Dec. 30, 2009

Box Score

LEWISBURG, Pa. - The Marist men's basketball team suffered a 70-67 overtime defeat in a road game against Bucknell of the Patriot League on Wednesday. Freshman Rob Johnson (Atlanta, Ga.) led the Red Foxes with 17 points, and junior Korey Bauer (Whitehall, Pa.) had his first career double-double by tying his career high with 13 points and grabbing a career-high 11 rebounds.

The game including 11 lead changes and 10 ties. Johnson's point total was just one off his career high, and he grabbed a career-high eight rebounds. Freshman guard Devin Price (Inglewood, Calif.) scored a career-high 13 points.

Marist jumped out to a 10-4 lead just 4:10 into the contest on a three-pointer by Price, which would end up being the Red Foxes' largest lead of the contest. There were a pair of lead changes in the first half, which concluded with the Red Foxes taking a 30-28 lead to the locker room on the strength of 48 percent shooting from the field.

Bucknell began the second half on a 9-3 run to take what would be its largest lead of the game at 37-33 with 15:05 remaining. However, Marist answered with a 10-2 run of its own to take a four-point lead with 12:13 to go.

A pair of free throws by Bucknell's Darryl Shazier put the Bison up 54-50 with 3:01 remaining. On the next possession, a three-point by Johnson cut the Red Foxes' deficit to one. Shazier split a pair of free throws on Bucknell's next possession, giving the Bison a 55-53 lead with 2:25 left. Two free throws by Marist red-shirt junior guard Daye Kaba (Cergy, France) tied the score at 55 apiece with 2:10 left, which was the seventh tie of the game.

A jumper by Shazier put Bucknell back up two with 1:49 to go, but two free throws by Bauer with 50.8 seconds left tied the score again. On Bucknell's next possession, Bryan Cohen's jumper with 22.5 seconds on the clock once again gave the Bison a two-point lead. However, Marist answered yet again as freshman guard Candon Rusin (Surf City, N.C.) hit his first basket of the game, a layup with 11.4 seconds to play. Shazier missed a three-pointer as time expired in regulation, forcing overtime with the score tied at 59.

With 1:02 to play in overtime, two free throws by Johnson gave Marist a 65-62 lead. Bucknell then forced the 10th and final tie of the game on a three-pointer by Mike Muscala with 51.0 seconds to play. Kaba hit a layup on Marist's next possession to give the Red Foxes a 67-65 lead with 30.7 seconds left, but Cohen drained a three with 20 seconds to go to put Bucknell up 68-67. On Marist's next possession, Kaba missed a turnaround jumper with four seconds left, and Cohen grabbed the rebound, was fouled and drained two free throws to put the game away.

Muscala led all scorers with 18. Shazier finished with 16 points and six assists against just one turnover. Cohen totaled 16 points, 10 rebounds, three assists and two steals in 43 minutes of action. Bryson Johnson came off the bench to give the Bison four double-digit scorers with 11.

Marist shot .478 from the field and .526 (10-for-19) from three-point range. Bucknell hit 10 three-pointers, and shot 3-for-5 from three in the overtime period. Marist held a 32-29 edge in rebounding.

Bucknell improved to 5-9; Marist fell to 0-11.

Marist will return to action on Saturday, when the Red Foxes host Manhattan in a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference at the McCann Center. Tip-off is set for 7:30 p.m.