The final minutes of the 2013 Patriot League championship game were ticking away, and No. 1 seed Bucknell had yet to build a comfortable lead against No. 2 seed Lafayette.
“And then Mike hits two or three shots in a row,” former Bucknell coach Dave Paulsen remembers.
Lafayette called a 30-second timeout. Paulsen, who now coaches at George Mason, turned to every player in the Bucknell huddle. His message was straightforward.
“Hey,” Paulsen shouted, “nobody shoots until the big kid misses.”
The big kid was 6-foot-10 center Mike Muscala.
“I looked at each guy and pointed in their face,” Paulsen said.