Men's Basketball Heads to Easton Saturday to Face Lafayette

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- Longtime in-state rivals Bucknell and Lafayette get together for the 181st time on Saturday at the Kriby Sports Center in Easton. The two teams first met all the way back in 1915, and if the recent series history is any indication, fans should be in for a good one on Saturday.

Six of the last eight Bucknell-Lafayette games have gone to overtime, with each team winning three of those. That includes Bucknell's 65-62 OT verdict at Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 8. The Bison have tied the NCAA record with eight overtime games already this season, the last of which was a crazy 116-110 loss at Army last Saturday. Bucknell bounced back nicely, though, beating Boston University 76-60 at home on Wednesday night.

The Bison have won four of their last five and are tied for third place along with Colgate at 8-5. American continues to hold down the top spot at 10-3, followed by Army at 9-4. Bucknell and Colgate are now two games clear of fifth-place Boston University and Navy.

Lafayette is tied for seventh place at 5-8. The Leopards have been idle since Monday, when they dropped a tough one on the road at first-place American. Matt Rogers' bucket with three seconds remaining was the difference in the Eagles' 60-58 win. Lafayette is one of the league's best defensive teams and has allowed only 60.8 points over its last four games.

Bucknell has two home games remaining -- Monday against Lehigh and Feb. 23 against Army -- and both will be televised on CBS Sports Network. The Patriot League announced on Friday that the Army game was selected for television in the CBS SN flex window. That will be Senior Day at Sojka Pavilion, as Bucknell's final two games of the regular season will be on the road at Loyola and Holy Cross.

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (12-14, 8-5 PL) at Lafayette (10-16, 5-8 PL)
Where: Kirby Sports Center, Easton, Pa.
When: Saturday, Feb. 15, 1 p.m.
Watch: ESPN+
Local Radio: Eagle 107
Internet Audio: BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: GoLeopards.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

With a Win over Lafayette, Bucknell Would ...

... sweep the Leopards in the season series for the first time since 2019.
... win its second straight game and fifth in the last six.
... improve to 9-5 in the Patriot League.
... improve to 2-5 on the road in PL play this season.
... improve to 86-95 all-time against the Leopards.

Headlines

Bucknell has won four of its last five games to solidify a top-four position in the Patriot League standings, and now the Bison will be looking for a strong finish with five games remaining in the regular season. Three of those five will be on the road, however, starting Saturday afternoon with a date with Lafayette at Kirby Sports Center.
The top four teams in the Patriot League standings all won in Round 13 of league action. American remains in first place at 10-3, with Army second at 9-4 and Bucknell and Colgate tied for third at 8-5. Boston University dropped into a tie for fifth with Navy at 6-7. The top four teams will host Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal games.
The Bison bounced back nicely from that wild 116-110 double-overtime loss at Army with a workmanlike 76-60 win over Boston University on Wednesday. The Bison jumped out to a 21-6 lead, withstood a Terriers run in the middle portion of the game, and then pulled away again midway through the second half.
The catalyst for that decisive run was freshman Jayden Williams, who turned in his best game to date. In less than six minutes, Williams scored 11 points on three 3-pointers and a layup, and he also dished out two assists as the Bison stretched a five-point lead all the way up to 19.
The Army game was one the wildest in team history. Last Saturday's 116-110 double-overtime loss was the highest-scoring game in school history, eclipsing the 225 points from a 119-106 win over Colgate in 1968. There was high drama throughout the afternoon. Bucknell trailed 87-74 with 3:17 remaining in regulation before stunning the Black Knights with a 13-0 run to force overtime. Noah Williamson scored the tying basket 16 seconds left, and then he did it again with 26 seconds to go in the first OT period. The Bison led 105-102 in the second OT session, but Army took control with an 8-0 run. The 116 points were the most ever scored by the Black Knights, and it was the most points allowed by Bucknell since a 117-93 loss to Lafayette in 1955.
The other bit of history from the Army game involved Bucknell playing its NCAA record-tying eighth overtime game of the season. The Bison lead the nation with eight OT games and 11 OT periods in 2024-25. Western Kentucky (1978), Portland (1984), and Valparaiso (1993) also played eight in a season.
If recent history is any indication, the Bison could soon have that overtime record all to themselves, as six of the last eight Bucknell-Lafayette games have gone to OT. That includes all three games in the 2021-22 season as well as this year's first meeting in Lewisburg, which the Bison won 65-62 on Jan. 8.
Bucknell has picked up the pace offensively over the last nine games. Since going 2-for-19 from 3-point range and being held to 58 points in a loss at American on Jan. 11, the Bison have put up these offensive numbers in the nine games since then:

