Jan. 5, 2009
WHAT: Bucknell (3-10) vs. Cornell (8-6)
WHERE: Newman Arena, Ithaca, N.Y.
WHEN: Tuesday, January 6, 2009, 7 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107and SportsJuice.com
TV: None
STREAMING VIDEO: CornellBigRed.com
LIVE STATISTICS: CornellBigRed.com
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES 
With a Victory over Cornell, Bucknell Would ...
... snap a four-game losing streak and improve to 4-10 on the season.
... win for the first time on the road this season and snap an eight-game road losing streak dating back to last year.
... win its sixth in a row against the Big Red.
... snap the Big Red’s three-game overall winning streak and their 13-game home winning streak.
About the Game
Game two of a very difficult four-game road trip takes Bucknell to Ithaca, N.Y., on Tuesday night to take on reigning Ivy League champion Cornell. The Bison, who have lost eight straight road games and four straight overall, opened the trip with an 18-point loss at Ohio, and after Cornell they start Patriot League play with challenging road games at Navy and defending champion American. For Bucknell to end those two streaks in Ithaca, it is going to have to show improvement on the defensive end of the floor, no small task against a very talented offensive team. The Bison are giving up 77.9 points per game on the year, and they have allowed 80 or more points in their last three games, the first time that has happened in 15 years. After a couple of quiet games, senior guard Justin Castleberry had two big scoring games last week, tallying 23 against St. Bonaventure and 17 at Ohio. He is 9-for-17 from 3-point range in those two games and has retaken the team scoring lead from Patrick Behan at 12.8 points per game. Behan averages 12.3 ppg, while freshman Bryan Cohen has six straight double-figure games and is averaging 11.7 ppg. Meanwhile, Cornell returned all but one letterman from a team that went 22-6 and 14-0 in the Ivy League last season. The Big Red are now 8-6, but four of the six losses are to members of the Big East and Big Ten, and the other two are to St. Joseph’s and Siena. Cornell’s current three-game winning streak includes a 30-point home win over Boston University, a team that defeated Bucknell in overtime early in the season. Ryan Wittman averages 20.8 ppg and has 49 3-pointers to lead a good-shooting (46.7 FG%, 40.5 3FG%) and efficient (44 more assists than turnovers) offense. Jeff Foote (12.8), Louis Dale (12.5) and Geoff Reeves (10.6) also score in double figures for Cornell, which is trying to stop a five-game losing streak to Bucknell.
How to Get the Game
The Bucknell-Cornell game will not be televised, although live streaming video can be purchased at CornellBigRed.com. The game can be heard locally on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong on the call. The pregame show begins 30 minutes before tip-off. The audio feed is available free of charge via BucknellBison.com and SportsJuice.com. Live statistics are available at CornellBigRed.com.
Bucknell vs. Cornell Series Notes
Bucknell currently has a slim 22-21 lead in the “Battle of the ‘Nells,” a series that dates all the way back to Cornell’s second year as a varsity program in 1899-1900 (Bucknell also defeated a group of Cornell students two years earlier in 1898).
Bucknell has defeated Cornell five straight times, including an 88-75 win at home last season and a come-from-behind 70-66 win two seasons ago on its last trip to Ithaca. Cornell’s last series win was a 64-60 verdict at Newman Arena in 2002-03.
The two teams have met every season since 1987-88, and during that current uninterrupted stretch Bucknell is 15-6 against the Big Red, including 10-1 at home.
In last season’s game, Bucknell turned in one of its most complete efforts of the year and rolled to an 88-75 win over a Cornell team that would go on to win 22 games and capture the Ivy League crown with a 14-0 league mark. John Griffin scored 27 points, Justin Castleberry had 18 and Josh Linthicum 12 for the Bison, who turned the tables on the nation’s No. 1 3-point shooting team at the time. Bucknell went 11-for-21 from the arc, while Cornell was just 6-for-24 after coming in shooting 48%. For the Big Red, Collin Robinson had 21 points, Louis Dale added 17 and Jeff Foote had 10 points, 11 rebounds and four blocks in his first game in a Cornell uniform. The Bison led 47-30 at halftime and trailed only once all night, at 2-0.
Bucknell vs. The Ivy League
Bucknell is 38-39 all-time against the Ivy League. The Bison have played 43 games against Cornell, but only 34 combined against the other seven Ivy teams. In addition to its 22-21 record against Cornell, Bucknell is 4-2 against Yale, 3-1 vs. Brown, 3-4 vs. Penn, 3-9 vs. Princeton, 1-0 vs. Dartmouth, 1-1 vs. Columbia and 1-1 vs. Harvard.
