Men's Hoops Hosts Army in Sunday-Afternoon Affair

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Two teams looking for bounce-back performances get together on Sunday afternoon when Bucknell hosts Army West Point at 2 p.m. at Sojka Pavilion. After a 7-4 start in Patriot League play, the Bison have suddenly lost four in a row and will be looking to heat up again with the postseason looming just over a week away. Meanwhile, the Black Knights had built a four-game winning streak, including an overtime thriller over academy rival Navy, but that streak came to an end on Wednesday with a 31-point home loss to Lehigh.

Ian Motta had his best game of the season when these two teams met at West Point on Jan. 27. Motta came off the bench to score 17 points, and the Bison made a 16-point first-half lead hold up in a 66-56 win. Bucknell has now won three straight against Army and holds a 62-24 lead in an all-time series that dates back to 1929.

Sunday's game will be First Responder and Military Appreciation Day as well as NBA Day at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison will then travel to Loyola on Wednesday night before hosting Lafayette in the regular-season finale next Saturday. The program will celebrate Senior Night and Fan Appreciation Night during the 7 p.m. affair against the Leopards.

GAME DIGEST
What: Army West Point (10-18, 6-9 PL) at Bucknell (10-18, 6-9 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa. | BUY TICKETS
When: Sunday, Feb. 25, 2 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Local Radio: The Valley 100.9 FM
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

With a Win over Army, Bucknell Would ...

... snap a four-game losing streak and improve to 11-18 overall and 8-8 in the Patriot League.
... sweep the season series from the Black Knights for the second year in a row and improve to 63-24 all-time against them.
... break a two-game home losing streak and improve to 153-47 against Patriot League foes at Sojka Pavilion.
... pick up win No. 1,499 in team history.

Headlines

Bucknell looks to shake a season-high four-game losing streak when Army West Point visits Sojka Pavilion on Sunday afternoon. The Bison have dropped into a tie for fifth place with Boston University at 7-8 in the Patriot League. They are just one game behind Lehigh and American for third, but also just one game ahead of Army and Holy Cross, who are tied for seventh at 6-9.
Only three games remain in the regular season, and with only two games separating third place from eighth, there is still plenty on the line. Colgate has clinched the No. 1 seed for the Patriot League Tournament, and Lafayette has clinched a top-six seed. The top six receive a first-round bye, and the top four will host a quarterfinal game in a tournament format where all games are played at home sites.
Bucknell got out to a great start on Wednesday at Holy Cross and led by 14 points with 5:00 remaining in the first half. But the Crusaders closed the half on a 10-0 run and then started the second half 10-for-11 from the field (5-6 3FG) to completely flip the game around. They went ahead by as many as 15 and won 73-59.
The Bison welcomed guard Josh Bascoe back into the lineup on Wednesday. After missing nine games due to a lower leg injury, Bascoe played 22 minutes off the bench and scored two points against Holy Cross.
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 17.2. 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 12th nationally in minutes per game (36.6), and twice in the last five 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 34.2 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 5.3 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 will be taking on an Army team that allows a league-low 63.5 points per game but also scores a league-low 60.8. The Black Knights do rank fourth in the PL with 8.0 made 3-pointers per game, but they have struggled at the free-throw line hitting at just 58.5%, which is the lowest percentage in the country.
The Black Knights began to heat up in recent weeks with four straight wins over Lehigh, Navy, Boston University, and Holy Cross, with the "Star Game" victory over rival Navy coming in overtime. Army's streak ended with Wednesday's 85-54 home loss to a Lehigh team that has now won four in a row.
Army's top two scorers are both freshmen in Josh Scovens (12.5) and Ryan Curry (9.4). Center Abe Johnson averages 6.8 ppg and 6.4 rpg while shooting 56.5% from the field.
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. 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.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Army game will be streamed on ESPN+, with "Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong and former Bison assistant coach Terry Conrad calling the action from Sojka Pavilion.
Joe Vasile 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 BucknellBison.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 seven of his last nine games. Ajayi ranks third in the Patriot League in blocked shots at 1.3 per game, even though he plays only 12.7 minutes per game. Ajayi ranks 27th nationally in blocks per minute.
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.
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 96 of 149 (.644) over the last nine 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. Jack Forrest 2023-24   77
10.Bryson Johnson     2012-13   73

