Bison Men Travel to Holy Cross for Wednesday-Night Tilt

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bison men's basketball squad looks to shake a three-game losing streak when it travels to Holy Cross on Wednesday night. It's a 7 p.m. tip at the Hart Center, with streaming coverage on ESPN+ along with the local radio feed on The Valley 100.9 FM and online here at BucknellBison.com.

Bucknell will be going for the season sweep of the Crusaders after winning 70-58 at Sojka Pavilion on the opening night of the Patriot League schedule. Josh Bascoe (21) and Ruot Bijiek (14) set career scoring highs in that game, and Elvin Edmonds IV had a big night with 14 points, six assists, five rebounds, and two steals. Joe Octave scored 17 points for the Crusaders, who played that game without the services of key guards Bo Montgomery and A.J. Willis.

Saturday's 62-50 loss at first-place Colgate dropped the Bison into a tie for fourth place with Lehigh at 7-7. The Bison and Mountain Hawks are one game behind third-place American (8-5), while Army (6-8) and Boston University (6-8) lurk one game back in a tie for sixth. Holy Cross (5-9) comes into Wednesday's game alone in eighth place.

Only four games remain in the regular season, and Bucknell has two more home dates coming up against Army on Sunday, Feb. 25, and against Lafayette on Saturday, March 2. The Army game will be First Responder and Military Appreciation Day as well as NBA Day at Sojka Pavilion. The Lafayette game is the regular-season finale, and the program will celebrate Senior Night and Fan Appreciation Night during the 7 p.m. affair.

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (10-17, 7-7 PL) at Holy Cross (8-19, 5-9 PL)
Where: Hart Center, Worcester, Mass.
When: Wednesday, Feb. 21, 7 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Local Radio: The Valley 100.9 FM
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: GoHolyCross.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

WITH A WIN OVER HOLY CROSS, BUCKNELL WOULD ...

... snap a three-game losing streak and improve to 11-17 overall and 8-7 in the Patriot League.
... sweep the season series from the Crusaders for the first time since 2019-20.
... improve to 5-3 on the road in Patriot League play.
... pick up win No. 1,499 in team history.

HEADLINES

After winning three straight games to improve to 6-3 in the Patriot League, Bucknell has suddenly dropped three straight and four of its last five. After beating Navy on the road on Feb. 7, the Bison sat in a tie for third place in the Patriot League with a three-game cushion over the fifth-place teams. Now Bucknell is tied for fourth place with Lehigh at 7-7, with Army and Boston University just a game back at 6-8.
The Bison are looking to bounce back from a 62-50 loss at first-place Colgate on Saturday. Bucknell finished with a 36-35 rebounding edge, held the Patriot League's leading 3-point shooting team to 3-for-18, and allowed only four second-chance points. But the Bison struggled offensively after a fast start, finishing at 31.0% from the field and 5-for-24 from the arc.
Injuries have been impactful across the Patriot League this season, and Bucknell has not been immune. Starting guard Josh Bascoe has missed the last nine games, and starting center Noah Williamson sat out last Monday's game against Lehigh. All told, Bucknell has lost 52 man games due to injury in 2023-24.
Overtime has not been friendly to the Bison this season. Of Bucknell's six Patriot League losses, three have come in overtime. In those three OT periods, the Bison are a combined 5-for-22 (.227) from the field and have been outscored 35-15.
Jack Forrest has led the Patriot League in scoring for much of the season, although last week he dipped to second as Loyola's Deon Perry went on a scoring binge. Forrest averages 16.6 ppg, just behind Perry's 17.4. Forrest is vying to become Bucknell's first Patriot League scoring champion since Zach Thomas in 2017-18. Forrest, who has scored in double figures in all but one game, has carried a heavy minutes load this season. He ranks 11th nationally in minutes per game (36.6), and twice in the last four games he has played all 40 minutes. Prior to Forrest, the last Bison to play all 40 minutes in a regulation-time game was Bryan Cohen against Delaware in 2009. Teammate Elvin Edmonds IV ranks second in the Patriot League in workload at 34.1 mpg.
Edmonds has been on an assists flurry in recent weeks. He dished out a career-high 12 dimes at Navy, his third double-digit assist performance in the last seven games. The first of those was a 10-assist game at Boston University, and he also handed out 10 at Army. Edmonds is averaging 5.5 apg in Patriot League play, the second-best figure in the league behind Colgate's Braeden Smith (6.6). The 12 assists were the most by a Bison since Jimmy Sotos had 12 in a win over UNLV at the 2018 Diamond Head Classic in Honolulu.
Bucknell has been solid on the road in league play, posting a 4-3 record with the losses coming at first-place Colgate and in overtime at second-place Lafayette and third-place American. The Bison are normally very difficult to beat at home, but this season they are just 4-8 at Sojka Pavilion and 3-3 in the league. In Patriot League play, Bucknell has actually shot the basketball much better on the road.

