Bison Men Travel to Annapolis Wednesday to Face Midshipmen

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Bucknell goes for the season sweep of Navy when the two teams clash at Alumni Hall in Annapolis, Md., on Wednesday night. The 7 p.m. game will stream live on ESPN+, with local radio coverage on The Valley 100.9 FM.

The Bison snapped a nine-game series losing streak to Navy on Jan. 24, winning 71-63 at Sojka Pavilion. Jack Forrest scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half in that game, and Noah Williamson (14) and Josh Adoh (10) also hit double digits. That game ignited a three-game winning streak for Bucknell, and it started a four-game losing streak for the Midshipmen. Navy entered that game two weeks ago a game ahead of Bucknell in the Patriot League standings, and now the Bison are two games in front of the Mids, who now reside in a four-way tie for fifth place at 4-6. Bucknell at 6-4 is in sole possession of fourth place, trailing Colgate (9-1), Lafayette (8-2), and American (7-3).

The Navy game marks Bucknell's fifth road game in its last seven outings, but then the Bison will have a couple of big home games coming up in a three-day span. Bucknell hosts Boston University on Saturday at 2 p.m., and that should be a fun game for the young fans. The annual Mascot Game will take place at halftime, and there will be a Bucky the Bison birthday celebration for all members of the Junior Bison Club, presented by Red Robin. Bucknell will then have a short turnaround before hosting Lehigh on Monday at 7 p.m. in a nationally televised game on CBS Sports Network.

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (9-14, 6-4 PL) at Navy (8-13, 4-6 PL)
Where: Alumni Hall, Annapolis, Md.
When: Wednesday, Feb. 6, 7 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Local Radio: The Valley 100.9 FM
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: NavySports.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

With a Win over Navy, Bucknell Would ...

... improve to 10-14 overall and 7-4 in the Patriot League, maintaining its hold on fourth place in the Patriot League standings.
... sweep the season series from the Midshipmen for the first time since 2018.
... snap a five-game losing streak at Alumni Hall.
... improve to 4-2 on the road in Patriot League play and 6-8 on the season.
... pick up win No. 1,498 in team history.

Headlines

For the second time during the Patriot League portion of the schedule, Bucknell will be taking on Navy while looking to bounce back from a gut-punch overtime loss. The first time around, Lafayette had just come back three different times to steal a game from the Bison in Easton, and Bucknell rebounded nicely with a 71-63 win over Navy at Sojka Pavilion. Now the Bison will be trying to atone for a 75-66 overtime loss at American, in which they stormed back from 14 points down in the second half only to shoot 1-for-7 in OT.
Despite the loss in D.C., Bucknell still sits firmly in fourth place in the Patriot League standings. Colgate (9-1), Lafayette (8-2), and American (7-3) have the top three spots, and at 6-4 the Bison are two games clear of four teams who sit in a fifth-place logjam. Navy, whose current four-game losing streak started in Lewisburg on Jan. 24, is one of those teams at 4-6, along with Holy Cross, Lehigh, and Boston University.
The Bison are 6-0 against the six teams below them in the standings and 0-4 against the top three squads.
Bucknell has been solid on the road in league play, posting a 3-2 record with both losses coming in overtime.
Bucknell head coach John Griffin III will be returning to the site of one of the most famous shots in Bucknell basketball history. His halfcourt bank shot at the final buzzer gave the Bison an 87-86 triple-overtime win over the second-seeded Midshipmen in the 2008 Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals.
Bucknell did a solid job protecting the basketball in the first meeting of the season with Navy. The Bison committed 11 turnovers in the 71-63 win at Sojka Pavilion, which is four fewer than Navy's league-leading 15.0 forced TOs per game. The Midshipmen rank 10th nationally in turnover margin and lead the league with 8.1 steals per game. Donovan Draper leads the PL and ranks 19th nationally with 2.3 steals per game, and the former Navy football player is also the league's top rebounder at 9.1 rpg.
There are three Patriot League players averaging at least 16.0 points per game, and two of them will be on the floor on Wednesday. Bucknell's Jack Forrest continues to lead the league in scoring at 16.7 ppg, while Navy's Austin Benigni is tallying 16.0 ppg in a breakout sophomore season and ranks third in the PL. Forrest (36.3) and Benigni (33.0) also rank 1-2 in the PL in minutes per game.
Griffin announced team captains in the locker room prior to the Loyola game last Wednesday. Seniors Josh Adoh, Alek Delev, and Jack Forrest were named captains for the 2023-24 season.
Noah Williamson has had a couple of monster games in recent weeks, highlighted by his 28-point outburst against Loyola last Wednesday. Williamson scored 18 of his career-high 28 points in the first half and finished 10-for-15 from the field, 3-for-5 from the 3-point arc, and 5-for-6 from the foul line. Williamson logged 23 points, 16 rebounds, and three blocked shots against Lafayette earlier in the campaign. His 16 rebounds were the most by a Bucknell player since Nate Sestina grabbed 17 against Army in 2019. He also became just the third Bison in the last 15 years to collect at least 20 points and 15 rebounds in a game, joining former Patriot League Players of the Year Mike Muscala (4x) and Zach Thomas. The 16 rebounds are tied for the most by any PL player this year, joining Navy's Draper, who grabbed 16 against George Washington on Dec. 5.
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-Navy game will be streamed live on ESPN+. Pete Medhurst and former Navy star Michael Heary will call the action from Bender Arena.
"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 NavySports.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Notable Numbers

