LEWISBURG, Pa. – A hot shooting Bucknell team ended the La Salle men's basketball team's three-game win streak on Saturday afternoon, claiming an 82-70 victory over the Explorers in the Sojka Pavilion.
 
The Explorers fall to 5-5 on the season while the Bison improve to 3-8, a 3-1 record at home.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• The two teams traded baskets on the opening four possessions. After a defensive stop, Jhamir Brickus scored his fifth point early on with a putback layup to put the Explorers up 7-5.
• A pair of Bucknell runs sandwiched a Brickus three as the hosts took an early 16-10 lead heading into the under 12 media timeout.
• The Bison extended the lead to 19-10 before Jack Clark knocked down a trey from the wing, sparking eight straight points from the redshirt junior to singlehandedly bring the Explorers back to within one.
• Despite the momentum, the Bison countered with seven straight points of their own behind their leading scorer Andrew Funk.
• The Explorers worked back into the game and after a Clark steal found the path of Josh Nickelberry, who ran the length of the court and finished at the rim with contact, La Salle found itself trailing just 38-35 with just over two minutes in the opening half.
• Bucknell used a 5-0 spurt in the final minutes to take an eight point lead into the break.
• The opening 10 minutes saw the two teams spar back and forth, La Salle unable to trim the lead under seven points.
• A 9-0 run on either side of the under eight media timeout gave the hosts their largest advantage to that point, leading 72-55.
• Khalil Brantley sparked an 8-0 run before the under four media timeout with five points, cutting the deficit to nine to force a Bison timeout.
• Bucknell outscored La Salle 10-7 over the final four minutes to claim victory, leaving the Explorers searching for their first road win of the year and snapping a three-game win streak.

 
GAME NOTES

• Clark paced the Explorers in the opening half with 10 points on 4-6 shooting, adding three rebounds after 20 minutes of play. The Cheltenham native finished with a team-high 18 points, tied for a season best.
• Bucknell's Funk finished with a game-high 22 points on 10-15 shooting from the field.
• Brantley scored 11 points on the afternoon, the most since his 17-point effort against Villanova.
• Brickus and Nickelberry finished in double-digits with 10 points apiece. Clifton Moore added a team-high seven rebounds and three blocks to his nine points.
• Anwar Gill's five assists mark 21 since his entry into the starting lineup, averaging 7.0 per game as a starter.
• The Explorers shot just 40% compared to Bucknell's 53.3% from the field in the first half, the Bison shooting a heated 6-11 (54.5%) from beyond the arc.
• The Bison finished with a scorching 56.1% from the field, both a team-high for the Bison and a opponent season-high for the Explorers.
• Bucknell outscored La Salle 42-28 in the paint.
• La Salle is 0-3 on the road this season and 5-1 inside Tom Gola Arena.

 
UP NEXT

• The Explorers are set to take on Drexel in the final nonconference game of the season on Tuesday, December 21.
• The action is part of a La Salle doubleheader, the men starting at 4 p.m.