Bucknell edges Queen’s University 78-74 to finish Canada trip 2-0

Bucknell finished its Canadian exhibition trip with a 78-74 win over Queen’s University in Montreal, and Aleksander Pachucki led the Bison with 18 points in a game that stayed tight until the end. The four-point margin gave Bucknell a 2-0 trip record and a second straight test away from Lewisburg, with the result landing as an early measure of how the roster handles pressure.

The trip had been set up as a two-game swing in Canada, and Bucknell athletics framed it as a team-building chance against competitive opponents. That matters because exhibition games do more than fill the calendar. They let the staff look at lineups, rotations and late-game decision-making before the 2025-26 season starts to count, and a close finish against Queen’s gave Bucknell a real read on how the group responds when possessions get heavy. For a program followed closely in Lewisburg and across Union County, those are the kinds of details that carry more weight than the final exhibition score alone.

Pachucki’s performance is the clearest individual takeaway from the trip. The Ontario native returned to Canada for the games, and his 18-point night against Queen’s showed he is already positioned to be part of Bucknell’s offensive core. In a game decided by two possessions, that kind of production signals more than scoring depth. It suggests the Bison have a player who can create offense when the defense tightens and the margin shrinks.

The Canada swing also gave Bucknell a useful stress test beyond the box score. A 2-0 trip record does not settle anything about the regular season, but it does show Bucknell could travel, play two competitive games and finish both with composure. The program’s 2025-26 schedule is already on the calendar, and the Montreal result gives the staff and fan base in Lewisburg a first concrete snapshot of where things stand before the nonconference games begin to shape the season ahead.