PHOTO COURTESY OF GOBONNIES
BY JONNY WALKER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
LEWISTON, NY — The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team visits Little Three rival Niagara Wednesday in the Gallagher Center, playing its second of three-straight games against in-state rivals.
The Bonnies (5-2, 0-0 A-10) have won each of their last two games by an average of 22.5 points, most recently defeating common-rival Buffalo by 15 on Saturday. The Purple Eagles (1-5, 0-2 MAAC) enter Wednesday on a two-game losing streak, dropping both games at home to conference opponents.
“We’re getting better,” said Bona head coach Mark Schmidt ahead of Wednesday’s matchup. “We’re still going through those inconsistent times — lackadaisical times — where we don’t take care of the basketball, or we miss some assignments, defensively. But I think we’re getting better, [and] guys are getting more comfortable.”
Bona lost its leading scorer, graduate guard Charles Pride, to an apparent lower-body injury before handling Buffalo. According to Bona head coach Mark Schmidt, Pride’s status remains “day to day.” Backup point guard Kyrell Luc also missed Saturday’s game with an apparent lower-body injury, and his status remains uncertain for Wednesday.
Schmidt gave sophomore forward Barry Evans the start in Pride’s absence and commended Evans’ play following the game. In the likely event Pride cannot play, expect Evans to start again.
“We haven’t had the whole team for a number of games now,” said Scmidt. “So that hurts us a little bit. But I think our guys are understanding, you know, what it takes to be successful. We got to defend and rebound and take care of the basketball.”
Of six games this season, Niagara shares one common opponent with Bona: Bucknell. While Bona defeated the Bison by six, Niagara lost to the Bison by nine.
In Niagara’s game against Bucknell, guard Ahmad Henderson II scored a game-high 28 points, playing 38 minutes. Having started all six of Niagara’s games this season, the 5-foot-9 freshman leads the Purple Eagles in scoring average (15.2) and minutes per game (31.8).
“Henderson, the point guard, is extremely quick — can really score the ball,” said Schmidt. “They [Niagara] got some really good pieces, and they run really good stuff. They’re really aggressive and try to go downhill and get the ball into the paint a lot.”
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will stream live on ESPN+. Tickets are available for purchase online.
walkerjc20@bonaventure.edu
