NEWARK, Del. – It was an opening night to remember for the Bucknell men’s basketball team. After chipping away at an early 12-point deficit, the Bison pitched a shutout over the final 3:18 and finished the game on a stunning 12-0 run to win 85-73 on Monday night at the Bob Carpenter Center against Delaware.

Preseason All-Patriot League center Noah Williamson finished with 19 points and 12 rebounds, and he scored four straight points to break a 73-all tie around the 2:00 mark. Josh Bascoe went 4-for-4 from the 3-point arc and scored 18 points, Ian Motta also scored 18, and Elvin Edmonds IV scored six of his 14 in that game-ending surge.

The Bison shot 52.7 percent overall and went 10-for-19 from the arc, and after Delaware came out red-hot to start the game, Bucknell adjusted and held the Blue Hens to 31.3 percent shooting in the second half while outscoring them 48-27.

Delaware, picked fifth in the talented Coastal Athletic Association, were led by two incoming transfers in Erik Timko with 20 points and John Camden with 19. Niels Lane added 16.

Delaware came out smoking hot hitting six of its first seven 3-pointers, the last of which from Lane gave the hosts a 26-14 lead. The Bison hung around by shooting 52.0 percent in the opening half, and they pulled within six at 42-36 on Bascoe’s free throws with 2:15 to go.

The Blue Hens led by nine at the break at 46-37, but a drive down the lane for a dunk by Motta and two more layups by Bascoe and Edmonds made it a 3-point game at 48-45 just 2:38 into the half.

Bucknell pulled within one on three occasions and had three offensive possessions with a chance to take the lead but came away empty. Bascoe finally tied it up at 57-57 with a left-corner three with 11:33 to go. The Bison got two more stops but had two potential go-ahead shots fall off the rim, and Timko hit a three at the top of the key for Delaware.

Bascoe answered with his fourth 3-pointer of the night to tie it again, but Timko scored on a floater in the lane and a layup, and Camden finished a drive to make it 66-60 at the 8-minute mark.

The Bison weren’t done, though. Freshman Jayden Williams picked up a loose ball and took it all the way to the rim for a layup, and Brandon McCreesh tied the game at 69 with a 3-pointer. After a swap of free throws, Edmonds gave the Bison their first lead of the night at 73-71 on a pull-up in the lane with 3:47 to go.

The Blue Hens pulled even at 73 on a Lane layup with 3:18 to go, but those would be their last points of the night. Williamson was grabbed on a high-low feed, and he made both ends of a 1-and-1 to break the tie with 2:08 left.

Timko missed at the other end, and Ruot Bijiek fed Williamson for a layup to give the Bison their first multi-possession advantage. The onslaught was just beginning.

Edmonds grabbed a defensive board, and as the game clock leaked under one minute remaining, Edmonds bled most of the shot clock and drove past his man for a tough layup with 55 seconds left. Delaware turned it over in the lane, and at the other end McCreesh fed Williamson for an exclamation point dunk. Edmonds finished it off with four straight free throws, and the Bison avenged last year’s opening-night loss to the Blue Hens.