By Jonathan Sawyer
Sports Editor
The Franciscan Cup is back with St. Bonaventure after the men’s basketball team held off the Siena Saints 81-74, Wednesday night.
With under a minute left in the game the Bonnies led 74-73 with the ball. The Saints attempted a double team but junior guard Jaylen Adams broke through it, drove to the rim, drew the foul and made the basket. Adams would go on to make his free throw to go up 77-73 against the Saints.
Adams said he just the open lane and knew had had to attack the rim and score
“I think we have a bunch of guys that are capable of doing that,” Adams said, referencing his teammates who can attack and score. “I just think I had the hot hand and they just kept going to me.”
On the Saints next possession senior guard Marquis Wright drove the lane and was blocked by junior guard Matt Mobley. Mobley would be fouled after the block and would go to the line for two. He knocked down both free throws to put the Bonnies up 79-73.
The Bonnies went on to make two more free throws and seal the win. Leading the way for the Bonnies was Adams with 27 points, four rebounds, and five assists. Mobley added 20 points and grabbed eight boards. Senior forward David Andoh earned his season high with 13 points and six rebounds off the bench.
Head coach Mark Schmidt had a constant phrase to say about his time in this game and it was, “we found a way.”
“Great game, It’s always a great game when we play Siena, the last three games have come down to one basket,” Schmidt said. “It wasn’t always pretty, we didn’t play our best but we did shoot the ball well from the foul line, we made the plays when we needed to make the plays. I thought Jay [Adams] played extremely well especially in the second half. I thought David [Andoh] was a big key coming in.”
The Saints were led by redshirt senior forward Brett Bisping with 23 points and 13 rebounds. Senior guard Marquis Wright had 18 points, five rebounds, and five assists. The Saints turned the ball over 19 times and the Bonnies capitalized with 21 points.
The Bonnies shot 40.3 percent from the field and 25.0 percent from beyond the arc.
This win would stop a three game losing streak against the Saints. In the previous three losses, the Bonnies lost by a combined eight points and they came down to the final seconds of the game.
The head coach of the Saints, Jimmy Patsos, gave big praise to the Bonnies.
“Always a pleasure to come to the Reilly Center. Mark Schmidt one of the classiest guys in the country, what a great guy, what a great coach. I thought Monmouth, last year, had a lot to gripe about not going to the NCAA but nobody had a bigger fuss to me than St. Bonaventure,” Patsos said.
Patsos said his team competed especially against a high end A10 team like the Bonnies.
“We played our butts off. I was really proud of our kids, they did a lot of good things, our body language was good, we shared the ball. We really competed. Mobley and Adams are just going to keep going and this is a tough place to play. A lot of A10 coaches said it’s amazing you won there last time,” Patsos said.
Adams said he just needed to figure out what the Saints were giving him and stay calm.
“I just had to feel the game out a little bit. I came out and had a few silly turnovers just had to calm down and let the game come to me, I was trying to force it and in the second half the shots were falling,” Adams said.
Besides winning the cup, Schmidt said it means a lot to win on their home floor.
“I always say in order to have a good year, you have to win your home games and this was a home game against a really good team. We knew going in that not one of our guys in our locker room had beaten Siena, so that was a motivating factor, but any time you have chance to win against a good team it gives you confidence,” Schmidt said.
Graduate transfer Chinoso Obokoh was sidelined with a knee sprain suffered in the H-E-B Lone Star Showcase in Austin, Texas. He sat out tonight and the decision is undecided about if he will suit up Saturday.
The Bonnies improve to 4-2 on the year. They will take on another rival in the Buffalo Bulls Saturday, Dec. 3, at 4:00 p.m. The 1977 NIT Championship team will be honored before the start of the game on Saturday along with Greg Sanders #53 jersey being raised to the rafters of the Reilly Center.
sawyerjp15@bonaventure.edu
