena Saturday Evening

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Alek Delev

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Brandon McCreesh

Ian Motta

Achile Spadone

Noah Williamson

Men's Basketball Heads to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton to Face Siena Saturday Evening

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Alek Delev

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Brandon McCreesh

Ian Motta

Achile Spadone

Noah Williamson

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