By Jonathan Sawyer
Sports Editor
The St. Bonaventure men’s club basketball team’s increase in numbers has made a significant impact on the team, said coach Ben Marcus. The Bonnies had a three-game sweep this past weekend against the Niagara Purple Eagles.
For club basketball, every time the team plays an opponent, it is a three-game series. The Bonnies won the first game 69-57, the second game 54-31 and the third game 61-42.
Marcus said that the depth of the team is important.
“There are always conflicts with practice times, so having the extra numbers helps us make sure we have enough people to scrimmage in practice daily,” Marcus said. “It also brings the competition level up. Not one person is guaranteed a starting role, and with the increased number of players, the competition level in practice has increased as well.”
Jack Drapp, a senior forward, who scored 36 points, 18 rebounds and 3 assists through the three games, said he knows they can contend in nationals.
“We have all the necessary pieces to be a championship team,” Drapp said. “I think it helps we started the year unranked as well, because we are ready to be the surprise team that beats bigger-name schools.”
Drapp has noticed a change in the attitude of the team this year from previous years.
“The attitude of the team has been very different from the past. Last year we had just as much talent, but no one took the games [and] practices as seriously as we should have, and we suffered by finishing second in the conference,” Drapp said.
The national tournament is located in Pittsburgh and Marcus believes this team can make it there.
“The past few years, we have been tied for second and just missed out on the national club basketball tournament in Pittsburgh,” Marcus said. “Last year, we beat Cornell, who finished top of our league and made the national tournament. We returned all of our starters and the guys are looking forward to playing the best of the best. I expect us to receive some top 25 votes in the coming week.”
Marcus described the team’s strengths, one being the team’s overall defense.
“I expect us to cause many teams trouble on the defensive end of the court. Sunday showed me that this team is great in transition as well,” Marcus said. “They used their defense to get out and score in transition.”
Marcus also believes the team is solid offensively.
“We have a plethora of capable shooters on this team which should cause many match-up issues this season,” Marcus said.
Drapp acknowledged that his team is a strong shooting team, but he also notices some weaknesses the team will have to improve on.
“Our biggest weakness is rebounding and free throw shooting. If we can limit their second chance opportunities and maximize our free throw chances, I don’t see anybody beating us,” Drapp said.
Marcus saw the team’s attitude change completely this weekend.
“All 15 players played extremely hard and bought into the system. We became closer as a team and truly realized the level of basketball we can play,” Marcus said. “Many of the guys on the team have been playing with each other for a few years now, and you could tell that this weekend against Niagara.”
It has not yet been announced when the Bonnies will be back in action.
sawyerjp15@bonaventure.edu
