By Anthony Gannon
Sports Editor
The Bonnies are 2-0 for the first time in four years. Tomorrow the Bonnies travel to Canisius to face former SBU Coach and player Jim Baron in his first season for the Golden Griffins since leaving Rhode Island earlier this year. The early season excitement is as high as can be with the potential of a very hot start open to the team right now with their favorable schedule and two wins against notable teams. Demitrius Conger has been able to take his time and contribute in vital parts of the game as well as consistently scoring. We’ve been waiting to see who will be the main scoring pieces for the Bonnies this year, and the scoring leader for the season may not be so cut and paste.
Eric Mosley brings a dependable three-point shot and scoring off the bench. He proved it last week off the bench by leading the Bonnies in scoring against Bethune-Cookman. Chris Johnson dropped 19 on Cornell for the game-high and tying his career high. Johnson came up clutch by scoring double-digit points in the second half alone.The fresh victories for the Bonnies are showing their skills and getting the players in-sync with each other during court action, which is a very important awareness the team needs for conference games. I’d say the players are excited to prove last season wasn’t all just one guy. Matt Wright reached double-digits against Bethune-Cookman and Marquise Simmons scored 14 against the Big Red. That’s five different double-digit scorers for the Bonnies so far. To have five different players score over 10 pointsin just two games is promising for the team.The rebounding has been, strong too, as the Bonnies have grabbed 71 total in two games.
They’ve shot around 40 percent from the floor so far, and the team has dished out 28 assists against 24 turnovers. That’s a 1.16 assist-to-turnover ratio, which is pretty good for a team running a new offense and trying to find its groove on the court. The Bonnies continue to take care of the ball, defend and rebound the way their coaching staff has preached throughout the preseason and early season. The versatility of the team is evident in that the two players who hit the barn-burning threes against Bethune-Cookman, Demitrius Conger and Matt Wright, also lead the team in assists with seven each.
Yes, in this season’s early going, the Bonnies are taking the best shots from their opponents. Now that the season’s here, the wait time for games seems longer than ever as the Bonnies are preparing their offense and defense for conference play while also trying to maintain their momentum through these games. Early season losses can do more to limit the optimism and moral of a team than an injury could. In just a few games a team’s season can change drastically.
But thankfully, these Bonnies look strong early and emerging from the shadow cast by the banner hanging in the rafters. The Bonnies are impressing their fans with their calm and collected play through two games, and the success has fans eager for the meat of the season to arrive so Boncan know where to place this year’s team in the overall scheme of things. Bonaventure looks good. The players are playing well and when big moments are presented to the team, they’re responding appropriately.
I’m not a betting man, yet, but a few more games like the past two and the team’s chances will really soar. You can tell a lot about a team from a good win, but you can tell even more about a team in a tough, close game. Those contests prove the meddle of a team for the entire season. You can put money on that.