Bucknell Offense in Patriot League Games
FG% 3FG% FT% PPG
HOME .424 .353 .669 67.0
AWAY .446 .371 .755 70.2

The Bison will reconnect with some friendly faces on Wednesday. Holy Cross head coach Dave Paulsen guided the Bison for seven seasons from 2008-15, winning two Patriot League titles (2011, 2013) on the way to a 134-94 record and three Patriot League Coach of the Year honors. Paulsen's .588 winning percentage is second-best in program history among coaches with 40 or more games, trailing only Hall-of-Famer Charlie Woollum (.590). Paulsen's associate head coach at Holy Cross is Bryson Johnson '13, who is the most prolific 3-point shooter in Bucknell history. Johnson played a key role on the 2011 and 2013 championship teams, and his 323 career 3-pointers are 29 more than any other player in team history. Johnson ranks 14th on Bucknell's all-time scoring list with 1,384 points, and he was one of three 1,000-point scorers in his class, along with Mike Muscala (1st, 2036) and Joe Willman (30th, 1162).
Holy Cross has dropped its last two games to Colgate and Army on the heels of a stretch where it won 3 of 4, with all three of those wins coming by three points or fewer. Most recently, the Crusaders fell 59-53 at home to Army. Joe Octave led the team with 11 points, but Holy Cross was held to 32.8% shooting, including a 5-for-30 ledger from 3-point range.
Octave is the team's leading scorer on the season at 14.1 ppg, followed by Caleb Kenney at 10.9 ppg and a team-high 6.2 rpg. Bo Montgomery (9.7 ppg), who was injured when these two teams met in Lewisburg on Jan. 3, totaled 30 points in two games against the Bison last season.

HOW TO GET THE GAME

The Bucknell-Holy Cross game will be streamed on ESPN+, with Kevin Gehl and Jacob VanRyn handling the play-by-play duties from the Hart Center.
"Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong will have the local radio 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 GoHolyCross.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

NOTABLE NUMBERS

Reserve frontcourt man Pip Ajayi has been on a shot-blocking tear of late, with multiple rejections in five straight and seven of his last eight games. Ajayi ranks third in the Patriot League in blocked shots at 1.3 per game, even though he plays only 12.8 minutes per game. Ajayi ranks 23rd nationally in blocks per minute.
Bucknell had been the Patriot League's best free-throw shooting team all season and ranked as high as 25th nationally at 76.6% going into the Lafayette game on Jan. 20. But the Bison have struggled at the stripe all the sudden, hitting 89 of 138 (.645) over the last eight games. Missed free throws in the final seconds of regulation proved costly in the overtime losses at Lafayette and American.
Bucknell went 15-for-15 from the foul line against Radford on Dec. 16 and 13-for-13 from the stripe at Boston University. The Bison are one of only three Division I teams to have two perfect free-throw shooting games with at least 10 attempts, joining Wisconsin (14-14 vs. Michigan State; 12-12 vs. Providence) and Stetson (12-12 vs. Johnson; 11-11 vs. Charlotte).
Jack Forrest and Josh Bascoe against Lehigh became the first Bison tandem to both score at least 23 points in a game since Nate Sestina (25) and Kimbal Mackenzie (23) did it against the Mountain Hawks in a 97-75 win in the 2019 Patriot League Tournament semifinals.
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.
Elvin Edmonds' line of 12 points, 10 assists, and seven rebounds at Boston University was also the first such game since Kaspar's 2014 performance at Navy.
Forrest recently joined the top-10 on Bucknell's single-season 3-point field goal charts.

