The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team won its season opener today in an exhibition game against Mansfield University, with the Bonnies defeating the Mountaineers by a score of 108-48.
Junior Denzel Gregg led the way for the Bonnies, netting 23 points. Senior Dion Wright had 11 points as well as eight rebounds.
“I think we all have our days,” said Gregg, adding that the team needs to “feed the hot hand.”
The Bonnies played a fast-paced game, running up and down the court in transition. They scored 14 points off the fast break, and the team finished with 17 assists, many of them coming from defensive rebounds.
Even with his undersized roster, Head Coach Mark Schmidt’s team finished with 50 total rebounds, while the Mountaineers had only 31. The rebounds led to second-chance opportunities, and the brown and white netted 30 second-choice points.
“I thought our effort was really good…having seven guys in double figures was a positive,” said Schmidt in a press conference. “It was a good outing…for them, it should be a confidence booster.”
He continued by saying the team now knows where it needs to focus more.
“I thought we could have played faster sometimes,” Schmidt said. “We could shoot the ball better. We could execute better.”
Team members agreed with Schmidt.
“So far it’s going well,” said sophomore guard Jalen Adams. “It was a good first game.”
The Bonnies open the regular season against Binghamton Friday at 8 p.m. following the women’s game against Siena beginning at 5:30 p.m.
For more details of the game, check out the BV sports twitter at @BV_Sports.