Scoring Average 82.4
FG% .521
3FG% .439
ASST/TO 133/98

Noah Williamson was a preseason All-Patriot League selection and is averaging a team-high 16.7 points, 7.5 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. Williamson leads the Patriot League with nine double-doubles, and he is averaging 19.8 ppg in conference play.
Williamson has won the last two Patriot League Player of the Week awards. He is the first Bison to win two in a row since Zach Thomas on Nov. 27 and Dec. 4, 2017.
Josh Bascoe is averaging a career-high 15.4 ppg, and he has taken over the league lead in assists at 4.3 apg. Bascoe, who scored a career-high 25 points at Army on Saturday, ranks sixth 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 eighth nationally in minutes played at 36.9 per game. He has played more than 40 minutes in a game seven times this season.
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.
Lafayette dropped a heartbreaker to Patriot League leader American on Monday night, as Matt Rogers knocked in the game-winning shot with three seconds remaining.
Justin Vander Baan and Alex Chaikin lead the team with 12.1 points per game. Vander Baan ranks 10th in the PL with a .495 FG percentage. Andrew Phillips also ranks 10th with a .495 FG percentage.
Phillips leads the Patriot League with a .475 3FG percentage. Chaikin ranks fifth with a .438 3FG percentage. Vander Baan leads the PL with 3.0 blocks per game which ranks second among all D1 players.
The Leopards rank second in the PL, allowing 68.7 points per game. They allow the lowest opponent FG percentage in the PL, holding opponents to a .433 FG percentage. The Leopards also lead the league with 3.54 blocks per game.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-Lafayette game will be streamed on ESPN+ with Gary Laubach and former Lafayette head coach John Leone on the call from courtside at Kirby Sports Center.
"Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong 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 GoLeopards.com.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

The Bucknell men's basketball team won its seventh straight home game, defeating Boston University 76-60 on Wednesday evening at Sojka Pavilion. The backcourt of Josh Bascoe (17 points), Elvin Edmonds IV (13), and Jayden Williams (11) combined to make eight three-pointers, driving the offense in its win over the fifth-place Terriers.
Bascoe handed out four assists in addition to his game-high 17 points. He accounted for Bucknell's first 11 points, scoring or assisting on all of its baskets, as the Bison sprinted out to a 21-6 lead. Williams had a similar stretch in the second half, scoring or assisting on five straight Bison field goals. Ruot Bijiek added 11 points, and Noah Williamson and Pip Ajayi combined for 15 points and 13 rebounds from the center position.
Boston University trimmed the margin to just one point at 36-35 with an 11-2 run in the early stages of the second half, but Ajayi scored four straight points to keep the Bison in front, and then Williams took over the game with one of the best stretches of his young career. With his team holding a precarious five-point lead with 12 minutes to play, Williams ducked behind a Williamson screen for a 3-pointer, he drove to the rim for a layup, he fed Edmonds for a fastbreak layup, he hit another trey to cap a four-point possession, and he drove and dished to Bijiek for a corner three that suddenly made it a 56-41 game with 9:06 remaining.
Williamson came in as the leading scorer in Patriot League play at 20.8 points per game. The Terriers used a zone defense to collapse around the Bison 7-footer and held him to one field goal in three attempts. Williamson contributed in other ways, however. He drew eight fouls, went 6-for-11 from the foul line, and added nine rebounds, three assists, and three blocked shots.
Bucknell shot 62.5% in the second half and 49.0% for the game. The Bison went 9-for-21 from 3-point distance and 19-for-29 from the foul line. Boston University was held to 39.2% overall, 8-for-20 from deep, and 12-for-23 from the line. Miles Brewster led the Terriers with 14 points and eight rebounds.

