Men's Basketball Set to Host Holy Cross Wednesday Night

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Bison men's basketball squad is back home for two more games this week, starting Wednesday night with a visit from some old friends. Holy Cross comes to Sojka Pavilion for a 7 p.m. tip between two of the six Patriot League teams tied for third place with 2-2 records. The Crusaders are led by former Bucknell head coach Dave Paulsen and associate head coach Bryson Johnson '13, who played on two of Paulsen's championship teams and is Bucknell's all-team leading 3-point shooter.

Both teams are looking to bounce back from road losses. After winning two straight against Colgate and Lafayette, the Bison couldn't hold on to an 11-point halftime lead and fell 68-58 at American on Saturday. Bucknell still led 58-57 after a Noah Williamson bucket with 2:13 remaining, but the Eagles scored the game's final 11 points. Earlier in the day, the Crusaders couldn't overcome a big early deficit and fell 82-65 at Lafayette.

Williamson has been outstanding in Patriot League play and is coming off a 23-point, 11-rebound performance at American. He has recorded double-doubles in three of the four games, and in PL contests he ranks first in scoring (19.0) and second in rebounding (9.8). Josh Bascoe had a 23-point game against Lafayette last Wednesday, and Williamson (14.8) and Bascoe (14.7) are the team's top two scorers on the season.

Holy Cross has a young squad with only one senior in Caleb Kenney, who gave the Bison fits in the two matchups last season. He had 25 points and 11 rebounds in Holy Cross's 73-59 win at the Hart Center, which avenged Bucknell's 70-58 win at Sojka Pavilion earlier in the year. The Bison will be looking for win No. 50 in the all-time series. They lead 49-34, with nine of those victories coming in the postseason.

GAME DIGEST
What: Holy Cross (10-7, 2-2 PL) at Bucknell (6-11, 2-2 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Wednesday, Jan. 15, 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 Holy Cross, Bucknell Would ...

... win its third straight home game and improve to 3-2 in the Patriot League.
... improve to 5-3 at home this season and 157-47 all-time against Patriot League opponents at Sojka Pavilion.
... improve to 50-34 all-time against the Crusaders and 20-7 against them at Sojka Pavilion.

Headlines

Bucknell is mired in a six-way tie for third place in the Patriot League standings with a 2-2 record, and the Bison host another of the 2-2 squads on Wednesday night when Holy Cross visits Sojka Pavilion for the first of two meetings this season.
In league play, Bucknell is 2-0 at home and 0-2 on the road, but the Bison feel like they let the two road games get away. Bucknell had a 20-point lead with 11:00 remaining at Lehigh and an 11-point lead with just over 17:00 to play at American, but the Mountain Hawks and Eagles both rallied late.
Home teams are 19-2 in Patriot League games thus far, with the lone exceptions Army's win at Lehigh on Saturday and American's win at Loyola on Monday night. The Bison are 4-3 at home this season.
Last Wednesday's 65-62 win over Lafayette was the team's sixth overtime game and eighth overtime period this season. Both of those figures are the most in all of Division I men's basketball, and it means that the Bison have played a full 40 minutes of extra time this season. Bucknell is now within two of the NCAA record for overtime games in a season. Western Kentucky (1978), Portland (1984), and Valparaiso (1993) all played eight in a season. The six OT games have matched the school record. The Bison also played six in 2008-09 and 2021-22.
Bucknell has turned to its defense in Patriot League play. The Bison have held their four PL opponents to 40.1% shooting from the field and 27.6% from 3-point range. Over the full season, Bucknell leads the Patriot League in field-goal percentage defense (.427).
At the other end of the floor, the Bison are looking to break out of a team-wide shooting slump. Bucknell has shot under 44% from the field in 11 straight games, and its team 3-point percentage has dipped to 29.9% on the season after a 27.6% start in league play.
Noah Williamson was a preseason All-Patriot League selection and is averaging 14.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.1 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. He posted double-doubles in three of the four Patriot League games, including his 23-point, 11-rebound performance at American on Saturday. Williamson's 19.8 ppg scoring average in league play is No. 1 in the PL, and his 9.8 rpg ranks No. 2.
After tying his career high with 23 points against Lafayette last Wednesday, Josh Bascoe is averaging a career-high 14.7 ppg, including 16.3 ppg in his last seven games. Bascoe ranks seventh in the Patriot League in scoring and is in the top 15 in the PL in seven different categories. He leads the league and ranks ninth nationally in minutes played at 36.4 per game. He has played more than 40 minutes in a game five times this season.
Pip Ajayi has been a big factor off the bench for the Bison. The reserve frontcourt player tallied 13 points — his most in a Bucknell uniform — five rebounds, and three steals in 18 minutes at Lehigh. After starting the season 3-for-8 from the field, Ajayi is 22-for-31 (.710) since then, including 20-for-27 (.741) over his last 10 games.
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 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 won four of its final five non-conference games and then kept the hot streak going with a 74-72 win over Loyola in its Patriot League opener. Since then, the Crusaders have sandwiched road losses to American (75-64) and Lafayette (82-65) around a home win over Navy (70-59).
Holy Cross features one of the Patriot League's top freshmen in Max Green, who leads the team in scoring at 13.3 ppg. Right behind at 13.2 ppg is Joe Nugent, who is 50-for-109 (.459) from 3-point range this season.
Holy Cross shoots 39.7% from downtown as a team, including a 40.0% clip in league play. Both of those figures lead the PL by a wide margin. After hitting at least nine treys in six straight games, the Crusaders had a rare off day (6-22) in Saturday's loss at Lafayette.
Holy Cross has a young roster with only one senior (Caleb Kenney) and three juniors. Kenney is the reigning Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Holy Cross game will be streamed on ESPN+, with "Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong and former Bucknell assistant coach Terry Conrad calling the action from Sojka Pavilion.
Sam Kuperman will have the local radio call on Eagle 107.
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

