Dec. 29, 2008
WHAT: Bucknell (3-8) vs. St. Bonaventure (7-4)
WHERE: Sojka Pavilion, Lewisburg, Pa.
WHEN: Tuesday, December 30, 2008, 7 p.m.
RADIO: Eagle 107 and SportsJuice.com
TV: None
STREAMING VIDEO: Bison Vision
LIVE STATISTICS: GameTracker
COMPLETE PRESS NOTES 
With a Victory over St. Bonaventure, Bucknell Would ...
... snap a two-game losing streak and improve to 4-8 on the season.
... win its third straight home game and improve to 4-2 at home this season.
... avenge last season’s 65-62 loss to the Bonnies.
... defeat the Bonnies for the first time since Jan. 4, 1990.
About the Game
Suddenly struggling after building a two-game winning streak earlier in the month, Bucknell returns home to the friendly confines of Sojka Pavilion on Tuesday night to take on St. Bonaventure. The Bison have dropped two straight road tilts to Richmond and Marist by a combined 48 points, but they have played well at home this season. Bucknell has won two straight and 3 of 5 at home, and the two losses were by a combined seven points, one of them coming in overtime. Patrick Behan (12.8), Justin Castleberry (11.5) and Bryan Cohen (11.2) are all scoring in double figures, while G.W. Boon is averaging 12.1 points per game over his last seven games. The Bison are looking for improvement on defense, however. They allowed 84.0 ppg on their recent road trip and are giving up 76.2 ppg on the season. On Tuesday the Orange & Blue will take on a talented, new-look St. Bonaventure team. Mark Schmidt’s squad is 7-4, with one of those victories a 23-point verdict at Marist, where Bucknell just lost by 26. Only three of the eight players who saw action against Bucknell last year are back on the roster in 2008-09, and none of those three averages more than 5.2 ppg. The Bonnies’ top five scorers are all newcomers, consisting of one freshman and four transfers. South Plains (Texas) CC transfer Jonathan Hall leads the team in scoring at 13.8 ppg. Freshman Andrew Nicholson is shooting 61.1% from the floor and averages 12.2 ppg. Washington State transfer Chris Matthews (11.3), Erie CC transfer Ray Blackburn (11.1 ppg) and Texas-El Paso transfer Maurice Thomas (8.9 ppg and team-high 6.0 rpg) are also key players. Most recently, St. Bonaventure lost at home to Niagara, 83-65, ending a four-game winning streak.
How to Get the Game
The Bucknell-St. Bonaventure game will not be televised, however live streaming video can be purchased on Bison Vision through BucknellBison.com. The game can be heard locally 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 on GameTracker at BucknellBison.com.
Connections
Bucknell and St. Bonaventure have a few interesting connections. St. Bonaventure director of athletics Steve Watson is the brother of John Watson, a 1989 Bucknell graduate and a four-year letterman in the Bison men’s basketball program. John Watson was a two-year captain and helped lead Bucknell to two NCAA Tournament appearances. Also, current St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt was a longtime assistant under the late Skip Prosser at both Loyola (Md.) (1993-94) and Xavier (1994-2001). Prosser’s son, Mark, spent five seasons on Bucknell’s coaching staff.
Bucknell vs. St. Bonaventure Series Notes
This will be the sixth all-time meeting between the Bison and Bonnies, all of them coming in home-and-home series in 1988-89/1989-90, 1994-95/1995-96 and now 2007-08/2008-09. This will be St. Bonaventure’s first-ever game in Sojka Pavilion.
In the first series, both teams won on their home floor. St. Bonaventure took the initial meeting 75-73 in Olean on Dec. 3, 1988, and a year later the Bison won 95-82 in Davis Gym.
The Bonnies swept the next pair, winning 88-75 in Lewisburg in Pat Flannery’s first season in 1994-95, followed by a 60-55 home win the following year.
Last season at the Reilly Center, Michael Lee scored 24 points, including a go-ahead 3-point play with 19 seconds remaining, to lift the Bonnies to a 65-62 win over the Bison. Bucknell received a then-career-high 22 points from Justin Castleberry, but it could not finish off St. Bonaventure after leading for most of the second half. Zarryon Fereti added 21 for the Bonnies, who scored the last six points of the game. They also shut down Bucknell scoring leader John Griffin, who went 0-for-7 from the floor, including two missed 3-point tries in the closing seconds.