Bucknell vs. Lafayette Series Notes

Bucknell and Lafayette have met 180 times previously, making the Leopards Bucknell's second most-played opponent (the Bison have played Lehigh 187 times). Since the series began in 1915, Lafayette leads 95-85.
Since the start of Patriot League play in 1990-91, however, Bucknell has won 56 of 79 meetings.
Lafayette won 33 of the first 37 meetings and led the series 60-14 at one point.
Bucknell had been 15-0 all-time against Lafayette in Sojka Pavilion until the Leopards posted their first win there in 2013-14. The Bison are now 24-4 against Lafayette in Sojka Pavilion and 32-7 against the Leopards in Lewisburg going back to the Patriot League's first season.
The Bison and Leopards have met in a conference championship game four times, with Bucknell winning three of those. The Bison defeated Lafayette 71-65 in the 1989 East Coast Conference final in Towson, Md., and they also won Patriot League championship games in Sojka Pavilion in 2011 (72-57) and 2013 (64-56). Lafayette claimed the 1999 Patriot League title with a 67-63 win over the Bison in Easton.
Bucknell and Lafayette recently had a remarkable stretch of four straight meetings that were decided in overtime, and six of the last eight have required OT. All three 2021-22 meetings went beyond 40 minutes, including a Bison win in the Patriot League Tournament.
The OT trend continued in Easton last season, when Lafayette prevailed 75-72. The Leopards rallied three different times in the second half and overtime, spoiling a big game from Noah Williamson, who finished with 23 points and 16 rebounds, and a milestone day from senior Jack Forrest, who recorded his 1,000th career point and finished with 15. The Bison jumped out to a 16-3 advantage and led by as many as 16 early in the second half. Lafayette used a 22-4 run to take its first lead of the day, but the Bison struck back to go ahead by five with 20 seconds left. Two missed free throws followed by an Eric Sondberg 3-pointer sent it to overtime, where the Bison appeared to be in good shape after Forrest's fadeaway in the lane gave them a 72-66 lead. But Lafayette scored the game's final nine points, with the last five coming at the foul line. Bucknell had two good looks at 3-pointers in the closing seconds, but neither fell, and the Bison came up short despite holding the lead for 41:00 compared to Lafayette's 0:47.
Bucknell won last year's rematch at Sojka Pavilion, 60-50 on the final day of the regular season. Elvin Edmonds IV and Ruot Bijiek scored 12 points each and the Bison played terrific defense, holding Lafayette to 35.1% shooting. Sondberg and Kyle Jenkins paced the Leopards with 12 each.
The first meeting between the two this season ended with a Bison win in overtime, 65-62. Josh Bascoe led the Bison with 23 points and 5-10 from 3FG while Williamson tacked on 16 points with eight rebounds.

Facts & Figures

Brandon McCreesh now ranks third in the Patriot League in 3-point percentage (.444) thanks to a recent hot streak. McCreesh has hit at least one trey in 10 of the last 11 games and is 17-for-28 from the arc in that stretch.
Noah Williamson has been on a tear from the 3-point arc, going 10-for-14 over the last seven games. He was 6-for-6 at Colgate, 2-for-2 at Boston University, and he made his only attempt against Loyola to tie the school record for consecutive made threes, originally set by Mike Bright on the night when he went 9-for-10 against Loyola in Davis Gym in 1993. The streak ended at nine when he missed his first attempt against American last Wednesday.
Also heating up from downtown is Elvin Edmonds IV, who went 4-for-5 at Army and is 12-for-18 in his last five games.
The Bison lead the Patriot League in free-throw attempts (21.2) and made free throws (14.0) per game, even though they rank ninth in free-throw percentage (.658). Williamson's 195 free-throw attempts are sixth-most in the nation. He has logged double-digit free-throw attempts in seven of his last 10 games.
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 40-for-59 (.678) since then, including 38-for-55 (.691) over his last 19 games.
The Bison have struggled in the turnover department this season, but they committed a season-low five miscues in the win over Holy Cross and have had a positive or even assist-to-turnover ratio in nine straight games.
Williamson's nine double-doubles are the most in the Patriot League and 25th-most in the nation.
Williamson ranks in some pretty good company when it comes to national scoring leaders among 7-footers.

NCAA Leaders, Points per Game, Players 7'0" or Taller
1. Maxime Raynaud, Stanford 19.9
2. Ryan Kalkbrenner, Creighton 19.0
3. Noah Williamson, Bucknell 16.7
4. Hunter Dickinson, Kansas 16.6
5. Bent Leuchten, UC Irvine 16.0
6. Vladislav Goldin, Michigan 15.5

Men's Basketball Heads to Easton Saturday to Face Lafayette

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Brandon McCreesh

Jayden Williams

Noah Williamson

Men's Basketball Heads to Easton Saturday to Face Lafayette

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Ruot Bijiek

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Brandon McCreesh

Jayden Williams

Noah Williamson

Related Videos