Bucknell Drops a Close Game to Radford at Sojka Pavilion

By: Ethan Hennessy

Lewisbug Pennsylvania

Jack Forrest hit a corner three on the first possession off the tip for the Bison. Elvin Edmonds checked into the game for the first time about three and a half minutes into the game. The junior guard who was out due to injury did much of the ball handling for the young Bucknell team. Radford was hitting the offensive glass hard. By the time the second media timeout rolled around the Highlanders had already secured six offensive rebounds. Bucknell looked out of rhythm on their defensive rotations and head coach John Griffin was yelling for his players to matchup with their assignments. Bucknell coach John Griffin said after the game “Part of our preparation process is identifying strengths and taking advantages of weaknesses. One of their strengths is offensive rebounding… they did what they normally do. Part of it is the fact that we are a little out of position… but at the same time they are a really good team, and they did what they do. I thought we did a better job in the second half as it relates to rebounding and now we need to clean up the first half so that we don’t give opponents six offensive rebounds and ten extra shots.”

Bucknell started to hit some of their threes midway through the first half. Four different Bison hit three pointers in the first half. Bucknell retook the lead shortly before halftime, but the Highlanders answered back tying it up at 30 before the intermission.

The second half continued to be neck and neck with neither team being able to extend a lead. Radford gained the upper hand midway through the second half, but could not push the lead beyond a five or six points. Bucknell managed to get into the bonus with over seven minutes left in the contest. They made the most of that going a perfect 10-10 from the line from when they got into the bonus until the end of the game. That was part of a larger storyline of both teams combining to go a perfect 26-26 from the free throw line in the game. Griffin told me “It is definitely something that we are trying to get better at with shots we are taking. With Elvin on the floor we got to the basket a little more”. After Ruot Bijiek hit a three pointer with 5:41 left John Griffin called a timeout to set up his defense. Radford got high percentage shots a Kenyon Giles wide open three followed by a D’Auntray Pierce dunk put Radford up five with three minutes and change to play. Bucknell couldn’t close the gap in the final minutes and Radford survived with the win.

Up next for Bucknell the Bison will travel to Merrimack next week. Radford continues their road trip when they go to Morgantown WV to face West Virginia.