Nov. 20, 2009
WHAT: Bucknell (2-2) vs. Saint Francis (Pa.) (1-2)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Saturday, November 21, 7:30 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
TV: None
WEBCAST: BisonVision
LIVE STATISTICS: GameTracker
Complete Game Notes in PDF Format 
With a Win Over Saint Francis, the Bison Would ...
... win their third straight game and improve to 3-2 on the season.
... achieve their first three-game winning streak since January 2008 (Navy, American, at Holy Cross)
... stop a two-game losing streak to the Red Flash.
... improve to 15-11 all-time against the Red Flash.
... win its home opener for the fifth time in the last seven years.
About the Game
Bucknell comes into Saturday night’s home opener on a high note after routing Delaware 82-66 on the road on Wednesday. The emphatic victory followed a win over Bryant, and the Bison are now back to .500 at 2-2 after dropping their first two contests of the season to Mercer and Providence. The Bison have had balanced scoring so far with four players averaging at least 10 points per game and eight averaging better than four per game. Darryl Shazier, coming off a career-high 24-point effort at Delaware, leads the way at 14.3 ppg, followed by Bryan Cohen (12.5 ppg), Bryson Johnson (10.3) and Patrick Behan (10.0). Bucknell shot 57.1% from the field against Delaware, and on Saturday the Orange & Blue will face another hot-shooting team in Saint Francis (Pa.). The Red Flash defeated American 65-61 on opening night, but since then they have lost back-to-back tilts to Notre Dame (95-72) and Lafayette (88-77). In three games Saint Francis is shooting 47.1% as a team, including a stellar 49.1% (27-55) from 3-point range. The Red Flash are 21-for-34 from the arc in their last two games, including a 13-for-19 showing at Notre Dame. Devin Sweetney is coming off a 30-point game against Lafayette and now leads the squad in scoring at 22.3 ppg. Cedric Latimer, a transfer from Santa Clara, is 17-for 23 (.739) from the field and averages 15.0 ppg.
How to Get the Game
The Bucknell-Saint Francis game will not be televised, however a live Webcast will be shown on Bison Vision via BucknellBison.com (subscription required). The game can be heard locally on the radio on Eagle 107 (WEGH 107.3 FM), with Doug Birdsong and Ed Sigl 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 through GameTracker on BucknellBison.com.
Bucknell vs. Saint Francis Series Notes
Bucknell has a 14-11 lead in the all-time series, although Saint Francis has won two straight and four of the last five.
The Bison captured seven of the first nine meetings in a series that dates back to 1927.
Bucknell is 9-3 against Saint Francis (Pa.) in Lewisburg, but 0-2 in games played in Sojka Pavilion. In 2004-05 Bucknell was 12-1 at home, and the one loss was to the Red Flash (70-65) early in the season. Saint Francis also won here (57-54) two seasons ago thanks to a 32-7 second-half run.
Last season in Loretto, the Red Flash defeated the Bison 69-59 in overtime, behind 19 points from Mislav Jukic and 15 points and 10 rebounds from Devin Sweetney. Saint Francis was 34-for-39 from the foul line, while the Bison were just 9-for-17. Bryan Cohen, in only his third career game, led Bucknell with 22 points.
Bucknell vs. The Northeast Conference
Bucknell is 40-32 (.556) all-time against the teams that currently comprise the Northeast Conference. The Bison are 14-11 against Saint Francis (Pa.), 12-8 vs. Mount St. Mary’s, 6-3 vs. Robert Morris, 4-2 vs. Saint Francis (N.Y.), 3-6 vs. Wagner, 1-0 vs. Bryant and 0-1 vs. Central Connecticut State. Bucknell has never played Long Island, Monmouth or Fairleigh Dickinson. The Bison will play another NEC team next Saturday when they travel to Wagner.
Familiar Face
Saint Francis second-year head coach Don Friday spent nine seasons (1994-03) as an assistant coach at Bucknell under Pat Flannery, where he helped recruit many of the key players on Bucknell’s 2005 and 2006 Patriot League championship teams. Friday, who also assisted Flannery at Lebanon Valley, was the Patriot League’s longest-tenured assistant coach when he left Bucknell after the 2002-03 season to assume the head coaching duties at nearby Lycoming, where he compiled an 83-49 record and was named the MAC Coach of the Year twice.
