Men's Basketball Entertains American Wednesday Night

Wednesday, February 18

Lewisburg, Pa.

7 p.m.

Bucknell University

American

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Photo by: Jon Hertzler

Men's Basketball Entertains American Wednesday Night

2/17/2026 6:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball

GAME DIGEST
What: American (14-13, 7-7 PL) at Bucknell (8-19, 5-9 PL)
When: Wednesday, Feb. 18, 7 p.m.
Where: Sojka Pavilion
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Eagle 107 and BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
Happenings: Fan Appreciation Night
COMPLETE GAME NOTES
TICKETS

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- We're down to just four games remaining in the regular season, and Bucknell hosts American on Wednesday night looking to start a late push in the Patriot League standings. The Bison are tied for seventh place with Lafayette at 5-9, two games behind 7-7 American and Loyola. Moving out of the bottom four would mean a bye into the Patriot League Tournament quarterfinals. A win on Wednesday would bring Bucknell within one game of American, and the Bison would own the head-to-head tiebreaker with a season sweep. It will be Fan Appreciation Night at Sojka Pavilion, with prizes given away throughout the evening.

Bucknell will be looking to shed a three-game losing streak on Wednesday, with the three losses coming to top-four teams in Colgate, Navy, and Boston University. American just snapped a five-game skid with a 75-63 home win over Army on Saturday. The Bison have a shot at the sweep thanks to a dramatic 60-59 win at Bender Arena on Feb. 4. Achile Spadone banked in a 37-foot 3-pointer at the final buzzer to win the game. The play ended up at No. 1 on ESPN SportsCenter's Top 10 Plays of the Day.

Lost in the fanfare from that buzzer-beater is that the senior from Switzerland is currently playing the best basketball of his career. Over his last nine games, Spadone is averaging 16.1 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. The Bison are very thin in the frontcourt without injured regulars Ruot Bijiek and Grgur Brcic, so Spadone has often been playing the 4 spot at 6'4", and he has now pulled down five or more rebounds in 11 straight games, including 11 at American and 10 at Lafayette. Spadone is averaging 7.1 rpg in Patriot League play to rank sixth in the league.

Freshman Amon Dörries leads the Bison in scoring at 15.1 ppg, and in Patriot League play he averages 17.4 ppg. Dörries scored a Bucknell freshman-record 36 points in Bucknell's double-overtime win over Boston University on Jan. 31.
uBucknell's top two scorers in PL play are freshmen: Amon Dörries (17.4 ppg) and Pat Curtin (14.5 ppg). Dörries has six 20-point games this season and Curtin has three. There are six freshmen who rank in the top 25 in the Patriot League in scoring (all games), and three of them will be on the floor on Saturday.

Patriot League Freshman Scoring Leaders, 2025-26
1. Amon Dörries, Bucknell    15.1
2. Andrew Alekseyenko, Colgate   14.7
3. Emmett Adair, Loyola 14.0
4. Chance Gladden, Boston U.   13.6
5. Madden Collins, American 13.5
6. Pat Curtin, Bucknell 11.7

Freshman Madden Collins has come off the bench in every game this season, but he is American's leading scorer at 13.5 ppg. Collins has six 20-point games this season, with a high of 26 against Holy Cross. Greg Jones, the Preseason Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, also chips in 12.3 ppg, and Julen Iturbe scores 10.4 ppg. American allows only 72.0 ppg, the second-best mark in the Patriot League behind Navy (64.1). The Eagles lead the PL in turnover margin (2.15) by a wide margin, as they force a league-high 13.4 miscues per game.

Bucknell has an overall 50-31 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 35-19, including victories in the 2005 and 2006 PL Tournament semifinals and the 2020 and 2024 quarterfinals. Bucknell has won 28 of 37 series meetings in Lewisburg, including 20 out of 24 at Sojka Pavilion, but the Bison are just 14-15 at Bender Arena. Bucknell and American split two games last season, with the home team winning both. The Eagles won 68-58 in D.C., and then the Bison prevailed 71-49 in Lewisburg.

Two weeks ago at Bender Arena, Spadone banked in a deep 3-pointer at the buzzer to lift Bucknell to a stunning 60-59 win. Spadone grabbed the rebound off a missed free throw, raced the ball up the court, and let fly the game-winning shot to send the Bison to their second straight win. The Bison trailed 59-56 after Geoff Sprouse's fourth 3-pointer of the second half broke a tie with 1:35 to play. Bucknell had a shot blocked and turned the ball over on its next two possessions but never allowed another point. After Julen Iturbe missed the front end of a 1-and-1 with 24 seconds left, Amon Dörries split a pair at the line after grabbing an offensive rebound. Kade Sebastian missed another front end with 4.7 left, setting up Spadone's heroics. Dörries scored 21 points, including Bucknell's first 10 of the game. Pat Curtin scored all 12 of his points in the second half after picking up three fouls in the first. Sprouse led American with 12 points, all on threes. Sebastian scored 11 and Greg Jones had 10 points and eight rebounds.

Bucknell next hosts Holy Cross on Sunday at noon in its final regular-season home game. Bucknell's five seniors will be honored before the game. These two teams have not met since the Patriot League opener on Dec. 31, when the Crusaders prevailed 65-58 at the Hart Center.