Bucknell vs. The Atlantic 10
Bucknell is 33-89 (.270) all-time against the teams that currently comprise the Atlantic 10. The Bison are 5-29 vs. Temple, 4-16 vs. La Salle, 3-17 vs. St. Joseph’s, 7-2 vs. George Washington, 5-8 vs. Fordham, 3-5 vs. Duquesne, 3-5 vs. Rhode Island, 1-4 vs. St. Bonaventure, 1-0 vs. Saint Louis, 1-0 vs. Xavier, 0-2 vs. Richmond and 0-1 vs. Dayton. Bucknell has never played Charlotte or Massachusetts. Bucknell is 4-4 against the A-10 since the start of the 2004-05 season, however, including two wins over St. Joseph’s, a big victory at Xavier, and a 67-66 win over La Salle last season. This is Bucknell’s third A-10 foe this season. The Bison lost at La Salle (68-65) and Richmond (79-57) earlier this month.
Last Time Out
Very little went right for Bucknell on Sunday afternoon in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., as Marist took over the game late in the first half and raced to an 89-63 victory. The hot-shooting Red Foxes closed the first half on an 11-2 run to go up by 13 at halftime, then they opened the second half on a 22-5 run to take a commanding 30-point lead. Bucknell drew within 19, but another 10-0 run by Marist put the game away. Ryan Schneider made 13 of 19 shots from the field, including a number of contested long-range jumpers, and scored 29 points to lead all scorers. G.W. Boon paced the Bison with 14 points, while Bryan Cohen added 11.
Inside the Marist Boxscore
Marist became the first team all season to shoot 50% or better from the field against Bucknell. The Red Foxes made 34 of 68 shots, including a 20-for-36 (.556) showing in a 52-point second half.
The 89 points allowed were Bucknell’s most since an 89-51 loss at Villanova on Feb. 15, 2005. Bucknell has now lost back-to-back games by 20 or more points for the first time since January of 2001 (81-58 to Canisius and 89-67 to Navy).
The Bison were outrebounded 42-29 and were held to only four offensive rebounds in the game. The Bison have grabbed only nine offensive boards in its last two contests combined.
Marist came into the game with almost twice as many turnovers as assists on the season, but the Red Foxes had an 18-to-12 assist-to-turnover ratio. Bucknell had 15 assists and 19 miscues, 15 of which came from its three starting guards. Of those 19 turnovers, 13 came from Marist steals.
Bucknell did shoot 55.6% (15-27) in second half and 44.4% for the game. That was the team’s third-highest percentage of the season.
G.W. Boon made 5 of 9 shots from the field en route to his second-straight 14-point game. In an odd statistic, Boon now has seven career double-digit scoring games, but the Bison are just 1-6 in those games.
Point guard Darryl Shazier had seven assists but also a career-high seven turnovers. Six of those TOs game in the first half, but Shazier got things going in the second period when he made a number of nifty passes.
The Bucknell walk-ons finished strong. Freshman forward Ryan Ebner saw 12 minutes of action in the second half and produced five points, three rebounds and a steal. He finished two layups, one that went for a 3-point play. Freshman guard Joe Mackey, a native of nearby Warwick, N.Y., made his Bucknell debut and scored five points in three minutes. He made both of his shots, including a 3-pointer. And junior guard Matt Fiery also finished the game on the floor and made two free throws and dished out an assist.
The Long Road
Sunday’s loss to Marist dropped the Bison to 0-6 on the road this season and extended their road losing streak to seven 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.
Behan, Cohen Honored
Last Monday, Bucknell swept the Patriot League weekly awards when junior Patrick Behan was named Patriot League Player of the Week and freshman Bryan Cohen was voted PL Rookie of the Week. Behan was honored after scoring 22 points in Bucknell’s victory over Drexel. It was his first career player of the week honor. Cohen had 16 points in the Drexel win and was cited for the second time this season.
Shazier Leads League in Assists
Sophomore point guard Darryl Shazier continues to lead the Patriot League in assists at 4.8 per game. Shazier has had six or more assists in a game five times this season, including 9-assist games against Old Dominion and La Salle.
Tough Schedule
Bucknell’s first 11 opponents have a combined record of 70-48 (.593). Wake Forest, which is now ranked No. 6 nationally, heads the list with a perfect 11-0 record. Only three of those 11 teams have losing records. The remaining three teams on Bucknell’s non-conference schedule currently have a 17-16 (.515) record.
Boon Warming Up
Sophomore wing G.W. Boon missed a large portion of preseason practice with a shoulder injury, and his offensive production is now beginning to flourish. After totaling 14 points in the first four games of the year, Boon had 85 points in his next seven games (a 12.1 ppg average). That includes a career-best 24-point showing against Wagner on Nov. 29 and three 14-point games.
Who’s Got Next?
Bucknell won’t play again until next year ... well, it’s only a four-day wait, but still the team’s next game will come on Jan. 3, 2009 in Athens, Ohio. The Bison take on the Ohio Bobcats, who are currently 5-6 on the season heading into Tuesday night’s home game with St. Francis (N.Y.). Ohio defeated Holy Cross 58-53 in its most recent outing on Dec. 22. This will be Bucknell’s first-ever visit to Ohio U.