Noah Williamson recorded 23 points and 11 rebounds, but low-post counterpart Matt Rogers scored 20, including the go-ahead bucket with 1:50 remaining, and American came from behind to beat Bucknell 68-58 on Saturday at Bender Arena.
The Bison led by 11 points at the half, ceded the lead for the first time just inside six minutes to play, and then after Williamson scored with 2:13 to go to give them a 58-57 edge, American finished the game on an 11-0 run.
Williamson recorded his sixth double-double and fourth 20-point game of the season. Josh Bascoe joined him in double figures with 12 points, but the Bison saw their two-game winning streak come to an end.
Bucknell shot 37.0% from the field and could only manage two 3-pointers in 19 attempts. American shot 51.9% in the second half and 46.9% in the game after a slow start. Bucknell finished with a 39-29 edge on the glass.

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 24 Patriot League titles.
These two teams have met 17 times in the 34 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 84th meeting in 35 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 49-34 after splitting the two matchups last season. Bucknell won 70-58 at Sojka Pavilion behind 21 points from John Bascoe and 14 each from Ruot Bijiek and Elvin Edmonds IV.
In the rematch in Worcester, Holy Cross rallied for a 73-59 win thanks to 25 points and 11 rebounds from Caleb Kenney. 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. Jack Forrest led the Bison with 16 points.
Bucknell is 26-13 against Holy Cross in Lewisburg and 19-7 at Sojka Pavilion. Bucknell is 18-18 vs. Holy Cross at the Hart Center, with one of the wins coming in the 2005 Patriot League championship game.

Facts & Figures

Bucknell shot the three better against its "high major" opponents this season. The Bison shot 35.0% (41-117) from the arc against Kentucky, Maryland, Gonzaga, and Syracuse, compared with 27.4% (85-310) in all other games.
Noah Williamson against Richmond became the first Bison to block five shots in a game since Nana Foulland against Loyola in 2018.
Williamson's 110 free-throw attempts are 31st-most in the nation.
Williamson's six double-doubles are tied for the most in the Patriot League with Loyola's Milos Ilic and Navy's Aidan Kehoe.
Williamson's 6.1 defensive rebounds per game are the most in the PL and rank 46th nationally.

Who's Got Next?

Bucknell will hold Alumni Day on Saturday when Navy visits Sojka Pavilion. The program will celebrate the 20th anniversary of the landmark 2005 NCAA Tournament win over Kansas.
Bucknell will then have a short turnaround before traveling to Colgate for a Monday-night game on CBS Sports Network. It will already be the second meeting between the Bison and Raiders. Bucknell won 66-60 at Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 5.

Men's Basketball Set to Host Holy Cross Wednesday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Noah Williamson

Men's Basketball Set to Host Holy Cross Wednesday Night

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Noah Williamson

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