Over the last five games, Noah Williamson is averaging 18.8 points, 7.2 rebounds, and 1.7 blocks per game while shooting 61.7% from the field.
The Bison had held their previous five opponents to under 26.0% shooting from the 3-point line before American hit 14 in 33 attempts (.424) on Saturday.
Bucknell has been the Patriot League's best free-throw shooting team all season, but the Bison have struggled a bit in the last four games, hitting 48 of 75 (.640). Missed free throws in the final seconds of regulation proved costly in the overtime losses at Lafayette and American.
Bucknell's season FT% is 74.0%, which still leads the Patriot League and ranks 78th nationally.
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.
Edmonds is the first Bison to record two double-digit assist games in a season since Jimmy Sotos in 2018-19. Sotos did it in back-to-back games that year, recording 12 assists in a win over UNLV at the Diamond Head Classic and then 11 one game later in a win at Army.

Last Time Out

Bucknell rallied from 14 points down in the second half to force overtime, but American outscored the Bison 12-3 in the extra session and prevailed 75-66 at Bender Arena on Saturday. Bucknell shot 63.6% during the second-half comeback, and then shot 1-for-7 in OT.
Three Bison scored in double-digits, led by Noah Williamson's 20 points. Jack Forrest surpassed his season average, tallying 18 points, and Elvin Edmonds IV hit four 3-pointers and added 17 points.
American went 14-for-33 from the 3-point arc, including 2-for-2 in overtime. The Eagles shot 38.1% inside the arc and 42.4% outside the arc.
Bucknell had a three-point lead with just over a minute to play in regulation, but Elijah Stephens hit a critical tying 3-pointer. Williamson later split a pair of free-throws with nine seconds left to tie the game, and the Bison got a defensive stop to send the game to OT, but Matt Rogers scored on the opening possession of the extra period and the Eagles led the rest of the way. Rogers had a big day with 23 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists.

Bucknell vs. Navy Series Notes

This is the 90th all-time meeting between Bucknell and Navy, with the Bison hanging on to a slim 45-44 lead in a rivalry that dates back to 1920.
The series has been marked by long stretches of dominance by both sides. Navy won the first 10 meetings between 1920-50; the Midshipmen had an 11-2 stretch in the late-90s/early-2000s; and they were riding a nine-game winning streak until Bucknell's win in Lewisburg last month. That recent run came right on the heels of Bucknell's 19-1 stretch from 2011-19. The Bison also won 11 of 13 from 2003-08, culminating with current head coach John Griffin's half-court buzzer-beater in an 87-86 triple-overtime thriller in the 2008 Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals.
As conference rivals, Bucknell leads 41-32, with the home team winning most of the time. Since Navy joined the league, Bucknell is 28-8 against the Mids at home but is only 13-24 against Navy in Alumni Hall.
Bucknell is 5-3 all-time against Navy in the Patriot League Tournament, including the Midshipmen's 76-75 win in the 1997 championship game. Navy won the first three postseason clashes, but the Bison have won the last five, including a 70-65 decision in the 2017 semifinal round.
Navy swept last season's series. The first meeting at Sojka Pavilion was a defensive struggle. Bucknell led 7-4 midway through the first half, but while Navy eventually made a run, the Bison just could not get anything going offensively and fell 63-46. Bucknell managed only 12 field goals in 48 attempts, including 5-for-24 from 3-point range. Sean Yoder led Navy with 17 points, while Andre Screen paced the Bison with 12.
The rematch in Annapolis two weeks later was much tighter, with Navy prevailing 71-65 after overcoming an eight-point second-half deficit. Screen led the Bison with 14 points, while Daniel Deaver had 20 for Navy.
Back on Jan. 24 at Sojka Pavilion, Jack Forrest scored 20 of his 24 points in the second half to lead the Bison to a 71-63 win. Noah Williamson tallied 14 points, and Josh Adoh scored 10 first-half points in his best game of the season. The Midshipmen saw their two-game winning streak come to an end, despite 22 points from Austin Benigni and 11 points and 11 rebounds from Donovan Draper. Bucknell stormed out to a 30-15 lead, but Navy shot back with a 15-2 run, with Austin Inge's 3-pointer on the first possession of the second half making it a two-point game at 32-30. The Bison responded well, scoring 17 of the next 21 points to build the margin back to 15 at 49-34.

Bison Men Travel to Annapolis Wednesday to Face Midshipmen

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Josh Bascoe

Alek Delev

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Andre Screen

Noah Williamson

Bison Men Travel to Annapolis Wednesday to Face Midshipmen

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Josh Adoh

Josh Bascoe

Alek Delev

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Andre Screen

Noah Williamson

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