Last Time Out
Bucknell had a solid offensive showing with 10 3-pointers and only eight turnovers, but the Bison just could not come up with enough defensive stops against Jerome Tillman and Ohio on Saturday and fell 85-67. Tillman had 28 points and 15 rebounds for the Bobcats, who built on a six-point halftime lead with a 12-3 run to start the second half. The Bison got as close as 11 on two occasions later in the second half, but both times Ohio answered. Darryl Shazier’s layup with 4:45 to play made it a 72-61 game, but the Bobcats went on a 10-1 run over the next three minutes and held the Bison to only one more field goal in the game. Justin Castleberry starred on offense for Bucknell, hitting five 3-pointers and scoring 17 points. For complete recap and boxscore, please see Page 29.
Inside the Ohio Boxscore
The Bison have now made 10 3-pointers in each of the last two games after not hitting more than nine in any of their first 11 games.
Bucknell’s 17 assists were a season high, while its eight turnovers were a season-low. Ohio had 21 assists and only seven turnovers.
Point guard Darryl Shazier had six assists and no turnovers in 37 minutes. Shazier, who also hit 2 of 3 from the 3-point arc and scored eight points, recorded six or more assists for the sixth time this season. Shazier also blocked two shots, a career high.
G.W. Boon went 0-for-5 from 3-point range but still scored 12 points in 22 minutes off the bench thanks in part to 6-for-6 shooting from the foul line.
The Bison went 11-for-15 (.733) from the line, their best showing in seven games.
Patrick Behan got off to a good start, hitting his first three shots of the day. But soon after, he went to the bench with two fouls and did not shoot again in the first half. Behan went 0-for-5 in the second half and was held to seven points and five rebounds.
Ohio hit 7 of its first 13 3-point attempts and scored 21 of its 37 first-half points from the arc. In the second period the Bobcats scored 26 points in the paint, 18 of them coming from Jerome Tillman.
Bucknell suffered its 10th straight loss in day games.
The Long Road
Saturday’s loss to Ohio dropped the Bison to 0-7 on the road this season and extended their road losing streak to eight games dating back to last season. It is Bucknell’s longest road losing streak since the 2003-04 season, when the squad dropped eight in a row away from home.
‘Berry Good
Bison senior guard Justin Castleberry averaged 20.0 points in two games last week and now leads the team in scoring at 12.8 ppg. Castleberry has been hot and cold this season. He has scored 17 or more points six times, but he has also been held to seven or less six times. He had a career-high 31 points in a win over Old Dominion earlier this season, one of four 20-plus-point games this year and seven in his career.
Ebner’s Role Expanding
Freshman Ryan Ebner, a walk-on forward who will also pitch for the Bison baseball team in the spring, has earned himself some playing time in the last two weeks. Ebner played a career-high 15 minutes at Ohio and logged five points and three rebounds. He had those same numbers at Marist two games earlier and is now 5-for-7 from the field this season.
Rave Rookie Reviews
Bison freshman guard Bryan Cohen has been one of the Patriot League’s top newcomers so far in 2008-09. Cohen has scored in double figures in six straight games and nine total, and he is averaging 14.3 points per game in his last half-dozen games. His 11.7 ppg average ranks 12th overall in the Patriot League and second among freshmen to Holy Cross’ R.J. Evans (13.5). Cohen leads PL freshmen in 3-pointers (25), 3-point percentage (.338) and minutes played (32.2).
Tough Schedule
Bucknell’s first 13 opponents have a combined record of 100-67 (.599). Wake Forest, which is now ranked No. 6 nationally, heads the list with a perfect 13-0 record. Only four of those 12 teams have losing records. The three teams that Bucknell has defeated have a combined 21-14 (.600) record.
Tough Schedule, Part 2
Bucknell has a national strength-of-schedule ranking of 77 (out of 343 teams), according to the latest RPI rankings (through games of Jan. 4). That figure is by far the highest in the Patriot League. Team SOS Ranking Bucknell 77 American 118 Lafayette 255 Colgate 271 Holy Cross 274 Navy 318 Lehigh 336 Army 342
Who’s Got Next?
Bucknell begins Patriot League play on Saturday at Navy at 5 p.m. The game will be televised on ESPNU. It will be Bucknell’s first trip to Alumni Hall since last season’s Patriot League Tournament semifinals, when the Bison won 87-86 in triple overtime on John Griffin’s 40-foot bank shot at the final buzzer.
