Men's Basketball Ends Regular Season at Lehigh, PL Tourney First-Round Home Game at Stake

Saturday, February 28

Bethlehem, Pa.

2 p.m.

Bucknell University

Lehigh

Photo by: Jon Lambert

Men's Basketball Ends Regular Season at Lehigh, PL Tourney First-Round Home Game at Stake

2/27/2026 9:54:00 AM | Men's Basketball

GAME DIGEST
What: Bucknell (9-21, 6-11 PL) at Lehigh (14-16, 10-7 PL)
When: Saturday, Feb. 28, 2 p.m.
Where: Stabler Arena, Bethlehem, Pa.
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: WKOK 1070 AM and BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: LehighSports.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES

For Bison fans looking for a full day of action in Bethlehem, note that the Bucknell men's lacrosse team will play at Lehigh on Saturday morning at 11 a.m. at the Ulrich Sports Complex, located just across the street from Stabler Arena.

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The final day of the 2025-26 regular season has arrived, and Bucknell and Lehigh clash at Stabler Arena on Saturday afternoon with Patriot League Tournament seeding implications at stake for both. Bucknell enters the final round of league play alone in eighth place at 6-11, one game behind Lafayette and Loyola and one game ahead of Army and Holy Cross. The Bison are assured of playing a first-round game next Tuesday as one of the bottom four seeds, but as the 7 or 8 seed they would get to host that game. A win at Lehigh on Saturday would guarantee a first-round home game. They could still host with a loss but would need both Army (at Lafayette) and Holy Cross (home vs. Loyola) to lose.

Lehigh sits alone in third place at 10-7 after winning a big game at American on Wednesday night. The Mountain Hawks can finish no lower than third, but they could move up to the 2 seed with a win and a Colgate loss at Navy. The Midshipmen lead the league by five games over Colgate and will be the top seed in the tournament.

Bucknell snapped a five-game losing streak with a 75-73 win at Army on Wednesday morning. The Bison had only seven scholarship players available but still managed to build an 18-point second-half lead before holding on at the end. Amon Dörries and Achile Spadone both played all 40 minutes and scored 23 and 21 points, respectively. Dörries scored 17 of his 23 in the second half, and Spadone knocked down the two clinching free throws with 6.9 seconds remaining. Pat Curtin also had a big day with 16 points, 11 rebounds, and three steals.

The senior Spadone and freshmen Dörries and Curtin have carried most of the scoring load in recent weeks. Those three combined for 56 of the team's 63 points last Sunday's loss to Holy Cross, and they tallied 60 of the 75 at Army on Wednesday. In Patriot League play, the trio has accounted for 66.0% of the team's points. Dörries now has nine 20-point games on the season, including three in a row, and is averaging 21.0 ppg over his last 10 games. He earned his fifth Patriot League Rookie of the Week award on Monday. Bucknell had not had a Rookie of the Week since 2020-21, but the Bison have now earned the award six times this season. Curtin was honored on Jan. 12 along with Dörries' five citations. Kevin Bettencourt holds the Bucknell record and a share of the Patriot League record with nine Rookie of the Week nods in 2002-03.

Over his last 12 games, Spadone is averaging 16.9 points and 7.9 rebounds per game. The Bison have been 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 14 straight games, including 11 at American and 10 against Lafayette and Holy Cross. Spadone is averaging 7.3 rpg in Patriot League play to rank fourth in the league.

Dörries on Wednesday broke the Bucknell record for points in a season by a freshman. Gerald Purnell's record had been in the books since 1975. Curtin is seven points away from breaking into the top 10.

Most Points, Freshman Season
1. Amon Dörries 2025-26   471
2. Gerald Purnell   1974-75   467
3. Bob Barry 1976-77   441
4. Al Leslie 1977-78   367
5. Bryan Cohen 2008-09   353
6. Nana Foulland 2014-15   346
7. Chris McNaughton  2003-04   334
8. Kevin Bettencourt 2002-03   321
9. Mike Bright 1989-90   314
10.Mike Muscala 2009-10   296
   Pat Curtin 2025-26   289

Lehigh is 8-2 against the top six teams in the standings, with the only two losses coming to first-place Navy, but 2-5 against the bottom four. The Mountain Hawks swept the season series from Colgate, American, Boston University, and Lafayette. Lehigh features the Patriot League's leading scorer in Nasir Whitlock, who averages 20.4 ppg and has a national-best seven 30-point games. A big key to Bucknell's 72-65 win back on Jan. 3 was limiting Whitlock to 11 points. The Mountain Hawks also have one of the league's top frontcourt players in Hank Alvey, who is second in the league in rebounding (7.0) and 11th in scoring (14.3). Alvey had a huge night at Sojka Pavilion earlier in the year with 26 points (10-14 FG) and nine rebounds.

Bucknell has played more games (189) and won more games (114) against Lehigh than any other school. The Bison have a 114-75 lead in a series that originated in 1902. Since the start of Patriot League play in 1990-91, Bucknell holds a 54-29 advantage, including a 31-11 mark at home.

Bucknell and Lehigh split two contests last season, with the home team winning both. In last year's first meeting at Stabler Arena on Jan. 2, Bucknell led 49-29 with 11 minutes remaining, but Lehigh stormed back to win 66-64 in overtime. Noah Williamson recorded 17 points and 10 rebounds and frontcourt mate Pip Ajayi had a Bucknell-career-high 13 points off the bench. Nasir Whitlock scored 20 points for the Mountain Hawks, including the game-winning 3-pointer with 24 seconds remaining in OT. In the rematch at Sojka Pavilion, Williamson scored 18 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to lead Bucknell to a 67-50 win. Lehigh scored the first nine points of the game and led 19-6 after nine minutes, but the Bison closed the half on a 23-6 run. Tyler Whitney-Sidney paced the Mountain Hawks with 19 points. The 50 points were the fewest allowed by Bucknell against Lehigh since 2008.

In this year's first matchup on Jan. 3 in Lewisburg, Ruot Bijiek had one of the best games of his career with 20 points and 10 rebounds to lead the Bison to a 72-65 win. The Bison trailed by as many as 13 points in the first half and by eight at halftime, but they outscored the Mountain Hawks 44-29 in the second half. Six of Bijiek's 10 rebounds came at the offensive end, where he had several key put-backs in the second half to lead the comeback. Freshman Pat Curtin had a big night in his second career start, tallying 14 points, four assists, and five steals. Bucknell came up with 14 thefts in the game and forced a season-high 21 turnovers. Jayden Williams tallied 12 points and five assists, Achile Spadone finished with 10 points, seven rebounds, and three steals, and Amon Dörries pocketed 11 points, including a huge fadeaway baseline jumper with 41 seconds remaining that stretched a three-point margin up to five.