Bucknell Men Fall 72-63 at Home to Holy Cross in Union County

Gabe Warren led Holy Cross with 21 points and seven rebounds as the Crusaders defeated Bucknell 72-63 at Sojka Pavilion, handing the Bison their fifth straight loss and dropping Bucknell to 8-21 overall and 5-11 in Patriot League play.

Local coverage and national summaries described the turning stretch differently: the Standard-Journal reported, "Holy Cross broke open a tie game with a 10-0 run in the final 5 minutes to turn back Bucknell 72-63 on Sunday at Sojka Pavilion." The Associated Press wrote, "A 10-0 run in the first half gave Holy Cross a four-point lead," and noted the teams entered the break with Holy Cross ahead 31-30. The second half featured six lead changes and was tied six times, according to the AP box score.

Holy Cross' shooting split swung the game. Standard-Journal logged the Crusaders 2-for-9 from three in the first half and 7-for-10 in the second, while Bucknell managed just 4-for-21 from long range for the game. Tyler Boston added 19 points and seven rebounds for Holy Cross, hitting 7 of 16 from the field and 3 of 6 from three, with five of those points coming during the decisive surge cited by the local report. John St. Germain III finished with nine points and a key tip-in late in the second half.

Bucknell got balanced scoring from Achile Spadone and Amon Dörries, who each finished with 20 points; Spadone also grabbed 10 rebounds and had two steals while Dörries pulled down nine boards. Pat Curtin contributed 16 points and six rebounds. Bucknell pulled within reach late, the PatriotLeague play-by-play shows Spadone making consecutive free throws at 6:28 of the second half to push Bucknell into a one-possession game, but could not overcome Holy Cross' late execution.