On Wednesday, Jan. 31st, Men’s Basketball stretched their winning streak to three after beating Loyola Maryland 67-52.
The Bison forced 19 Loyola turnovers and held the Greyhounds to 36% shooting from the field. Although neither team came out very strong in the first few minutes, the Bison eventually took off on a 12-3 run after the ten-minute mark when they were down 15-13. Of those 12 points, Noah Williamson ’26 was a key contributor with a career-high 28 points.
Heading into the second half, the Orange & Blue led 33-31. 18 of those 33 points were thanks to Williamson, who came out strong in the second half, scoring off of a jumper in the first possession.
This was the start of an 11-2 run with points from Williamson, Josh Adoh ’24 and Pip Ajayi ’25. Following this, Loyola went on a 6-1 run, before the Orange & Blue pulled away again after Jack Forrest ’24 made a 4-point play and Elvin Edmonds IV ’25 scored a layup to put the Bison up 51-39. Forrest also contributed with 10 other points throughout the game to go along with three steals, and Edmonds tallied a total of 8 points and five assists.
Although there was some back and forth throughout the rest of the second half, Loyola never got within more than 6 points, and Ian Motta ’25 secured a 3-pointer with 2:27 left to bring the game to 62-52.
Williamson not only performed with his shooting but also secured eight rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots. He continued to play well heading into the weekend, scoring 20 points against American on Saturday, Feb. 3.
Though the Bison in general continued to play strong, they were unable to outcompete the Eagles, falling 75-66 in overtime.
In addition to Williamson’s high scoring, Forrest also secured 18 points and Edmonds tallied 17. Despite this scoring, the Orange and Blue went 8 for 27 from the field (29.6%), in comparison to American lighting it up at 42.4%.
American came out strong going up 19-8 early on, but Bucknell eventually got within 5 points late in the first half. Heading into half the score was 32-22. The Orange & Blue continued to put up a fight in the third quarter but had a hard time keeping up with American, who led 42-28 with 16:37 remaining. Later, an Edmonds’ three-pointer sparked a 10-0 Bison run to bring the momentum back to the side of Bucknell.
With the score at 48-40, the Bison went on a 7-0 run and eventually secured a 51-49 lead. After plenty of back and forth, Edmonds scored a layup to gain a 62-59 lead with only 1:20 left in the game. However, 13 seconds later, American tied the game with a three-pointer.
With 19 seconds left in the game, American went to the free throw line and hit 1-of-2 shots. Williamson got fouled on the next possession, and also only made 1-of-2 free throws, sending the game into overtime at 63-63, where American ultimately pulled ahead to secure the 9-point-lead win.
The Bison look to bounce back at home in Sojka against Boston University on Feb. 10.