3-POINT FIELD GOALS MADE, SEASON
1. Bryson Johnson 2010-11 99
2. Andrew Funk 2021-22 87
3. Bryson Johnson 2011-12 84
4. Kimbal Mackenzie 2018-19 83
5. Chris Hass 2014-15 82
6. Kevin Bettencourt 2005-06 79
John Griffin 2007-08 79
8. Kevin Bettencourt 2004-05 78
9. Bryson Johnson 2012-13 73
Jack Forrest 2023-24 73

LAST TIME OUT

Jack Forrest scored a game-high 14 points, but the Bucknell could not maintain a hot start and fell 62-50 at first-place Colgate on Saturday afternoon at Cotterell Court. Keegan Records scored 13 points to help the Raiders win their 11th straight game and move within one game of clinching the No. 1 seed for the Patriot League Tournament.
Elvin Edmonds IV joined Forrest in double figures with 10 points for the Bison. Colgate also received 11 points from Ryan Moffatt, 10 from Brady Cummins, and eight points and seven assists from Braeden Smith.
Bucknell finished with a 36-35 rebounding edge, held the Patriot League's leading 3-point shooting team to 3-for-18, and allowed only four second-chance points. But the Bison struggled offensively after a fast start, finishing at 31.0% from the field and 5-for-24 from the arc.
Bucknell jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead but Colgate went up 31-22 at the half and extended the margin into double digits in the opening minutes of the second half. A transition 3-pointer by Brandon McCreesh cut the gap to six at 42-36 with 12:13 to go. Colgate found Patriot League 3-point percentage leader Chandler Baker open off an inbounds play coming out of the under-12 timeout, and as the Bison missed their next five shots, the Raiders scored twice more in succession to push their lead back into double digits, where it would remain the rest of the way

BUCKNELL VS. HOLY CROSS SERIES NOTES
The Bucknell-Holy Cross rivalry has been one of the league's best through the years. Some of the highlights:

The Bison and Crusaders have combined to win 11 of the last 23 Patriot League titles.
These two teams have met 17 times in the 33 Patriot League Tournaments, with Bucknell winning nine of the 17. That includes four times in the championship game. Bucknell defeated Holy Cross in the 2005 and 2006 title tilts, while the Crusaders topped the Bison in the final in 1993 and 2007.
The Bison and Crusaders had never met until the formation of the Patriot League in 1990-91, but this will be the 83rd meeting in 34 years. The two teams did not play during the 2020-21 season under the COVID-modified Patriot League schedule that placed them in different divisions.
Bucknell leads the series 49-33 after winning this season's first matchup 70-58 at Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 3. Holy Cross had won the previous three, which was the Crusaders' longest series winning streak since taking four in a row bridging the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons.
Bucknell is 26-13 against Holy Cross in Lewisburg and 19-7 at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell is 18-17 vs. Holy Cross at the Hart Center, with one of the wins coming in the 2005 Patriot League championship game.
Holy Cross last season swept the regular-season series for the first time since 2002-03, winning 60-58 in Worcester and 80-73 in Lewisburg.
The Bison and Crusaders have not met since the Patriot League opener back on Jan. 3. Josh Bascoe led the way with a career-high 21 points and Ruot Bijiek also tallied a career-high with 14. 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 and eight rebounds for Holy Cross.

Bison Men Travel to Holy Cross for Wednesday-Night Tilt

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Brandon McCreesh

Noah Williamson

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