LORETTO - In the modern era, the St. Francis men's basketball team has never entered January winless.
The way things are going for the Red Flash, history is likely to be made.
St. Francis fell to 0-9 on the season after getting pounded by Bucknell, 76-49, Monday night at DeGol Arena.
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Bucknell’s Joe Willman blocks a shot by St. Francis’ Anthony Ervin Monday night in Loretto.
The Red Flash have two games left before the new year, neither of which favor them to win.
St. Francis travels to Kent State on Thursday and host Cornell on Dec. 28.
Bucknell, meanwhile, is 10-1 for the first time since 1926-27.
"This group needs a win, just from a mentality standpoint," St. Francis coach Rob Krimmel said. "We played well enough in a few games early [in the season] to win. To get this thing moving, we need to get a win. It's not going to get any easier.
"Just because we're at home, doesn't mean we're going to play better. We should shoot the ball better when we're at home, but these guys can't think 'Oh, we're at home. Everything's going to be OK.' It's a big stretch for us."
But the Red Flash couldn't hit much in their own gym.
They we're 5-of-25 from the field in the first half and finished the night shoting 30 percent.
But even more telling was their 3-for-23 effort from beyond the arc.
After Bucknell opened up to a 33-14 lead, St. Francis took several ill-advised shots to try to cut into the lead.
St. Francis was within five points after Earl Brown - who returned to the lineup after being cleared of concussion-like symptoms - hit a pair of free throws, but the Bison got some open looks and took advantage.
Bryson Johnson hit back-to-back 3-pointers, Joe Willman made an easy layup, and Cameron Ayers drilled two 3s to give Bucknell (10-1) a 19-point cushion in less than three minutes.
"I thought the last 7 or 8 minutes of the first half, we really stepped up with our defensive intensity, and I thought that fueled our run," Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen said.
The Bison had double-digit performances from Ayers (13 points in 23 minutes), Johnson (12 points, 28 minutes), Willman (12 points, 21 minutes) and Mike Muscala (12 points, 21 minutes) - all starters.
"We were certainly concerned coming into the game," said Paulsen, who was previously 0-2 in Loretto. "We felt like St. Francis played teams from our league really tough. And since I've been here, we've never won at St. Francis. It's a historically tough place for us to play."
But Bucknell had no trouble on Monday.
The Bison shot 55 percent (27-for-49) from the floor, had 15 assists and won the rebounding battle, 43-23.
"I thought it was good effort for us," Paulsen said. "From our perspective, it went about as well as it could."
BUCKNELL (10-1)
Willman 6-10 0-0 12, Muscala 3-4 6-7 12, Hill 1-3 0-0 2, Johnson 2-5 6-7 12, Ayers 5-8 0-0 13, Singleton 0-0 0-1 0, Kaspar 2-4 1-2 5, Klebon 1-2 0-0 2, Fitzpatrick 0-1 0-0 0, Hass 3-4 0-1 7, Starkey 0-0 0-0 0, Banas 0-0 0-0 0, Frazier 0-2 2-2 2, Brackney 2-2 1-2 5, Hoffman 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 27-49 16-22 76.
ST. FRANCIS (PA.) (0-9)
Mosley 2-4 2-3 6, Stanley 0-1 0-0 0, Shannon 2-11 3-3 7, G. Brown 0-1 0-0 0, Jackson 3-7 0-0 7, Whyatt 1-5 1-1 3, Vigneault 0-1 0-0 0, Millaud-Meunier 2-5 2-3 7, Major 1-5 2-3 5, E. Brown 4-6 4-5 12, Gresko 0-0 0-0 0, Ritter 1-2 0-0 2, Peters 0-0 0-0 0, Ervin 0-6 0-0 0, Drinnon 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-54 14-18 49.
Halftime-Bucknell 42-19. 3-Point Goals-Bucknell 6-13 (Ayers 3-5, Johnson 2-3, Hass 1-2, Muscala 0-1, Kaspar 0-1, Frazier 0-1), St. Francis (Pa.) 3-23 (Millaud-Meunier 1-4, Major 1-5, Jackson 1-5, Whyatt 0-1, G. Brown 0-1, Vigneault 0-1, Ritter 0-1, Ervin 0-2, Shannon 0-3). Fouled Out-None. Rebounds-Bucknell 43 (Muscala 7), St. Francis (Pa.) 23 (E. Brown 5). Assists-Bucknell 15 (Muscala 4), St. Francis (Pa.) 11 (Shannon 6). Total Fouls-Bucknell 14, St. Francis (Pa.) 18. Technicals-St. Francis (Pa.) Bench 2. A-721.