Last Time Out
Bucknell pieced together its most complete effort of the young season on Wednesday, running past Delaware 82-66 in Newark behind 24 points from Darryl Shazier and 18 points and eight rebounds from Patrick Behan. The Bison wrapped a game-changing 24-4 run around the halftime break. They led 36-24 at intermission maintained a lead of 12-22 points throughout the entire second half. Bucknell executed its half-court offense very well, shooting 57.1% from the field. Only eight of the team’s 42 shots were 3-pointers, and they made five of those, in addition to a 29-for-33 showing from the free-throw line.
Inside the Delaware Boxscore
Darryl Shazier had his best-ever scoring night, piling up 24 points on 6-for-10 shooting from the field, 3-for-4 from 3-point range and 9-for-9 from the line. He did have a season-high three turnovers, but did come up with two steals, three rebounds and a pair of assists.
Patrick Behan, who appears mostly recovered from an illness that limited his effectiveness in the three games in Providence last weekend, had his best game of the year against Delaware. Behan made 7 of 9 shots from the field and finished with 18 points and eight rebounds.
Freshman Bryson Johnson reached double figures in the points column for the third time in his four career games. Johnson had a perfect shooting night, going 2-for-2 from the field (both 3-pointers) and 6-for-6 from the line. Delaware went to a halfcourt trapping defense early in the second half, and Johnson made them pay with treys on consecutive possessions.
Bucknell won convincingly without any offensive contributions from its leading scorer entering the game, Bryan Cohen. Cohen attempted only two shots all night and finished with four points, four assists and six turnovers, but he was again very strong defensively. He harassed Alphonso Dawson into a 4-for-21 shooting night.
Enoch Andoh gave Bucknell a nice lift off the bench, scoring on all three of his shot attempts and finishing with six points in seven minutes.
Bucknell struggled in two specific areas in the Delaware game: turnovers and defensive rebounding. The Bison committed a season-high 21 miscues and allowed the Blue Hens to grab a whopping 25 offensive rebounds.
Defensively, Bucknell forced 18 turnovers and held Delaware to 36.6% shooting overall, 22.2% (4-18) from 3-point range.
Bucknell in Home Openers Freshman Contributions
Three of Bucknell’s five freshman made major contributions on the opening weekend of play in Providence, and all three had at least one double-digit scoring game.
Forward Joe Willman earned a starting assignment coming out of the preseason. He is averaging 6.8 points and 5.0 rebounds so far, with a high of 11 points against Providence.
Guard Bryson Johnson made the biggest splash on opening night. He made six of his first eight 3-point attempts and finished with a team-high 18 points. He was kept off the scoreboard against Providence, but then came back to hit three more treys against Bryant and scored 11 points. Johnson was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week on Monday, then validated that award by hitting for 12 points in the win over Delaware. Johnson is averaging 10.3 ppg and is 11-for-24 (.458) from the arc.
Center/forward Mike Muscala battled foul trouble on opening night against Mercer and finished with two points in 11 minutes. He had two points and three rebounds in 22 minutes against Providence, then he had his best game yet against Bryant, totaling a team-high 12 points, three rebounds and two blocks in 24 minutes. In the Bryant win he hit a critical jumper off an inbounds play and also blocked a shot down the stretch. Muscala is averaging 4.8 ppg so far.
Statistically Speaking
Some other notable numbers from Bucknell’s first four games:
Bucknell attempted 189 fewer free throws than its opponents last season, but so far this year the Bison seem to have reversed the trend. After outscoring Delaware 29-10 from the line, Bucknell has shot 95 free throws compared to 78 for its opponents.
Bucknell outrebounded two of its first four opponents. Providence (46-31) and Delaware (38-29) have had major edges, but the Bison won the battle of the boards against both Mercer (32-31) and Bryant (40-36).
The Bison averaged a respectable 12.3 turnovers in the three games at the World Vision Invitational. After committing 16 miscues against Mercer on opening night, they had only 11 against Providence’s pressure defense and only 10 in the win over Bryant. Bucknell stumbled in that department against Delaware, committing 21 miscues.
Bryan Cohen and Bryson Johnson are a combined 20-for-38 (.526) from 3-point distance, while the rest of the team is 6-for-25 (.240).
After going 29-for-33 from the foul line against Delaware, Bucknell is now shooting 77.9% from the stripe on the season. Darryl Shazier is now 20-for-22 (.909), and he has the most made and attempted free throws in the Patriot League.
Who’s Got Next?
Bucknell will be back on the road for two games next week, both in the New York City area. On Tuesday the Bison travel to Columbia for a 7 p.m. game, and next Saturday they will be at Wagner at 7 p.m.
