BY WILL POLADIAN, MANAGING EDITOR
On Thanksgiving Eve, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team defeated 65-61 to Bucknell Wednesday night in the Reilly Center.
The game started out slow with both teams shooting a combined shooting 1-15 from the field at the under-16 media timeout.
The Bonnies saw their first point of the night with a redshirt senior guard Daryl Banks III free throw with 13:54 in the first half.
A pair of 3-pointers from redshirt senior guard Moses Flowers and a dunk from sophomore forward Barry Evans put the Bonnies up 16-12 with 8:19 left.
“Moses and Barry were big contributors in the first half,” said head coach Mark Schmidt. “Those two guys gave us a big lift.”
Flowers hit his third 3-pointer of the half to increase the Bonaventure lead to four with 5:49 left.
An errand pass by sophomore center Noah Williamson turned into a graduate guard Mika Adams-Woods layup to make the score 27-22 with 2:55 left.
On the night honoring his achievement of 1,000 career points, Adams-Woods capped off a Bonaventure 9-2 run with a layup to end the half with a 32-26 lead.
The Bonnies shot 39.3% from the field in the first half while shooting 35.7% from beyond the arc.
Bucknell shot 36.4% from the field and 25% from 3-point range while turning the ball over 11 times.
Like in the first half, Bucknell was first on the board in the half with a 3-pointer.
The beginning of the half shooting struggles continued for both teams as they combined for 1-7 shooting from the field at the first media timeout of the second half.
Redshirt junior forward Chad Venning gets the Bonnies on the board with a turnaround hook shot under the basket with 15:57 left.
Two Flowers free throws extended the Bonnies lead to eight but the Bison answered and cut the lead to five with a 3-pointer from sophomore guard Quin Berger with 13:19 left.
A 13-3 run spearheaded by Adams-Woods’ six points and an Evans steal put the Bonnies up 54-42 with 6:46 left.
“We started making shots down the stretch and we defended so that led to offense,” said Adams-Woods.” “Games like that you just got to keep playing hard keep and getting into the paint even when your shots are not falling early.”
Bucknell cut the lead to eight with 3:38 to go. But the Bonnies defense held its ground and secured the victory.
“We just got to keep working and just keep working on our offense and defense, but we just got to keep working together,” said Adams-Woods. “Keep fighting for each other and as the year goes on, I feel like we’re gonna get more comfortable together.”
The Bison outshot the Bonnies 44.4% from the field and 37.5% from 3-point range. But the Bonnies outrebounded Bucknell 30-23.
Flowers led the Bonnies in scoring with 16 while Adams-Woods had 15 and graduate guard Charles Pride had 11 points with four steals. Sophomore forward Assa Essamvous had three blocks in the contest.
“I feel that’s my job coming off the bench,” said Flowers. “Just hit shots, play defense and bring energy.”
Bonaventure continues its homestand against Miami (OH) Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Reilly Center.
“We gotta make some shots,” said Schmidt. “Hopefully we can defend the way we did, but we gotta make some shots and if you make some shots early, that cures a lot of a lot of things.”
poladiwj20@bonaventure.edu
