Courtesy of BucknellBison.com.
TUCSON, Ariz. – Showing tremendous resiliency in bouncing back from a tough loss in the Patriot League championship game, Bucknell went all the way across the country and picked off top-seeded Arizona 65-54 in the opening round of the National Invitation Tournament on Wednesday night at the McKale Center. Star center Mike Muscala recorded 20 points, nine rebounds, four blocks and three assists, and even more impressively, the Bison put the game away with a 9-0 run after Muscala had fouled out with 2:59 to play.
Playing in the 75-year-old NIT for the first time in program history, Bucknell defeated a member of the Pac-12 for the first time since 1951 (Arizona State). The Bison reached the 25-win mark (25-9) for the third time in program history, and now they will move on to play fifth-seeded Nevada in the second round on Sunday at 3 p.m. (Eastern) on ESPNU.
Bucknell was poised throughout in its first meeting with Arizona. The Bison started out by hitting six of their first 10 shots and built a 13-point lead late in the first half. But with stalwart defender Bryan Cohen on the bench with two fouls, the Wildcats pulled within six at the break. Arizona grabbed a couple of one-point leads early in the second half, but the Bison went ahead for good on a Cameron Ayers 3-pointer with 13:08 to play, and they eventually turned a two-point lead with 2:59 to play into an 11-point win with a terrific finish.
As a result, the Bison can add another terrific postseason victory to their record books. Bucknell made headlines with NCAA Tournament wins over Kansas in 2005 and Arkansas in 2006, and now it is the third team in Patriot League history to win an NIT game. Fordham defeated South Florida in 1991 before losing to Massachusetts in the second round, and Holy Cross downed Notre Dame in 2005, and then fell to Saint Joseph’s in round two.
While Muscala recorded his 13th 20-point game of the season, Bucknell got contributions from up and down the lineup. Ayers recorded his first career double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and he led a critical rebounding effort, as the Bison finished with a 36-28 edge on the glass and held the athletic Wildcats to only six offensive boards.
Bryson Johnson came off the bench to score 14 points, going 4-for-7 on 3-pointers. The last of those treys was an outright dagger at the end of the shot clock that gave Bucknell a seven-point lead with 50 seconds to go. That shot also gave Johnson 1,000 career points, making him the third active Bison to reach that plateau. Muscala and Cohen hit the century mark earlier in the year.
Joe Willman also hit double digits with 10 points, including six of the team’s first eight of the night to get the Bison off to a strong start.
Cohen, Bucknell’s lone senior starter, also played a starring role to help extend his career. Offensively he contributed nine points, including both ends of a 1-and-1 with 2:42 left that stretched a two-point lead up to four. The three-time Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year found himself matched up with fellow senior Kyle Fogg, Arizona’s top scorer at 13.7 points per game and a First Team All-Pac-12 selection. Fogg finished with two field goals and a season-low five points, and both of his buckets came on consecutive possessions late in the first half with Cohen on the bench with two fouls.
Bucknell came out hot, scoring on four of their first five possessions, to grab an early lead. Arizona tied it up once at 8-8, but 3-pointers by Ayers, Cohen and Johnson highlighted a 19-6 run. Muscala’s baseline jumper with 5:38 left in the half gave the Bison their largest lead at 27-14.
The game changed a bit when Cohen, the team’s defensive stopper, picked up two close hand-checking fouls. Fogg had not registered a point in the first 14:30 of the game, but as soon as Cohen went to the bench Fogg hit a two and a three to start a 10-3 run and get the crowd into the game.
Muscala’s two free throws with 38 seconds left gave the Bison a 32-26 lead at halftime.
As hot as Bucknell was to start the game, they were that cold at the onset of the second half. The Bison missed their first seven shots of the half, and the Wildcats took their first lead of the night at 33-32 on an Angelo Chol layup. Muscala ended the Bison drought when he followed his own miss and turned it into a 3-point play. The Wildcats went back in front on a Hill 3-pointer, but Muscala tied it at 36 with a free throw, and Ayers gave Bucknell the lead back with a 3-pointer with 13:08 to play.
Bucknell’s lead was 39-38 when Ayers picked off a pass and finished a tough transition layup over Fogg, and Muscala followed with a spin into the lane for a 43-38 lead. After a Perry jumper, Muscala hit two free throws and then made a great high-low pass to Willman for a layup and a 47-40 lead.
Willman then blocked a shot for a held ball, and he kept a possession alive with an offensive rebound, which resulted in a Cohen layup. After Hill made two free throws for Arizona, Johnson hit a 3-pointer to put the Bison up by 10 at 52-42 with 6:15 left.
The Wildcats got back in it from the free throw line, where they scored their final nine points of the night. With 3:34 to play, Jesse Perry drew Muscala’s fourth foul and made two free throws to cut Bucknell’s lead to 56-53. After Cohen was called for traveling, Perry crashed into Muscala on a drive and got the call, sending Muscala to the bench with 2:59 to play. Perry made 1 of 2 to make it a 56-54 game, but the Wildcats would never score again.
Cohen made his two clutch free throws with 2:42 to left to stretch it to 58-54. Nick Johnson missed a 3-pointer for Arizona, but Willman had a good look from the baseline rim out. The Bison got a key stop when Ayers poked the ball away from Johnson, and Bryson Johnson grabbed the loose ball.
After a Bucknell timeout, the Bison whittled the shot clock down to the final seconds. Johnson curled to the top of the key and canned the biggest shot of the game. His trey made it 61-54 with 50 ticks left. Arizona missed two more long-range attempts, and Ayers and Johnson went 4-for-4 from the line to ice it.
Bucknell shot 40.8 percent from the floor, including a 7-for-15 showing from 3-point range. The Bison were also 18-for-22 from the foul line, including 8-for-8 in the final 4:19.
Defensively, the Bison held Arizona to 35.4 percent shooting, 6-for-20 from 3-point range. Solomon Hill led the Wildcats with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Perry finished with 14. The Wildcats managed only seven second-half field goals in 22 attempts, and none in the last 5:50.
Bucknell had a 15-9 edge in second-chance points, and the Bison bench outscored Arizona’s 14-5.
Muscala recorded his 300th rebound of the season, making him just the seventh player in program history to reach that number, and the first since Craig Greenwood all the way back in 1968-69. Muscala also became the 11th Bucknell player to collect 700 career rebounds, and he moved past Mike Butts into ninth place on Bucknell’s career scoring list with 1,374 points.
Bucknell has never before played Nevada. The Wolf Pack (27-6) moved into the second round with a 68-59 road victory over fourth-seeded Oral Roberts on Wednesday. Nevada won the Western Athletic Conference regular-season title but fell to Louisiana Tech in the WAC Tournament semifinals.
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