By Jonathan Sawyer
Sports Editor
The Bonnies improved their record to 9-3 all time over the Buffalo Bulls in a 90-84 victory Saturday night.
Not only was the win the attraction, but Bonaventure welcomed back the 1977 NIT Championship team and retired the all-time scoring leader Greg Sanders’ number (53) tonight during halftime.
Head coach Mark Schmidt said it was great to have the players from that team back.
“I thought it was a great college game, great environment. The ’77 team coming back brought a lot of attention. This place has a great tradition and for those guys, the managers, the sports information directors to come back just shows how important Bonaventure basketball is and our job was to go out their and give them a good show and make them proud,” Schmidt said.
There was 49 seconds left in the game and the Bulls trailed by six. After a missed second free throw by junior guard Jaylen Adams, the Bulls came down and knocked down a three ball, courtesy of sophomore forward Nick Perkins. The inbound would be to junior guard Matt Mobley and he would be fouled on and knock down his free throws making it 86-81.
The Bulls never gave up hope, looking to their senior guard Blake Hamilton, who knocked down a three and pulled the game to within two. Junior guard Idris Taqqee would receive the inbound pass and be fouled. Taqqee would knock down both free throws and go on to knock down two more that would solidify the Bonnies victory.
Leading the way for the Bonnies was Adams, who dropped 29 points, and added eight assists and four rebounds. Adams was 5-9 from beyond the arc tonight. Senior forward Denzel Gregg would score 11 of his 14 points in the second half. Gregg had five rebounds and three blocks.
Five players were in double figures for the Bonnies tonight including senior forward David Andoh (12 points and five rebounds), freshmen forward Josh Ayeni (10 points and five rebounds) and Idris Taqqee (16 points and seven rebounds).
The Bonnies finished the game shooting 46.8 percent from the field and 47.1 percent from beyond the arc.
The Bulls leading scorer was Perkins with 24 points. Hamilton helped out with 20 points, six rebounds, and four assists. The Bulls shot 49.2 percent from the field and 44.4 percent from beyond the arc, knocking down 12 three-point shots.
Adams talked about how the open ball screen wasn’t there in the first half and how other teammates were contributing.
“We got a team full of a good players, so whenever you focus too hard on one, someone else is going to step up. They were downing screens early and other guys were making shots,” Adams said.
The head coach of the Bulls, Nate Oats, said his team has to limit the turnovers in games.
“If your going to beat a good team like St. Bonaventure you can’t turn the ball over 20 times. Our guys are playing hard, I think we are competing to be down what we were at the half and fight back and get it down to a one possession game the last minute,” Oats said.
Oats loved playing in the Reilly Center with a crowd of over 5,000 people.
“It was like a high school game with them right on top of you, the energy is good. It gets a little feisty early in the game. You figure out which players are tough and which are going to kind of cave in big environments,” Oats said.
Adams talked about playing in front of a pack arena tonight.
“It was fun out their today. The crowd energy was great, it is always good to play in the RC (Reilly Center) but today was special, especially with the ’77 team coming back and we did it for them and the fans,” Adams said.
Schmidt said that having Adams at the point is like having a great quarterback.
“You feel comfortable with somebody that you trust, that you know is going to make the right decision. When the ball is in his hands something usually good happens,” Schmidt said.
The Bonnies will head on the road to Long Island to take on the Hofstra Pride on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
sawyerjp15@bonaventure.edu
