Category: Sports

Eric Brod

Senior Writer

After losing against Lehigh last week, the Bison pulled out a 56-55 victory over the American Eagles in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 30. The Orange and the Blue also defeated Holy Cross 65-58 on Jan. 26. The two wins improved the Bison’s record to 18-4 overall and 5-1 in league play.

Against American (7-14, 2-4), the Bison found themselves down with 2:15 left in the contest, but the Orange and Blue scored the game’s final eight points, capped off by a put back by Mike Muscala ’13 with 0.8 seconds left. Muscala, who suffered multiple blows to his chin during the game, finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds for his nation-leading 15th double-double. Cameron Ayers ’14 also added 14 points for the Bison.

After taking a slim 28-27 halftime lead, the Bison fell behind 39-32, but a three-point play by Ayers cut the lead to 39-35. The Eagles came back to extend their lead to 41-35, but then Ayers and Joe Willman ’13 led a 6-0 run to tie the score back up at 41. Still, the Bison were unable to find an offensive rhythm and found themselves back down by seven, 55-48. Steven Kaspar ’15 hit a huge jumper to cut the lead back to 55-51. The basket started the Orange and Blue’s late game sprint as they were able to pull out their most dramatic victory of the season.

The Bison had to overcome uncharacteristically bad foul shooting (11-24), while only shooting 1-10 from beyond the arc. The Bison used their outstanding defense to stay in the game and benefited from two missed free throws by American near the end of the game.

Against Holy Cross (10-10, 2-3), the Bison were able to erase memories of the Lehigh loss with a victory in Worcester, Mass. The offensive attack was led by Bryson Johnson ’13 and Willman, who each scored 16 points. Ayers was second on the team with 15 points, and Muscala put in 13 points to go along with 11 rebounds.

“I knew I had to be aggressive offensively from the start and just tried to get my team going,” Ayers said. “A lot of guys were in foul trouble so I felt I needed the ball in my hands to attack or to get guys open shots.”

After getting off to a slow start against the Crusaders, the Orange and Blue came out strong, racing off to a 14-8 lead. The team received help off the bench from Kaspar, who contributed six assists. The Bison continued their strong play throughout the first half, and took a 32-28 into the half.

After the Crusader’s hit a three to open the half, the Bison went on a 9-1 to extend their lead to nine at 41-32. Throughout the half, the Orange and Blue were unable to put Holy Cross away for good until the final minutes of the contest. With the Bison clinging to a 53-49 lead with just under five minutes remaining in the contest, the defense was able to come up with three huge stops before Ayers, Muscala and Johnson each hit crucial shots to extend the lead to 60-51. From there, Johnson and Willman were able to ice the game at the line, including Johnson sinking all four of his foul shots in the final forty seconds of the contest.

The Bison held the Crusaders to 34 percent shooting and just 5-16 from beyond the arc.

“We were able to defend their threes due to our focus and preparation on practice. We spend a lot of time going through their plays and their tendencies,” Ayers said. “I think we did a good job defensively but we can also get better.”

The Bison return to action Saturday when they host Patriot League rival Navy. Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m.

Eric Brod

Senior Writer

On Wednesday, the Bison fell short against Lehigh after staging a furious first-half rally that ended in a 65-62 defeat, and took down Lafayette on Saturday in a highly impressive 66-51 victory. The Bison’s record now stands at 16-4 overall, with a 3-1 record in Patriot League play.

Lehigh, last year’s Patriot League tournament champion, came into the game tied with the Bison at the top of the Patriot League standings with spotless 3-0 league records. In one of the wildest games between the two teams in this budding rivalry, the Mountain Hawks were able to hold off the Bison, despite an intense first-half rally by the home team.

The Mountain Hawks built up a 27-12 lead, before the Orange and Blue mounted a great stretch of play to close the gap to 29-28 at the half. The 16-2 run was initiated by Bryson Johnson ’13, who completed a four-point play with 5:41 remaining in the half when the offense had struggled to find any rhythm throughout the first half. Center Mike Muscala ’13 explains the challenges Lehigh poses to other teams defenses.

“Lehigh is still a very good team and we [had] our hands full,” Muscala said. “They shoot the ball well and are great defenders, so that’s a combination that is difficult to play against no matter who the competition is.”

The Bison continued their strong play in the beginning of the second half, and they eventually built up a seven-point 44-37 lead thanks to a three-pointer from guard Cameron Ayers ’14 and an impressive driving layup by point guard Ryan Hill ’14. Lehigh answered with their own 10-0 run to retake the lead at 47-44.

Muscala, who turned in another impressive performance with 16 points, eight rebounds and an astounding six blocked shots, had to leave the game with 11:16 due to an injury which forced forward Dom Hoffman ’16 into the game at a crucial junction. Hoffman turned in his best performance of his rookie season by scoring 10 points. Muscala returned to give the Bison a push, but they were unable to overcome the three-point shooting of the Mountain Hawks, who shot 10-18 from beyond the arc and came into the game second in the nation in three-point shooting with a 42.8 percent. In contrast, the Orange and Blue shot only 2-14 from beyond the arc.

Against Lafayette, the Orange and Blue were once again led by Muscala who posted his nation-leading 13th double-double with a 27-point, 15-rebound effort. Willman, who was honored before the game after recording his 1,000th career point in the team’s 73-59 win over Colgate earlier in the week, recorded 10 points and six rebounds in the game.

“I thought our guards did a really good job of penetrating in the lane and finding the open big guy or scoring the ball,” Muscala said. “So I just tried to focus on being ready to catch their passes and finish at the rim.”

While the Bison struggled to find an offensive rhythm early, their defense was able to hold the usually effective Lafayette offense in check. The Leopards were held to 1-13 shooting from beyond the arc by the swarming rotation defense of the Orange and Blue.

“Lafayette started the game with tough defense, anticipating what we were trying to run. We were still getting good shots on offense but they were not falling,” Willman said. “We knew if we stayed the course offensively and sustained our defensive effort we would be fine.”

Head coach Dave Paulsen explains how perimeter defense was the focus in slowing down the Lafayette attack.

“Our guys did a great job contesting Lafayette’s three point shooters. They had come into the game averaging eight three’s per game so to hold them to 1-13 from three was a great effort,” Paulsen said. “We also did a good job of getting on the offensive glass and limiting turnovers on a night when we were not especially sharp offensively.”

The Bison held Lafayette to one field goal in a 12-plus minute stretch where the Orange and Blue opened up a 26-16 lead. The turning point in the game when Ryan Frazier ’16 hustled down a loose ball on a missed alley-oop attempt and was able to feed a pass to Muscala for the slam dunk.

While Lafayette was able to close the gap to 27-20 before the half, the Bison opened up the second half on a 13-5 to open up a 40-25 advantage, and the Leopards never pulled within 11 points the rest of the contest.

While the Bison shot only 36.7 percent from the field in the first half, they were able to make up for some missed opportunities with an astounding 15 offensive rebounds, led by Muscala, Brian Fitzpatrick ’13 and Willman. The team also took great care of the ball, commiting only six turnovers throughout the contest.

The Bison will continue Patriot League play with a visit to Holy Cross at 4 p.m. on Saturday.