BY WILL POLADIAN, SPORTS EDITOR
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team snapped it’s three game winning streak to La Salle in the Reilly Center, 76-70, on Wednesday night, dropping to fifth in the Atlantic 10 standings.
“We didn’t play our best tonight,” Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. “But give La Salle credit. I thought they played, especially well in the first half. They really shot the ball well.”
The game started out slow for both teams, with things starting to pick up after a technical foul on guard Khalil Brantley.
Sophomore guard Kyrell Luc put up five quick points after hitting a 3-pointer and making a layup off a steal.
Back-to-back steals from redshirt freshman forward Anouar Mellouk and Luc fueled an 8-0 Bonaventure run.
La Salle then lit it up from 3-point range, ending the first half shooting 53%.
The Explorers also dominated the boards, winning the rebounding margin by nine.
Redshirt junior guard Daryl Banks III ended the half with 11 points and three rebounds.
Guard Josh Nickleberry led La Salle off the bench with 14 points on 57% shooting and going 4-for-7 from 3-point range.
“We were chasing the ball,” Schmidt said. “They had us on a string and getting open shots and when a guy like Nickleberry makes that first one, now we gave him a lot of confidence.”
NIckleberry led the Explorers in points with 18 on the night on 50% shooting.
The Bonnies started the second half hot off the hand of freshman forward Yann Farell.
Farell started a 10-point stretch with back-to-back 3-pointers.
“He’s always an important part of the of the offense,” Schmidt said. “He had a couple of threes in the second half, to bring us back a little bit. But it’s like we just didn’t play well enough defensively to win.”
Then, redshirt freshman guard Brett Rumpel had a steal and assist to Banks which brought the game to within one.
“He gave us a spark,” Schmidt said. “He defended a little bit. He’s still learning the offense and what to do but he did give us a lift and that was a positive.”
Redshirt junior guard Moses Flowers hit a 3-pointer, giving St. Bonaventure a one-point lead to cap off a 9-2 run.
Both teams went scoreless for four of the last five minutes with a Mamadou Doucoure free throw with 1:37 left ending the streak and giving La Salle the one-point advantage.
The Explorers never looked back from there and took the victory over the Bonnies, extending their win streak to three.
“The second half we played better,” head coach Mark Schmidt. “We held them to one three. We did a much better job, but we just didn’t execute at the end.”
All five Bonaventure starters ended up in double digits with Banks and forward Chad Venning leading the way with 16 points.
The Explorers won the rebounding margin by seven rebounds and outshot the Bonnies from the field 52% to 47%.
La Salle ended the contest shooting 40% from 3-point range.
“We had to play more of a sense of urgency,” Banks said. “We didn’t really come out with a sense of urgency, and it really hurt us down the stretch playing from behind. Then we had a couple plays that we had chances and just things didn’t go our way.”
The Bonnies go on the road to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to take on the Duquesne Dukes. Tip-off is slated for 12:30 p.m. The game can be seen nationally on USA Network.
poladiwj20@bonaventure.edu