Last Time Out

Caleb Kenney recorded 25 points and 11 rebounds and Bo Montgomery tallied 23 points and 12 boards to help Holy Cross to a 73-59 win over visiting Bucknell on Wednesday night at the Hart Center. Jack Forrest scored 16 points to lead the Bison.
Bucknell built a 14-point first-half lead, but the Crusaders outscored the Bison 48-19 over a span of 18:41 bridging the halftime break. They rarely missed in that stretch, starting the second half 10-for-11 from the field and 5-for-6 from the arc.
The Bison were the ones who started hot. They made nine of their first 14 shots of the night, taking a 22-14 lead on Ruot Bijiek's 3-pointer off a feed from Quin Berger. Josh Adoh followed with another triple as part of a 10-1 run that stretched the margin to 14 at 29-15.
It was still a 14-point game at 35-21 after Forrest's 3-pointer with 5:11 left in the half, but those would be Bucknell's final points of the period. Kenney scored in the paint three times to spark a 10-0 run, and Holy Cross went to the locker room down just four, 35-31.
Elvin Edmonds IV (12) and Bijiek (10) joined Forrest in double figures, while Noah Williamson had seven points and eight rebounds.

Bucknell vs. Army Series Notes

The Bison hold a 62-24 lead in a series that dates back to 1929.
The Bison are 35-6 all-time at home against Army.
Army won the first 10 series showdowns, nine of them coming prior to 1966.
As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell has won 61 of 75 meetings.
In Patriot League Tournament action, Bucknell is 8-2 against Army. Eight of those 10 postseason meetings have come in the quarterfinals.
Bucknell swept the season series from Army a year ago, winning 68-66 at West Point and 73-67 at Sojka Pavilion.
In last year's first meeting at Christl Arena, the insertion of Jack Forrest into the starting lineup paid immediate dividends. Forrest poured in a career-high 25 points and the Bison prevailed 68-66 after Andre Screen hit two free throws with two seconds to go. Bucknell was in the midst of one of its most complete performances of the season, leading by 17 midway through the second half against an Army team that came in with a 5-1 Patriot League record and six wins in its previous seven. The Black Knights made a furious comeback, scoring 10 straight points to tie the game on an Ethan Roberts layup with 15 seconds left. The Bison ran a great play out of a timeout, as Screen rolled to the basket after setting a pick and took a nifty pass from Rice before drawing a foul going up.
In the rematch in Lewisburg, Xander Rice scored 17 points, including his 1,000th career point, to lead the Bison to a 73-67 win over the third-place Black Knights. The Bison led 65-51 with 2:29 to play, but Roberts hit four straight 3-pointers in the final minute to make things interesting. Army got as close as four before Rice sealed the game at the foul line. Roberts finished with 32 points and Coleton Benson had 15 for Army. Screen added 15 points and Ruot Bijiek 12 for the Bison.
Bucknell made it three straight series wins with a 66-56 triumph at West Point back on Jan. 27. Ian Motta scored a season-high 17 points off the bench to lead the Bison. Forrest added 14 points, Bijiek had 11, and Elvin Edmonds IV notched 10 assists. Abe Johnson and Ryan Curry tallied 14 points each for Army. The Bison built a 16-point lead in the first half and withstood an Army run in each half, ultimately leading the game for 36:40.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell travels to Loyola on Wednesday night before wrapping up the regular season at home next Saturday night against Lafayette. The Senior Night affair tips off at 7 p.m.

Men's Hoops Hosts Army in Sunday-Afternoon Affair

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Quin Berger

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Noah Williamson

Men's Hoops Hosts Army in Sunday-Afternoon Affair

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Quin Berger

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Ian Motta

Xander Rice

Andre Screen

Noah Williamson

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