Photo: GoBonnies
BY NATHAN SOLOMON, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The St. Bonaventure men faced early adversity against Richmond on Saturday but came up clutch when it mattered. Behind a 48-point effort in the second half, the Bonnies overcame a six-point halftime deficit to defeat the Spiders 71-63 before 4,351 in the Reilly Center.
Bonaventure improved to 9-9 on the season and 3-2 in conference play – all three wins coming on home hardwood.
“The effort was there the whole time,” said Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt. “It was a really good win against a really good opponent.”
The Bonnies got a major lift off the bench from redshirt junior guard Moses Flowers, who scored 20 points and made seven of his nine shots.
After going the first eight minutes without a field goal, Flowers stepped in and hit the Bonnies’ first two shots. In the second half, he got his points in a variety of ways – behind the 3-point line, at the rim and from mid-range.
A transfer from Hartford, Flowers has averaged 15.5 points over his last four games.
“Just coming in and understanding my role and what I need to do to help my team win,” said Flowers. “Just trying to come in and be a leader and be a professional at what I try to bring to the table.”
Flowers has served in a sixth man role for most of the season after missing the opener with a concussion.
“Firepower,” Schmidt said on what Flowers brings. “We’re not a great offensive team, but we need to have somebody coming off the bench that can give us a lift … Moses, in the last four or five games, has done a really good job.”
Bonaventure and Richmond battled back and forth for most of the first half, but the Spiders gained separation going into the break. The visitors hit treys in their final three possession to grab a 29-23 lead.
The Bonnies chipped away in the second half and finally took a lead with 13 minutes remaining after sophomore guard Kyrell Luc converted a three-point play. Minutes later, Bonaventure ripped off a 12-0 run to take a comfortable 51-39 lead.
But Richmond didn’t go away easily. After Bonaventure led by as many as 15, the Spiders cut it down to four with two and a half minutes remaining on a 14-3 run.
Daryl Banks lll, however, worked his magic. After Luc hit a pair of free-throws, Banks hit a wild step-back three to put the Bonnies up nine and send the crowd into hysteria. He proceeded to hit five of his final six free throws to ice the game.
“I had the ball in my hand with like eight seconds and I knew I had to make a play,” Banks said of his shot. “I just got a little bit of space and shot it, went in.”
Banks ended with 20 points off 4-of-12 shooting. Luc added 17 points off 6-of-22 shooting.
One of the more unsung heroes was sophomore forward Anquan Hill. He played 26 minutes and corralled 10 crucial boards, also swatting a shot with two minutes remaining to set up Banks’ dagger.
Hill has averaged 21.5 minutes over the last two contests.
“He played really well. He’s a five man that we’re trying to convert into a four man, and there’s been some growing pains,” Schmidt said. “He’s just got to play to his strengths, and he did today and [was] one of the reasons why we won.”
Matt Grace led Richmond with 16 points and Preseason First Team All-Atlantic 10 player Tyler Burton scored 15.
Burton finished under his season average of 19.6 points and made just seven trips to the free throw line, making four of them.
“I thought we did a decent job of not fouling him,” Schmidt said of Burton. “He’s a really good player. I thought Barry [Evans] did a good job, especially in the first half, fronting him and making it hard, but you don’t really stop him. You just try to do the best job of trying to contain him and make it hard for him.”
Both squads shot 38% from the field and Bonaventure won the rebound battle 34-32.
The Bonnies will host 13-5 Duquesne on Wednesday to wrap up their two-game homestand. The game is set for 7 p.m. ET on ESPN+.
