BY NATHAN SOLOMON, SPORTS EDITOR
In an 83-71 victory over Massachusetts on Wednesday, Kyle Lofton made St. Bonaventure men’s basketball history. He recorded 17 assists, setting a single-game record in program history. Lofton surpassed the previous record of 14 set by Jaylen Adams in 2015 and 2017 and Marques Green in 2003.
“I got up in there and [my teammates] made the shots. I couldn’t have done it without them,” exclaimed Lofton after the game. “I didn’t know until we got into the locker room. It didn’t feel like I was doing it. I know I had a couple lobs, but 17? I didn’t think I had that many.”
Over his last two games, Lofton attempted a combined 10 shots, including just four on Wednesday. He took more of a pass-first approach, but that wasn’t necessarily by design.
“I just take what the defense gives me,” Lofton said. “I don’t go in there like ‘yeah, I’m going to pass today’. Whatever the defense gives me, I’m going to make the right play.”
Lofton averaged 17.5 points in two games last week against Fordham and at Saint Louis. It came after 11 consecutive games of shooting below 50% from the field.
“He has the ball in his hands in the open court,” coach Mark Schmidt said. “When we make 10 threes, usually those threes are off of a pass… If we can get guys knocking down threes, that helps.
“Kyle is a pass-first point guard. He’s unselfish. When his shot is there, he’ll take it. When it isn’t, he’ll drive it and find the open man.”
In the victory, Lofton also surpassed 1,500 career points and 4,000 logged minutes, the 15th Bonnie to do so.
“Kyle is the quarterback. When he plays well, we’re a really good team,” Schmidt said. “He ran the show [and] kept everything under control. He’s a special player.”
Under Lofton’s recent success, the Bonnies have had their best stretch of basketball in months. They’ve won four consecutive games for the first time since November, before Lofton’s ankle injury against Coppin State.
St. Bonaventure is slowly regaining national attention, and as of Wednesday, the Bonnies sat as the 11th team outside the NCAA Tournament, according to ESPN. But, with Lofton’s recent success and five conference games remaining, the Bonnies aren’t completely out of at-large contention.
“You’re going to go through ups and downs throughout the season,” Schmidt added. “You’ve got to keep and even keel. You can’t get too high or too low, you just keep on working.”
Coming up for St. Bonaventure is the Duquesne Dukes, a team the Bonnies beat 64-56 last month. Lofton scored a career-low three points in the game, but he dropped 28 against the squad last January.
“It feels good to have fun and win,” Lofton said. “Let’s just keep doing that, putting stuff behind us, and just trying to build on it.”
solomonj20@bonaventure.edu
