Men’s Basketball to Host Kevin Bettencourt and Endicott in Saturday Exhibition Game; Tip-Off Reception this Thursday

Saturday, October 24

Lewisburg, Pa.

12 p.m.

Bucknell University

Endicott (exhibition)

Photo by: Jon Hertzler

Men’s Basketball to Host Kevin Bettencourt and Endicott in Saturday Exhibition Game; Tip-Off Reception this Thursday

10/20/2026 3:33:00 PM | Men's Basketball

Note: The annual Backcourt Club Tip-Off Reception will be held this Thursday, Oct. 22 at Brendan's Towne Tavern on Market Street in Lewisburg. Fans can get a season preview and meet coach John Griffin III, his staff, and members of the team. The event is open to the public starting at 6 p.m. and is $10 per person (payable by cash at the front door). Guests will be eligible for great door prizes, including the grand prize: a pair of season tickets.

LEWISBURG, Pa. – Bucknell head men's basketball coach John Griffin '08 III will welcome back a dear friend on Saturday as Hall-of-Famer Kevin Bettencourt '06 brings his Endicott team to Sojka Pavilion for an exhibition game. The contest tips off at noon and is open to the public. Tickets are required and can be purchased on a single-game basis or as game No. 1 in a season-ticket package.

The contest will also be dedicated to ALS awareness and the Behan Strong foundation. Former Bison Pat Behan '10 is batting ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease. While the disease cut short a promising basketball coaching career, Behan still regularly watches Bucknell games and sends text messages with advice to Griffin, who was his teammate and roommate at Bucknell. Last season, Griffin named Behan a special adviser to the head coach. More information about Pat and his battle can be found at the BehanStrong website at BehanStrong.com.

Griffin and Bettencourt were teammates on two of Bucknell's greatest basketball teams, the 2005 and 2006 Patriot League championship squads that went on to win first-round games in the NCAA Tournament. A three-time All-Patriot League selection, Bettencourt captained both of those teams, the latter becoming the first in team history to be ranked in the national top-25.

Bettencourt started all 123 games in his four-year career and scored 1,577 career points, which ranked fourth in team history at the time of his graduation. He broke school records for made 3-pointers in a season and career -- he bettered the career mark during his junior season -- and his .832 free-throw percentage was third-best all-time. His 42-point game at Saint Francis early in the 2003-04 season was the second-highest single-game performance of the modern era and highest ever in a road game.

Bettencourt was known as a big-game player. He hit five 3-pointers in each of Bucknell's two NCAA Tournament wins over Kansas and Arkansas. As a junior, he hit the go-ahead free throws with 23 seconds left in an upset of 7th-ranked Pittsburgh, and a year later he scored 20 points in a road win over nationally ranked Syracuse and had 23 in the Patriot League championship game against Holy Cross at Sojka Pavilion.

A native of Peabody, Mass., Bettencourt launched a successful coaching career in his home state after graduating from Bucknell, and he has found tremendous success as head coach at Division III Endicott. The Gulls are coming off a record-setting 28-2 season that included a perfect 16-0 run in the Conference of New England and a No. 11 national ranking. After rolling to a 21-point win over Western New England in the CNE Tournament, Endicott defeated Neumann and Cortland in the NCAA Tournament before falling to No. 8 Illinois Wesleyan in the Sweet Sixteen. At season's end, Bettencourt was named D3Hoops.com Region II and NABC District II Coach of the Year.

Endicott graduated Marcus Montagnino, who earned NABC First Team All-America and CNE Player of the Year honors after scoring 22.3 points per game in 2025-26. Montagnino is now on Bettencourt's coaching staff, but the Gulls do return a Second Team All-American in 6'7" forward Elijah Kinney, who tallied 20.7 ppg last season. Endicott also features a familiar name in sophomore guard Reece Goodman, whose father Bryan Goodman coached Griffin and Bettencourt as an assistant under Pat Flannery at Bucknell.

Meanwhile, Bucknell fans will have a chance to get an early look at a Bison squad that has several new additions. Patrick O'Brien is the team's lone senior, and junior guards Jayden Williams and Aleksander Pachucki are returning starters. Transfers Luca Soroa Schaller (Northeastern), Kyle Marshall (Air Force), Rocco Lamuno (Spring Hill), and Luke Soden (Regis) bring an additional infusion of experience and talent, while freshmen Ludvik Bergseng (6'11"), Danny Kennard (6'11"), Mert Kocogozoglu (6'6"), and Ethan Marten-Coney (6'9") boost the team's overall size profile.

After Saturday's Endicott game, Bucknell officially opens the 2026-27 season on the road at Maryland on Monday, Nov. 2 at 7 p.m. The game will be streamed on Big Ten Network Plus. The home opener follows on Saturday, Nov. 7 at 5 p.m. against Old Dominion.