Orange-Out Declared as Second-Place Bison Host First-Place American Wednesday at Sojka Pavilion

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The calendar has flipped to February, we're past the halfway mark of the Patriot League men's basketball schedule, and that means the chase for the Patriot League regular-season title and postseason tournament seeding is heating up. One of the biggest games of the league's pennant chase will be contested at Sojka Pavilion on Wednesday night, when second-place Bucknell hosts first-place American at 7 p.m. An "Orange Out" has been declared, and all fans will receive a free water bottle, courtesy of Geisinger, while supplies last.

The Bison have won two straight games, including a big one on the road at Navy on Saturday, to get to 6-4 in Patriot League play. Bucknell is tied for second place alongside Army and Colgate, while American has won seven straight games to get to 8-2 in the Patriot League. Not only do the Bison host American on Wednesday, a trip to Army looms this Saturday.

The Bison struggled offensively in a 68-58 loss at American on Jan. 11, but Bucknell is averaging 80.8 points and shooting 50.6 percent from the field in the six games since then. The Eagles finished that game on an 11-0 run after the Bison led by 11 at halftime, and that strong finish has propelled AU to its current seven-game winning streak.

Orange Out Graphic

GAME DIGEST
What: American (14-9, 8-2 PL) at Bucknell (10-13, 6-4 PL)
Where: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
When: Wednesday, Feb. 5, 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 American, Bucknell Would ...

... win its third straight game and improve to 7-4 in the Patriot League.
... earn a split of the season series with the Eagles and move one game behind AU for first place in the Patriot League.
... snap the Eagles' seven-game winning streak.
... improve to 6-0 at home in Patriot League play.

Headlines

Bucknell and American get together on Wednesday night at Sojka Pavilion in a huge swing game that could have significant Patriot League Tournament implications down the road. The Eagles are the hottest team in the league with seven straight wins, a streak that started with a 68-58 win over Bucknell on Jan. 11. American has taken over sole possession of first place with an 8-2 PL record, while Bucknell is tied for second at 6-4. A Bison win would bring them within a game of first place and give them a split of the season series with AU. A loss would create a three-game gap, and the Eagles would also own the head-to-head tiebreaker with seven games remaining.
The Bison have won two games in a row and are now tied for second place along with Army and Colgate. Boston University and Navy are lurking one game back at 5-5.
Navy had won three straight games by an average margin of 17.7 points, but Bucknell jumped all over the Midshipmen in the first half on the way to an 85-75 win at Alumni Hall on Saturday. In their best half of basketball all season, the Bison shot 75% from the field and 5-for-7 from the 3-point line on the way to a 51-26 halftime lead.
Saturday's win in Annapolis finally put to bed a nine-game road losing streak dating back to a Nov. 7 overtime win at Southern Indiana. Bucknell had been 0-4 on the road in Patriot League play, despite leading by at least eight points in each.
On the flip side, Bucknell is 5-0 at home in league play. The Bison are 7-3 at home on the season and have not lost to a Patriot League foe at home since last Feb. 12, when Lehigh won in overtime at Sojka Pavilion.
Bucknell has picked up the pace offensively over the last six 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 six games since then:

Scoring Average 80.8
FG% .506
3FG% .450
ASST/TO 90/60

Bucknell has played seven overtime games and nine overtime periods 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 45 minutes of extra time this season. Bucknell is now within one 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 seven OT games are a new school record. The Bison played six in 2008-09 and 2021-22.

Most Overtime Games, 2024-25 Season
Bucknell      7
Tennessee-Martin   5
DePaul    4
Hofstra   4
Houston   4
LIU 4
Missouri State     4
Northwestern 4
Tennessee State 4

Noah Williamson was a preseason All-Patriot League selection and is averaging a team-high 16.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.0 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 recorded double-doubles in both wins last week (13/16 vs. Loyola; 29/12 at Navy) and was named Patriot League Player of the Week on Monday.
Williamson has been on a tear from the 3-point arc, going 9-for-9 over the last three games. He was 6-for-6 at Colgate, 2-for-2 at Boston University, and he made his only attempt against Loyola last Wednesday. Williamson tied 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. He did not attempt a trey at Navy, so his streak is still intact heading into the American game.
Josh Bascoe is averaging a career-high 15.0 ppg. Bascoe 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 ninth nationally in minutes played at 36.8 per game. He has played more than 40 minutes in a game six 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.
American held off Army 71-68 at Bender Arena on Saturday for its seventh win in a row. Matt Rogers scored 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting, including a career-high four 3-pointers.
Wednesday's game will feature a battle between two of the Patriot League's top big men in American's Rogers and Bucknell's Williamson. Rogers, the Patriot League Preseason Player of the Year is riding a streak of three straight 20-point games, while Williamson has hit for at least 20 in six of Bucknell's 10 Patriot League games. Rogers (16.8) and Williamson (16.4) are the league's No. 3 and 4 scorers over the full season. In PL play, Williamson leads the league in scoring at 20.3 ppg, while Rogers is third at 18.0 ppg.
American has three other players scoring in double figures: Elijah Stephens (11.0), Colin Smalls (10.9), and Greg Jones (10.5).
In Patriot League games, Bucknell (.381) and American (.379) rank 1-3 in 3-point percentage. The Eagles lead the league in 3-point makes at 8.9 per game. American is also the top free-throw shooting team at 80.2% in league play.
The Bison will certainly be mindful of Matt Mayock, who scored 20 and 12 points in his two appearances against Bucknell as a freshman last year. He went 8-for-12 from the arc and 12-for-18 overall in those two games. Mayock was a teammate of Bucknell's Quin Berger at Westtown High School, where they were coached by Quin's father, Seth Berger.
American freshman guard Shane O'Reilly is the younger brother of former Bucknell guard Matt O'Reilly.

