By Jonathan Sawyer
Sports Editor
There is a new big three on the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team. The Bonnies won their season opener 92-82 against Saint Francis Red Flash. Junior guards Jaylen Adams (23) and Matt Mobley (21) and senior forward Denzel Gregg (23 career high) were the leading scorers for the Bonnies.
Head coach of the Bonnies Mark Schmidt on his teams performance.
“From an offensive stand point, I thought we played relatively well. We took care of the ball for the most part, we shot a high percentage [51.6 percent from the field and 30.4 percent from beyond the arc] we are work in progress both offensively and defensively,” Schmidt said.
The last time the Bonnies squared off against the Red Flash, Andrew Nicholson was on the floor as the Bonnies defeated them 82-55 in the 2011-2012 season
Head coach of the Red Flash Rob Krimmel on coming into the Reilly Center.
“Coming into an environment like this were a team drops a banner and there was a great crowd out there. A lot of respect for coach Schmidt and the program that he has here at St. Bonaventure,” Krimmel said.
The Bonnies were trailing for the first five minutes of the game. That was the last time the Bonnies trailed in the game. The first half ended with Gregg knocking down a jump shot from the foul line as they went into the half up 12.
Schmidt believes Greggs last shot in the first half was a key point in the game.
I thought Denzel was terrific in the first half. The last four minutes of the first half were the critical point in the game. We went into the locker room with some momentum,” Schmidt said.
Coming out of the half the Bonnies held the double digit lead. Mobley hit four of his five threes in the second half. Both Gregg and Adams were coming in and out fighting cramping in their calves, Schmidt talks about how his team overcame it.
“We had some adversity that’s the way its going to be. Every game is not going to go perfect there’s going to be times in the games where things aren’t going well and just have to be tough minded,” Schmidt said.
Krimmel said that his team knew it would be a battle.
“Those two guards are as talented or guards we are going to see all year and the kid [Denzel] Gregg really gave us some fits especially in the first half,” Krimmel said.
Adams said his team just needs to worry about defense as much as they do about offense.
“I think we have to lock in more, have to focus more and can’t be worried about offense. We have to play defense with the same amount of energy as we play offense with and I think the rest will fix itself.” Adams said.
The Bonnies will head to the sunshine state to take on the Florida Gators on Thursday Nov. 17 at 7 p.m. The game will be televised on the SEC Network.
sawyerjp15@bonaventure.edu
