On Jan. 25, the Bucknell Bison defeated Loyola, 98-83 at home. The Greyhounds had the lead for the majority of the first half, but the Bison were able to take a 42-41 into halftime. Avi Toomer ’20, Bruce Moore ’20 and John Meeks ’21 contributed to the lead after they re-entered the game from the bench due to foul trouble. The Bison were able to pull away in the second half thanks to some key plays by multiple players.

With 16:53 left to play in the second half, Moore brought the Bison into the lead. Following this, Andrew Funk ’22, who had a standout performance, knocked down two 3-pointers to extend the lead to seven points. Following Funk’s 3-pointers, Loyola trailed by at least five points for the remainder of the game.

With 10 minutes left, the Bison extended their lead even further with a 10-0 run. Funk started this run with a put-back of an offensive rebound. Toomer and Meeks then made 3-pointers, followed by Tre Newman ’21, who scored another two points to take the lead, 72-57. With five minutes left, the Bison sealed the deal by increasing their lead to 20 points. The Orange and Blue shot a season-best at 54.1 percent from the field, while holding Loyola to 48 percent from the field.

Stat leaders in points were Funk with 22, Jimmy Sotos ’21 with 14, Walter Ellis ’22 with 13 and Meeks with 10. Several freshmen had impactful performances, including Malachi Rhodes ’23, who added six points, as well as Xander Rice ’23, who added eight points.

Meeks spoke to what helped the team secure the win in Sojka. “Coming off a loss, we needed to lock in and get a win. Everyone stepped up and we got the job done. Now we have to keep it up,” Meeks said.