Photo: Allen Hubbard (Courtesy of GoBonnies)
BY NATHAN SOLOMON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
St. Bonaventure trailed by 10 to Rhode Island with less than four minutes remaining but went on an 11-0 run to take the lead with 35 seconds remaining. However, Rhode Island’s Ishmael Leggett sunk two free throws and the Bonnies failed to score on their final possession in a 68-67 loss Wednesday.
Sophomore guard Kyrell Luc ran an isolation out of a timeout and put up a contested runner with five seconds left. Putback attempts by freshman forward Barry Evans and sophomore forward Chad Venning didn’t fall as the Bonnies dropped their second straight in front of 4,722 in Kingston, Rhode Island.
“Against any team on the road it’s hard to come back and we keep putting ourselves in that position,” Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt said. “We battled back and just came up a little short.”
“We showed some character; we didn’t give in, we made some stops and some big buckets late, but those are things you need to do for 40 minutes. We fouled at the end and that was one of too many mistakes to overcome. We had a couple good shots at the end, they just didn’t go in.”
The Bonnies’ (8-9, 2-2 A10) late run was spearheaded by redshirt junior Daryl Banks lll, who hit a pair of 3-pointers and a converted on a three-point play to give Bonaventure a late lead. But earlier in the game, redshirt junior guard Moses Flowers and Luc took charge as the Rams (6-10, 2-2) guarded Banks closely.
Luc had 11 at the half and Flowers had seven, but the Bonnies trailed by two after 20 minutes. The players finished with 20 and 15, respectively.
Redshirt sophomore forward Chad Venning ended with 10 points and seven rebounds after scoring just two points in the first half. He established himself more down low in the second half and stepped up on the defensive end as the Bonnies made their late run.
“He started playing more in the second half, but we needed more of that initially,” Schmidt said. “He played hard and he gives us that presence inside. In the first half, part of it we weren’t getting the ball to him, part of it he wasn’t posting up hard, but when we were able to get the ball inside in the second half he really helped us.”
Bonaventure held Rhode Island to just 37% shooting, but lost the rebound battle by eight (44-36). Despite just 38% shooting themselevs, Schmidt attributed rebounding as a factor in the loss.
“The first two offensive plays of the game they had two offensive rebounds and putbacks — we need to do a better job of rebounding,” Schmidt said. “We got within two and then give up an offensive rebound and a shot and then it’s four, that’s just something you can’t do. Leggett is their leading offensive rebounder and he got four tonight. That is stuff we can control and we didn’t do that.”
Leggett ended with a game-high 23 points and 14 rebounds in the winning effort. Brandon Weston added 11 for the Rams.
Bonaventure fell to 1-8 away from the Reilly Center and 0-6 in true road games. The Bonnies return home to face Richmond in a 2:30 p.m. ET tip Saturday. The game will be aired nationally on USA Network.
