Sam Rowley’s Double-Double Not Enough for Men’s Basketball in 77-64 Loss to Bucknell

ALBANY, N.Y. – Junior forward Sam Rowley notched his fifth career double-double, but it fell short against the hot shooting of Bucknell at SEFCU Arena on Saturday night by the score of 77-64. Sophomore guard Peter Hooley matched his career high in points with 21, including an 11-for-11 clip at the charity stripe in the loss.

“They didn’t give us a break,” said head coach Will Brown. “When we broke down, we over-helped. They’re really good, and they’re well coached. It would’ve been better if when we broke down we gave up twos, but that’s what they do. They spread you out, that’s the strength of their team.”

Bucknell drained two three-pointers to take an early 6-0 lead against the Great Danes. At the first media timeout, the Bison were 3-for-4 from behind the arch and 6-for-8 from the field. Bucknell hit 10 threes in the first half, going 10-for-14 (.714) overall. UAlbany entered the locker room at halftime down 51-38.

“It’s unfortunate that it’s become a pattern of us getting down at the half,” said Rowley. “I think we’re being forced to adapt to the way the other team plays, and we need to make the opponent adapt to how we play.”

The Great Danes came out in the second half showing zone, and despite two early threes from Bucknell, began to chip away at the deficit. DJ Evans and Hooley hit one three apiece to cut the lead to 11 for Bucknell.

The Purple & Gold looked poised to swing the momentum in their favor after David Wiegmann blocked a Bucknell lay-up attempt with UAlbany down 10, but the Bison came back down the floor and hit their 13th three-pointer of the game.

UAlbany responded by forcing three Bucknell fouls in less than thirty seconds with 12 minutes to go. The Great Danes were in the bonus with 9:35 left in the second half.

Rowley picked up one of three steals with UAlbany down 12 at the 10:19 mark. The forward ripped away a lay-up attempt from Steven Kaspar and headed down the floor. After Michael Rowley missed an initial elbow jumper, UAlbany kept the possession alive with three offensive rebounds. Hooley eventually headed to the line and made two free throws to bring the deficit back down to 10.

Two Bucknell turnovers and a technical foul on Cameron Ayers in the closing minutes gave UAlbany several attempts to cut the lead, but the Bison made their free throws down the stretch.

Bucknell concluded the contest with a 14-for-21 (.667) shooting clip from three and 29-for-53 (.547) from the field.
The Great Danes committed a season-low 12 fouls against the Bison, and took three times as many free throws as Bucknell. UAlbany shot 75 percent (18-of-24) from the charity stripe.

Will Brown’s will look to snap its three-game losing streak on Tuesday at Rider at 7 p.m. The Great Danes play their next four games on the road, at Rider (Nov. 26), NJIT (Dec. 1), Holy Cross (Dec. 4) and Brown (Dec. 10).