How to Get the Game

The Bucknell-American game will be streamed on ESPN+ with "Voice of the Bison" Doug Birdsong and former Bison assistant coach Terry Conrad on the call from Sojka Pavilion.
Joe Vasile 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.
Follow @Bucknell_MBB for in-game updates on Twitter.

Last Time Out

Noah Williamson piled up 29 points and 12 rebounds, and Bucknell parlayed a monster first half into an 85-75 win over Navy on Saturday afternoon at Alumni Hall.
Williamson notched his eighth double-double by halftime, and Elvin Edmonds IV scored all 14 of his points in a sensational first half. Edmonds splashed a 3-pointer on the game's first possession, setting the tone for Bucknell's best 20 minutes of the season. The Bison shot a whopping 75% (21-28) from the field and went 5-for-7 from the 3-point arc on the way to a 51-26 halftime lead.
Edmonds' second of four first-half treys made it a 12-2 start, and nine minutes into the game the Bison were 11-for-13 from the field with tip-ins from Williamson and Pip Ajayi on the two that were missed. Bucknell led 26-19 at the midpoint of the first half, then outscored Navy 25-7 over the remainder of the period.
Things got a bit nervy in a disjointed second half that was littered with fouls at both ends. The Bison couldn't keep the hot shooting going, starting the second half 4-for-17 as Navy crept closer. Navy's top scorer Austin Benigni was held to one point in the first half before scoring 20 in the second. He tallied 13 of his team's 16 points in one stretch, and his layup at the 2:03 mark made it a seven-point game at 72-65.
The Bison have had trouble holding on to second-half leads on the road this season, but this time they were able to close it out. In the final two minutes, Williamson scored twice on breakaways to beat the press, and Bucknell went 9-for-12 at the foul line to complete the season sweep of the Midshipmen.
Bucknell shot 56.9% from the field, its third time in the last four better than 50%, and 7-for-16 from the 3-point arc. Navy came in riding a three-game winning streak with an average margin of 17.7 points, but the Bison held the Mids to 40.6% shooting (9-25 3FG).

Bucknell vs. American Series Notes

Bucknell has an overall 48-31 lead in an all-time series with American that includes some historic dates.
The very first meeting on Jan. 14, 1939 also happened to be the first game ever played in Davis Gym (AU won 38-33). Coincidentally, American was also the opponent for the very last game ever played in Davis Gym on Jan. 11, 2003 (a 63-52 Bison win). Two nights later, the Bison debuted in Sojka Pavilion.
As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell leads 33-19, including victories in the 2005 and 2006 PL Tournament semifinals and the 2020 and 2024 quarterfinals.

Bucknell vs. American in Postseason Play
1983 ECC Quarterfinals: American 51, Bucknell 49 (OT) (at Lafayette)
2005 PL Semifinals: Bucknell 53, American 35 (at Bucknell)
2006 PL Semifinals: Bucknell 64, American 50 (at Bucknell)
2020 PL Quarterfinals: Bucknell 64, American 59 (at American)
2023 PL First Round: American 64, Bucknell 59 (at American)
2024 PL Quarterfinals: Bucknell 80, American 57 (at American)

Bucknell has won 27 of 36 series meetings in Lewisburg, including 19 out of 23 at Sojka Pavilion, but the Bison are just 13-15 at Bender Arena.
Last season, American won the two regular-season matchups, 71-63 in Lewisburg and 75-66 in overtime in D.C. Bucknell avenged those losses with an 80-57 rout in the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals.
In that postseason clash, Noah Williamson recorded 23 points and 10 rebounds, Jack Forrest notched 16 points, and Elvin Edmonds IV scored all 13 of his points in the second half to lead fifth-seeded Bucknell to an 80-57 win over No. 4 American. It was a sensational all-around performance for the Bison, who saw their season end on the same floor at the hands of the Eagles in the first round the previous season. Bucknell committed only three turnovers despite facing heavy full-court pressure throughout the second half, and the Bison limited American to only three field goals in the first 17:32 of the second half.
In this season's first meeting on Jan. 11 at Bender Arena, 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. 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.

Facts & Figures

Brandon McCreesh now ranks third in the Patriot League in 3-point percentage (.446) thanks to a recent hot streak. McCreesh has hit at least one trey in eight straight games and is 14-for-21 from the arc in that stretch.
The Bison lead the Patriot League in free-throw attempts (20.9) and made free throws (13.8) per game, even though they rank eighth in free-throw percentage (.663). Noah Williamson's 164 free-throw attempts are 11th-most in the nation.
Bucknell also leads the PL in opponent turnovers (12.6) per game and opponent field-goal percentage (.436)
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 34-for-49 (.694) since then, including 32-for-45 (.711) over his last 16 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 six straight games.
Williamson's eight double-doubles are the most in the Patriot League and 28th-most in the nation.

Orange-Out Declared as Second-Place Bison Host First-Place American Wednesday at Sojka Pavilion

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Quin Berger

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Brandon McCreesh

Noah Williamson

Orange-Out Declared as Second-Place Bison Host First-Place American Wednesday at Sojka Pavilion

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Pip Ajayi

Josh Bascoe

Quin Berger

Elvin Edmonds IV

Jack Forrest

Brandon McCreesh

Noah Williamson

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