LEWISBURG, Pa. – Five different Leopards scored in double figures on Saturday evening at Sojka Pavilion in Lewisburg, Pa. as the Lafayette men's basketball team put on a historic performance in a convincing 83-60 victory over Bucknell.
 
Senior co-captain E.J. Stephens paced an efficient Lafayette offense with a game-high 18 points on the day, followed by 13, 13, 12 and 11 from sophomores Leo O'Boyle and Neal Quinn, freshman Kyle Jenkins and co-captain Justin Jaworski. It was the first five-double-figure-scorer game for the Maroon and White since Jan. 29, 2020 against Colgate.
 
From the get-go, Bucknell was overmatched with the Leopards leading 46-25 at the break, their largest halftime advantage since a 45-24 lead in a win over Army at Kirby Sports Center on Feb. 7, 2018. Twenty-three points is the largest margin of victory for the Maroon and White in a Patriot League contest since routing Boston U. in the Patriot League Quarterfinals in 2015 and the largest on the road in league play since 2013, a 70-47 win at Navy.
 
The glass was a key advantage in Saturday's affair as Lafayette led 44-32 on the boards and held a 23-6 advantage in second-chance points. The Leopards also got 25 points off 22 Bucknell turnovers as the 25 points allowed in the first half were the lowest since a win over Lehigh last January.
 
Junior Sean Good ripped down 11 boards, with four on the offensive side, while all four of Jenkins' rebounds came on the offensive end, including an impressive tip slam early in the second half. For Jenkins, it was his first career double-figure scoring game, going 4-of-7 from the floor and 2-of-4 from three-point range. Quinn's performance can't be overstated as well as the 7-0 forward registered eight assists to go along with five rebounds and a steal in his return from missing the last contest due to injury.
 
The victory moves the Maroon and White to 2-1 on the year and 2-1 in the central division, while Bucknell falls to 0-3, but just 0-1 in central division action.
 
Lafayette began strong as four different Leopards scored in the first four minutes to force a Bucknell timeout with an early 11-2 lead. Bucknell moved back within six on a Walter Ellis layup with 13:15 on the clock, but back-to-back buckets from O'Boyle answered to take it to the midway point of the opening half at 21-10.
 
The Leopard lead continued to grow through the seven-minute mark as a right-wing three from Stephens after the drive-and-kick from Jenkins moved the lead above 20, 32-11. A 4-0 spurt from the Bison with around four minutes left took the margin back under 20, but the Leopards moved it back above that at the break, ahead by 21, 46-25.
 
Bucknell pushed at the beginning of the second half to make it a game as an Andrew Funk triple made it 49-33 at the 16-minute mark. Lafayette kept the game at that 16-point margin on a Stephens jumper with less than 12 minutes to play and led 64-46 at the next break at 7:50 to stop the threat of the run.
 
Six straight from the Bison around the six-minute mark forced a Lafayette timeout with the advantage down to 12, 64-52. That timeout, though, was all the Leopards needed to squash that spurt, coming out of that stoppage to close the game on a 19-8 run and pull away for an 83-60 final.
 
The second of the two-game set is scheduled for tomorrow evening at Kirby Sports Center with opening tip slated for 6 p.m. The game can be seen on ESPN+ or regionally on SNY.