BY WILL POLADIAN, SPORTS EDITOR
The Reilly Center dawned Christmas spirit as the Bonnies took down Cleveland State, 61-42, on Wednesday, snapping the Vikings six game winning streak.
St. Bonaventure (6-3) grabbed control early, going on a 14-6 run. The Bonnies went cold from there going 1-for-11 as Cleveland State (6-4) kept things close.
The Vikings outshot the Bonnies 30% to 25% from the floor and 20% to 14% from 3-point range.
The Bonnies went into halftime with a 28-22 lead.
Leading the Bonnies into the break was guard Kyrell Luc with 10 points, two rebounds and two assists.Luc ended the night with 12 points, three rebounds, four assists and a steal.
For Cleveland State, forward Deante Johnson tallied six points, four rebounds and two blocks. Johnson finished with 8 points, six rebounds with two blocks.
St. Bonaventure looked to set the tone early in the second half, as they went on a 12-2 run, headlined by two guard Daryl Banks III 3-pointers and three assists.
“I felt like in the second half there were more open rhythm shots,” Banks said. “It’s just like being in the gym shooting so I just got into a rhythm.”
Banks finished the contest with 15 points, three rebounds and three assists.
Both teams traded turnovers, but the Bonnies failed to capitalize, creating a 4:33 scoreless stretch that was snapped by a Banks 3-pointer. This brought the game to within 14 points.
The Bonnies never looked back as forward Yann Farell hit a corner 3-pointer to extend the lead.
Farell finished with five points, eight rebounds, three assists and three steals.
On the next possession, forward Barry Evans tipped the ball in as the shot clock expired to start closing the door on Cleveland State.
“[Evans] is like a free safety,” head coach Mark Schmidt said. “He forgets what he’s doing. He just wanders around from sideline to sideline, but I thought he was really active. He’s more disciplined today. I think he’s playing to his strengths right now and that’s attacking the offensive glass. So he played really well.”
Evans ended the game with 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists and three steals.
“During the Buffalo game, I was kind of down on myself,” Evans said. “I just wanted to come back and play good for my teammates. So today was a good win.”
With 4:21 left, Banks hit a 3-pointer from the left wing to seal the deal as St. Bonaventure tallied their sixth victory of the season.
“We were active, much more active than we were against Buffalo,” Schmidt said. [We were] much more committed at the defensive end, and we made enough baskets to win, but I thought defensively, it was the best performance of the year.”
St. Bonaventure had four players in double figures, with the last being forward Chad Venning. He tallied 12 points, six rebounds and two blocks on the night.
Cleveland State scored 20 points in the second half, making it the lowest scoring half of the season. This also follows its 42-point showing, which is a season low.
The Bonnies outshot Cleveland State, 35% to 30% from the field while outshooting the Vikings 30% to 7% from 3-point range.
St. Bonaventure outrebounded the Vikings 49 to 33 while tallying 16 assists to Cleveland State’s five.
The Bonnies won the turnover battle by one, 11 to 12.
St. Bonaventure gets set to travel to Brooklyn at the Barclays Center to take on Iona in the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational on Sunday. Tip-off is set for 11:30 a.m. on the YES Network.
“I thought that this was the game that we played the hardest over 40 minutes and that’s what we got to do,” Schmidt said. “I put it on the bottom all the time, you know, 30 seconds, 40 minutes. I thought we did that today.”
poladiwj20@bonaventure.edu
