Photo: GoBonnies
BY NATHAN SOLOMON, MANAGING EDITOR
NEW YORK — The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team traveled to New York City knowing the importance of Sunday’s game. It wasn’t just a match-up against Iona. It was a Quadrant 1 opportunity and a preview of the Barclays Center, where the Atlantic 10 Championship will be held in March.
But Bonaventure’s Achilles heel bit once again. After holding a one-point lead with less than eight minutes remaining, Iona finished on a 19-3 run, defeating the Bonnies 72-57 in the Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational.
“We didn’t finish the game the way you need to against a really good team,” said Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt. “We knew it was going to be a challenge, but our guys, for 35 minutes, really competed.”
Iona (6-2, 2-0 MAAC) set an early tone, scoring five points in the first 36 seconds after an early Bonaventure (6-4) turnover. The Gaels continued to press Bonaventure, forcing 13 turnovers for 19 points in the opening 20 minutes.
The Bonnies tied it up at 19 with 8:11 left in the first half after a step-back 3-pointer from Moses Flowers and then took the lead two minutes later after a Max Amadasun dunk.
But an 8-0 spurt for Iona in the ensuing minutes gave the Gaels separation to take a 32-28 lead into the half.
Iona scored the first five points of the second half to take its largest lead of the game at nine and the Bonnies couldn’t piece enough stops together to make a run. Finally, after the Gaels went up 49-39, Bonaventure ripped off a 10-0 run to tie the game with 10 minutes to play.
Iona scored the next four points before a Chad Venning layup and a Daryl Banks lll 3-pointer gave Bonaventure its only lead of the half before the Gaels went on their game-sealing run.
Bonaventure turned the ball over 21 times in total for 27 Iona points, the main cause of the Bonnies’ fourth loss of the season.
“Their press hurt us. You can’t turn the ball over 21 times and expect to win,” Schmidt said. “We broke [the press] sometimes, but it’s relentless. It’s hard to simulate in practice. I thought, at times, we did a good job, and at times, we showed our youth.”
Four different Bonnies scored in double figures. Banks and Venning each had 14, while Venning pulled down 10 rebounds for his second double-double of the season. Kyrell Luc and Moses Flowers each had 10, while freshman duo Yann Farell and Barry Evans were restricted to five points and zero points, respectively.
Nelly Junior Joseph led Iona with 24 points and 10 rebounds off effecient 11-of-14 shooting.
“Joseph killed us inside,” Schmidt said. “You just try and keep him in front the best you can.”
Bonaventure will pause game action the next few days for finals, but will look to reset Dec. 16 when it hosts Florida Gulf Coast at 7 p.m. ET.
solomonj20@bonaventure.edu
