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LEWISBURG, Pa. -- The Cornell men's basketball team rimmed out a pair of 3-point attempts in the final 12 seconds to tie after getting possession back on steals and defending Patriot League champion Bucknell held on for a 63-60 victory on Saturday afternoon at Sojka Pavilion. The Big Red lost its fourth straight to fall to 4-8, while the Bison improved to 9-6.

Junior Johnathan Gray scored a career-high 18 points to go along with five rebounds and senior Chris Wroblewski chipped in 11 points, seven assists and five rebounds, with both getting last-second looks to knot the back-and-forth game in the final seconds. Senior Drew Ferry added nine points for the Big Red, which limited Bucknell to 38 percent shooting overall and 20 percent from 3-point range.

Timely offensive rebounding by Bucknell and untimely free throw misses by the Big Red helpd the Bison start a new home win streak after having its 18-game one snapped on Wednesday against Loyola (Md.). Reigning Patriot League Player of the Year Mike Muscala had a dominant second half, scoring all 18 of his points after the break. He also grabbed 13 rebounds for the double-double. Bryan Cohen added 13 points and Bryson Johnson scored 11, with Brian Fitzpatrick scoring nine points and grabbing seven rebounds. The Bison held a 40-31 edge on the backboards, including a 16-7 advantage on the offensive glass.

The New Year's Eve matchup was another near-miss for a Big Red team starving for a road victory, falling to 0-7 away from Newman Arena. Even a crowd with split allegiances, with a strong Cornell showing and a Bucknell group well-aware of Big Red head coach Bill Courtney's presence on the visitors sideline, wasn't enough to push the team to its first road victory. 

Bucknell held a five-point lead with 17 seconds to play before Wroblewski drew a foul and hit both free throws, two of his six points in the final 40 seconds, to cut the deficit to 63-60. Gray stole the ball from Johnson and Wroblewski got an open look on the left wing, mirroring the identical shot he made to win the Albany game. This time, Wroblewski's shot rimmed out and went out of bounds with 1.2 seconds to play. Cohen's inbounds pass to midcourt was intercepted by Gray, and his running jumper was on line but hit the back rim as time expired.

It was a 48-46 Bucknell lead with five minutes to play when the Bison were able to take control. After missing a free throw, Bucknell got an offensive rebound and Muscala's putback was good, plus the foul. Muscala's free throw missed, but was rebounded by Cohen. The ensuing offensive possession saw Johnson miss a layup, but his miss was cleaned up by Muscala, who was fouled. The 6-11 center hit both free throws, and instead of a two-point game and Cornell possession, the Big Red trailed by six (52-46) with 4:30 to play.

The Big Red continued to claw, cutting the deficit to two twice, but never being able to come all the way back.

Gray and Cornell's defense pushed the visitors out to a 25-20 lead after 20 minutes. Gray hit 5-of-6 shots from the floor, only missing on a long 3-point attempt at the half that rimmed out, for a game-high 13 points. He also helped a defensive effort that saw Bucknell shoot just 7-of-23 (30 percent) in the first half, including 11 percent form the arc (1-of-9). Cornell also held its own on the backboards, 14-14. For Bucknell, Cohen had 11 points to keep the Bison in the contest. Neither Muscala (Bucknell), nor Wroblewski (Cornell) scored in the first half, taking a combined four shots.

Gray, inserted back into the starting lineup at Stony Brook, scored six early points for the Big Red as the visitors built an 8-4 edge six minutes into the contest. A Miller 3-pointer, shortly after Cancer hit a 15-foot floater at the end of the shot clock, made it 13-6. Cornell continued to control the pace, with the Bison stuck at six points until Fitzpatrick's layup with 5:28 left in the half. That ended a stretch of 7:12 that Cornell held Bucknell without a point and ended a 7-0 Big Red run. Gray hit a big jumper in the final minute to extend a lead to seven (25-18), but a touch foul sent Cohen to the line. His two makes sent the home team into the locker room trailing by just five points (25-20) despite shooting just 30 percent.

The second half featured five lead changes and even more momentum swings.

Cornell will close out its five-game road swing with a visit to Maryland on Tuesday, Jan. 3 at 8 p.m. The contest will be televised by ESPN3.com.