STATE COLLEGE — Three days after giving up a second-half lead against Princeton, Bucknell flipped the script Saturday afternoon at the Bryce Jordan Center, overcoming a 10-point second-half deficit to beat Penn State 76-67. Jack Forrest had 23 points, Noah Williamson had 23 points, and Josh Bascoe had 11 points and a career-high 10 assists for the Bison, who entered the two-week break on a high.
The Bison (3-7), playing their 10th game in the first four weeks of the season, trailed 37-27 early in the second half, but the Nittany Lions (4-4) overcame the loss in the final 18 minutes. We defeated them 49-30. Bucknell shot 69.2 percent from the field in Game 2, defeating Penn State for the first time since a 90-80 victory early in the 2013-14 season.
“We played a good basketball game for 32 minutes against Princeton, and the lesson we learned from that game was we needed to do it for 40 minutes.” Bucknell coach John Griffin III said. “We practiced for 40 minutes today, and that’s a credit to the tough mindset our players have developed. They played 10 games in less than a month without much practice time. We’re learning how to win basketball games on the field. Beating a strong Big Ten team on the road was a big step forward, and now we have the opportunity to focus on the finals and take a hard look at areas we need to improve on. You will get it.”
Forest sparked early with 16 points in the first half, and Williamson scored 15 of his 21 points in the second half, making 9 of 13 from the field. The 7-foot-0 center’s 3-pointer from the top of the key with 2:50 left was one of the biggest shots of the night. That gave the Bison a 64-62 lead, and after Nick Kern made two free throws, Williamson scored in the lane off a feed from Bascoe. Qudus Wahab, who had 18 points for Penn State, missed two free throws, but Quinn Berger hit a triple dagger into the right corner on his first shot of the game with 1:35 remaining. The lead increased to 69-63. .
Bucknell extended the lead by making 5 of 6 from the foul line, and Williamson put an exclamation point on the day with a dunk with 10 seconds left.
Penn State left the locker room with a 33-27 advantage and scored the first four points of the second half to take its largest 10-point lead at 37-27. Bucknell responded well, too, scoring a 16-4 run with a jam from Bascoe’s feed to Williamson. Ian Motta came off the bench to give the Bison a big boost, scoring three points in transition to seal the game at 43-43 with 11:38 remaining.
Forest’s three from the right side gave the Bison their first lead of the second half at 48-47 at the 10:13 mark. At this point, Penn State only got his one offensive rebound on the day, but the Nittany Lions got his four on his next two possessions, and Zach Hicks got his five. This led to consecutive points. His 3-pointer with 8:32 left gave the Lions a 52-48 lead.