Bucknell University Athletics

Men's Basketball Defeats Army West Point, 65-55, Advances to Patriot League Tournament Quarterfinals

3/3/2026 9:04:00 PM | Men's Basketball

POSTGAME WITH COACH JOHN GRIFFIN, ACHILE SPADONE, PAT CURTIN:

**** NOTE: Bucknell fans planning to attend Thursday's Patriot League Tournament quarterfinal game at Navy should pay special attention to the**

U.S. Naval Academy's increased Force Protection measures. Access to Alumni Hall is only available via shuttle buses running from the pressbox side of Navy-Marine Corps Stadium starting at 5 p.m.REAL ID or a United States passport will be required for entry. Bucknell will be running a fan bus to the game.Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis by contacting

Todd Newcomb. The bus will depart at 2 p.m. from the loading dock area behind Sojka Pavilion, and will return home immediately following the game. Bus tickets are $30 per person, payable by cash or check (made out to Bucknell) when you board.Game tickets must be purchased through the**

Naval Academyfor Thursday's contest. If you have questions, you can contact the Navy Ticket Office at 800-US4-NAVY ortickets@usna.edu.LEWISBURG, Pa.--

Pat Curtin,

Achile Spadone, and Amon Dörries combined to score 60 points, leading the eighth-seeded Bucknell men's basketball team to a 65-55 win over ninth-seeded Army West Point in Patriot League Tournament first-round action on Tuesday night at Sojka Pavilion. The Bison secured a trip to the quarterfinal round, where they will face regular-season champion Navy at 7 p.m. on Thursday.

Bucknell's starting five of Dörries, Spadone, Curtin,

Jayden Williams, and

Aleksander Pachuckicombined to play 188 of the 200 minutes, with Dörries playing the full 40 and Spadone all but the final 13 seconds of the first half. Curtin finished with game highs of 24 points, nine rebounds and three steals, scoring on a variety of tough drives to the basket. Spadone added 19 points and five rebounds, while Dörries added 17.

Both teams got out to frigid shooting starts – it was a 2-2 game through five minutes – and with the exception of the opening 90 seconds of the second half Army never really warmed up, while the Bison shot 54.2 percent in the second half and blew the game open with a 24-3 run.

The Black Knights (11-21) are heavily reliant on the 3-point shot – 53.0 percent of their shot attempts came from beyond the arc coming into the night – and they went just 5-for-42 (.119) in this one. The Bison also struggled from downtown, hitting 4 of 21 (.190), but back-to-back threes from Dörries and Pachucki ignited that game-changing run in the second half, and Bucknell was 21-for-32 (.656) inside the arc on the way to 42 points in the paint.

Bucknell led 26-25 at the half, but turnovers on its first two possessions led to five Army points, and a Jacen Holloway layup made it a 7-0 run and gave the Black Knights their largest lead of the night at 32-26. It was still a six-point margin at 34-28 after a Ryan Curry fastbreak layup, but the Bison held the Black Knights to only one field goal over the next nine minutes.

The two straight treys knotted the game at 34, and Dörries came out of the under-16 timeout with a dunk off a Spadone feed to give the Bison the lead for good. Curtin, who carried the Bison through the slog of a first half with 12 points and seven rebounds, scored seven straight points to make it 47-37, and then Spadone followed with a steal and 3-point play on the break. Spadone's layup off an inbounds feed from Pachucki capped the 24-3 surge and gave Bucknell a commanding 52-37 lead with 8:55 to go.

Army was able to get within eight on Jaxson Bell's layup with 4:00 to play, but then Dörries got going for the Bison with a layup, two free throws, and then an and-1 finish on a fastbreak lob from Curtin to make it 61-48. Curtin finished another 3-point play to push the margin back to 15 with 1:42 left.

TIP-IN TIME!

— Bucknell MBasketball (@Bucknell_MBB)

Watch:[https://t.co/gVXTCNIFQX][@ESPNPlus]|[@PatriotLeague][#rayBucknell]|[#Team131][pic.twitter.com/77YOe9k0ja][March 4, 2026]

Bucknell finished the night at 47.2 percent from the field, while Army shot 31.3 percent, its second-lowest mark of the season behind the 30.9 percent against Duke on Nov. 11. Bell was the lone Black Knight in double figures with 14 points. The Bison held Curry, an All-Patriot League guard, to nine points on 4-for-14 shooting (1-for-11 3FG).

This was only the fourth time the Bison have played in the first round of a 10-team Patriot League Tournament, and they are now 3-1 in those games. Bucknell is now 9-2 all-time against Army in the postseason.

Curtin's 24 points were one shy of his season-high, and the freshman recorded 65 points and 25 rebounds in three games against Army this season.

Bucknell (10-22) will now head to Annapolis to face one of the hottest teams in the country. Navy finished the regular season 25-6 overall and 17-1 in the Patriot League. They enter Thursday's quarterfinal game having won 13 straight and 21 of their last 22 games.

Team Stats

ARM

Buck

FG%

.313

.472

3FG%

.119

.190

FT%

.727

.611

RB

36

36

TO

12

12

STL

7

7

Game Leaders

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