EASTON, Pa. – There was nothing Bucknell could do to stop E.J. Stephens on Sunday night at Kirby Sports Center as the senior co-captain poured in a career-high 31 points to push the Lafayette men's basketball team to a weekend sweep of the Bison with an 87-76 home victory.
 
The Plantation, Florida native hit 9-of-14 from the field and 3-of-7 from three-point range, while making all 10 of his free-throw attempts. The 31-point effort was the second 30-plus point game for Stephens already this season, scoring 30 in the season opener at Lehigh.
 
"I feel like I was under-recruited coming out of high school and haven't had any personal accolades throughout the Patriot League, so I just try to come out every night with that chip on my shoulder to prove to myself that I'm one the of the best players in this league," Stephens said. "I'm grateful that my teammates support me and, every day in practice, we push each other to get better."
 
Stephens was one of four Leopards to finish in double-figure scoring as junior Tyrone Perry finished one bucket shy of his career-high with 17 points and co-captain Justin Jaworski added 15 points with six boards. Sophomore Neal Quinn paced another winning effort on the glass (35-30) with 10 boards to accompany six points, five assists and three blocks.
 
"We're very balanced offensively. We're hard to guard right now," head coach Fran O'Hanlon said. "We still have to continue to develop our defensive identity, but after four games, we're moving in the right direction."
 
The victory moves the Maroon and White to 3-1 on the young season and 3-1 in central-division action, and leaves Bucknell still searching for its first win, dropping the Bison to 0-4 overall and 0-2 in division play.
 
It took time for the Leopards to find their legs in the back-to-back with Bucknell taking advantage to the tune of a 9-2 lead after four-plus minutes. The Bison lead grew as high as nine at 11-2 and 17-8 before back-to-back buckets from freshman Kyle Jenkins and Jaworski cut the edge to five, 17-12, heading into the midway point of the opening half.
 
Bucknell kept Lafayette at arm's length until the eight-minute mark when a 10-3 run with five from Stephens moved the Maroon and White in front by three, 29-26. Lafayette kept coming from there as another 11-2 spurt took the half under the four-minute mark with the Leopard lead into double digits, 40-28.
 
Bucknell surged over the final stretch to pull back within a bucket with less than a minute to play on a Xavier Rice jumper. However, Lafayette still took momentum into the break as Stephens found Jaworski in the right corner just before the buzzer to push the margin to six at intermission, 45-39.
 
Lafayette inched out its advantage over the first five minutes of the second stanza as Jaworski found his stroke with seven points early to make it a 10-point edge, 55-45. Then Stephens continued to impress with nine straight points to take the game under the 12-minute mark at 65-53.
 
Over the next two minutes, freshman Jon Brantley came off the bench and hit his first three shots as Lafayette started to pull away, extending the edge to 17, 74-57. That lead grew above 20 on Perry's three, his fourth of the night, to make it 79-57 into the final eight minutes.
 
Bucknell didn't go away down the stretch, forcing a Lafayette timeout at the 2:34 mark with the advantage back to single digits at 81-72. But the push was too little, too late for the Bison as the clock sounded on an 87-76 final.
 
The Leopards move on next weekend to battle Loyola in a two-game set. Loyola, which will be opening its season after postponements in its first four contests, comes to Easton on Saturday for a 4 p.m. tilt and the Leopards return the favor on Sunday for a 6 p.m. clash in Baltimore.