Men's Basketball Takes on Army at Home Tuesday in Patriot League Tournament First Round

Tuesday, March 3

Lewisburg, Pa.

7 p.m.

Bucknell University

Army (PL First Round)

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Photo by: Steven Schoenfelder

Men's Basketball Takes on Army at Home Tuesday in Patriot League Tournament First Round

3/2/2026 3:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball

GAME DIGEST
What: #9 Army West Point (11-20, 5-13 PL) at #8 Bucknell (9-22, 6-12 PL) in Patriot League Tournament First Round
When: Tuesday, March 3, 7 p.m.
Where: Sojka Pavilion
Watch: ESPN+
Listen: Eagle 107 and BucknellBison.com
Live Stats: BucknellBison.com
COMPLETE GAME NOTES
TICKETS

LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The calendar has flipped to March, which means it's time for postseason basketball. In a season filled with injury attrition, Bucknell finds itself in the first round of the PenFed Credit Union Patriot League Tournament for only the fourth time, but a key road win at Army last week helped secure the No. 8 seed and a first-round home game. Now the Bison and Black Knights will meet again on Tuesday at Sojka Pavilion, with the winner headed to Annapolis to take on No. 1 seed Navy on Thursday.

Bucknell finished the regular season with two road games at Army and Lehigh, and despite dressing only seven scholarship players, the Bison turned in two of their better offensive performances of the season. The Bison scored 75 points and shot 48.1% from the field (9-22 3FG) at West Point, and they tallied 79 points while shooting 50.8% from the field (9-21 3FG) at Lehigh. That came on the heels of six straight sub-70 outings. Bucknell will be looking for more of that on Tuesday, as the Bison have struggled to shoot the three at home in recent weeks. In their last four games at Sojka Pavilion, the Bison are 16-for-95 (.168) from the arc.

Bucknell and Army played two tight contests during the regular season, with the road team winning both. On Jan. 21 at Sojka Pavilion, the Black Knights won 87-84 on Jackson Furman's 3-pointer with less than a second remaining in overtime. Last Wednesday at West Point, the Bison built an 18-point second half lead before hanging on to win 75-73.

Senior Achile Spadone and freshmen Amon Dörries and Pat Curtin have carried most of the scoring load in recent weeks. Those three combined for 56 of the team's 63 points last week against Holy Cross, they tallied 60 of the 75 at Army on Wednesday, and they had 63 of 79 at Lehigh last time out. In Patriot League play, the trio has accounted for 66.8% of the team's points. Dörries will become the first freshman to lead the team in scoring since Bob Barry in 1976-77, and if Curtin remains in second, it will be the first time that Bucknell's top two scorers have been first-year players since freshman became eligible in 1972.

Dörries, who was named to the All-Patriot League Second Team and the PL All-Rookie Team on Monday, now has 10 20-point games on the season, including four in a row, and is averaging 21.6 ppg over his last 11 games. He has earned six Patriot League Rookie of the Week awards this season, including the last two. Bucknell had not had a Rookie of the Week since 2020-21, but the Bison have now earned the award seven times this season. Curtin was honored on Jan. 12 along with Dörries' six 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. Dörries is Bucknell's first All-Rookie selection since Nana Foulland in 2015, and he is the first Bison to earn All-Rookie honors and also make one of the all-league teams since Mike Muscala earned a Second Team nod in 2010.

Over his last 13 games, Spadone is averaging 16.6 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 15 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.

Army has dropped seven of its last eight, including an 83-77 loss to Lafayette on Saturday. Had the Black Knights won that game, the seeds would have been flipped and they would have hosted Bucknell on Tuesday. The Black Knights have several potent scorers and average 72.7 points per game, but they allow the most points in the league (77.6). Army's 334 made 3-pointers and 1,003 attempted threes are by far the most in the league, and they take the seventh-most threes in the nation. Of their 1,890 shot attempts this season, 53.0% have come from beyond the arc. When the two teams met last week, Army took 45 of its 64 shots from 3-point distance. The Black Knights also lead the league in offensive rebounds per game at 11.6.

Army has received balanced scoring this year, with All-Patriot League guard Ryan Curry leading the way at 13.5 ppg. Jaxson Bell (12.1) and Jacen Holloway (10.9) also score in double figures, followed by Furman (9.2), Kevin McCarthy (7.9), and Jorn Everson (7.6).

Bucknell has an all-time record of 47-29 (.618) in 35 Patriot League Tournaments. The Bison have reached the championship game a league-record 13 times, including wins in 2005, 2006, 2011, 2013, 2017 and 2018, and reached at least the semifinals in 26 of the first 35 years. This will be Bucknell's first time playing as the No. 8 seed and just the fourth time playing a first-round game. The Bison won two of their previous three first-round contests, beating Holy Cross at home as the No. 7 seed in 2020 and Lafayette on the road as the No. 9 seed in 2022.

The Bison hold a 65-26 lead in an all-time series that dates back to 1929. The Bison are 37-7 all-time at home against Army. As Patriot League rivals, Bucknell has won 64 of 80 meetings. In Patriot League Tournament action, Bucknell is 8-2 against Army. Eight of those 10 postseason meetings have come in the quarterfinals. This will be the first tourney matchup since the 2017 quarters, when the Bison won 78-62 on the way to the league title.

Bucknell and Army split the season series last year, with the home team winning both times. Army claimed a wild 116-110 double overtime win at West Point, and then the Bison returned the favor with an 84-53 rout at Sojka Pavilion. It was the opposite story this year, with the road teams winning both regular-season clashes. The Bison and Black Knights needed overtime once again to settle this year's first matchup at Sojka Pavilion on Jan. 21. Jackson Furman hit a transition 3-pointer with less than a second remaining to lift the Black Knights to an 87-84 OT win. Pat Curtin matched his career high with 25 points to lead all scorers. Spadone tallied 18 points and nine rebounds, Jayden Williams scored a career-high 17 points, and Amon Dörries also reached double figures with 13 for the Bison. Jaxson Bell scored a team-high 18 for Army, including two tying free throws with 2.8 left in regulation to force overtime.

Six days ago at West Point, Bucknell built an 18-point second half lead and then withstood a late charge and won 75-73. Dörries scored 17 of his game-high 23 points in the second half, Achile Spadone added 21 points, including the two clinching free throws with 6.9 seconds left, and Curtin added 16 points and a season-high 11 rebounds for the Bison. Kevin McCarthy and Tate Laczkowski both set career highs with 21 for the Black Knights, and Bell had 11 points, 10 assists, eight rebounds, and five steals.

The winner of Tuesday's game will advance to the quarterfinal round and travel to No. 1 seed Navy on Thursday night. The Midshipmen went 17-1 and won the regular-season title by six games. No. 7 Lafayette hosts No. 10 Holy Cross in the other first-round game, with the winner heading to No. 2 Lehigh. The other quarterfinal matchups will feature No. 3 Colgate hosting No. 6 Loyola and No. 4 Boston University hosting No. 5 American.