Photo: GoBonnies
BY NATHAN SOLOMON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
When St. Bonaventure landed Daryl Banks lll from the transfer portal, fans hoped he’d blossom into a star. That appears to have happened.
After 31 points Saturday against Massachusetts, Banks poured in 27 more Wednesday as St. Bonaventure held off a late George Mason rally to win 73-69 and improve to 2-0 in the Atlantic 10.
Banks had an efficient 8-of-14 night, connecting on six of his 11 threes. He made a clutch three with 2:26 remaining to snap a four-minute Bonaventure drought and put the Bonnies up four. With less than a minute remaining, he connected on another three to seal the victoru.
“I’ve just been letting it come to me,” Banks said. “The crowd getting into it — it fuels you, so that energy rubs off on all of us and just gets us going.”
The Bonnies (8-7, 2-0 A-10) led 61-51 with 10:11 remaining before the well turned dry on offense. The Patriots (9-6, 1-1) clawed back within one before Banks’ late heroics.
However, it was George Mason who jumped out early. The Patriots scored the first seven points and led 25-17, but a 16-4 Bonaventure run in the final five and half minutes gave the hosts a four-point halftime lead.
“We played really well,” Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt said. “We’re playing harder and we’re playing harder consistently … I thought for the most part we executed both on the offensive and the defensive end, and when we didn’t, I thought our effort was there that made up for those mistakes.”
Though Banks stole the spotlight, Schmidt emphasized Wednesday as a team win. All 10 players who saw game action scored for the Bonnies. Redshirt junior guard Moses scored 12 points off the bench and sophomore Kyrell Luc had a 10-point, 10-assist double-double.
The team shot 53% from the field and 43% from downtown. Bonaventure outscored George Mason in the paint 28-20 and restricted the visitors to zero transition points. The Bonnies also limited Atlantic 10 preseason first-team player Josh Oduro to 14 points.
“To hold [George Mason] to 41%, that’s a great effort by our guys,” Schmidt said. “We did a decent job on [Oduro]. He’s a heck of a player … If someone was going to say that he got 14 and six [rebounds], you could take that.”
The Bonnies return to action Saturday when they travel to Saint Louis. The game is set for 4 p.m. ET from Chaifetz Arena.
solomonj20@bonaventure.edu
