Bucknell men’s basketball went 2-0 over the past week, winning at American 78-71  on Feb.  1 and following that up with a home victory and season sweep of Army 73-67 on Feb 4.

Xander Rice ’23 led the Bison in scoring in both outings with 23 against American and 17 against Army. Rice shot 12/23 from the field over these two games along with seven assists.

The Bison defense stepped up against American, limiting them to under 27 percent from the three point line on fifteen attempts, while also forcing fourteen Eagle turnovers. 

Three other Bison shot in double figures: Ian Motta ’25 with 16, Andre Screen ’24 with 10 and Jack Forrest ’24 added 14. Bucknell also hit nine threes in the game, shooting 69 percent from beyond the arc.

On Saturday, the Orange & Blue were able to hold off a 32 point performance from Army’s Ethan Roberts to secure the win. Bucknell controlled the tempo well and limited Army’s possessions throughout the game and was able to keep the pace at the tempo they wanted.

A true deciding factor were the free throw numbers. Bucknell only gave the Black Knights 11 attempts from the charity stripe, of which they made five. The Bison knocked down 19-24 attempts from the line, eventually pulling away into a six point lead.

Motta gave the Bison five points in seventeen minutes against Army. 

“The ceiling is a Patriot League Championship. Biggest focus in practice needs to be good vibes,” Motta said.

Bucknell takes on Colgate at home Saturday Feb. 11 at 12 p.m.