Photo: St. Bonaventure Athletics
BY KYLE MAIER, SPORTS ASSIGNMENT EDITOR
In a 13-point comeback, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team beat UMass 79-73 in a pivotal conference matchup Wednesday night in the Reilly Center.
The Bonnies (14-8, 5-5 A-10) started the game with a 7-0 run over the Minutemen (14-8, 5-5 A-10) before being outscored 34-14 over the next 14 minutes. UMass sophomore guard Keon Thompson and senior forward Matt Cross spearheaded the run with a combined 14 points.
An offensive surge powered by eight points from redshirt senior Moses Flowers clawed the Bonnies back in the game, putting them down four going into the half at 38-34.
“UMass was more physical than us in the first half,” said Mark Schmidt. “More points in the paint. Eight offensive rebounds. They had six fast break points. We had zero. I thought the second half our guys responded.”
UMass continued to pull away early in the second half, leading 45-38 after a layup from freshman guard Jayden Ndjigue.
A 3-pointer from graduate guard Mika Adams-Woods cut the lead to 46-43 a little over four minutes into the second half.
The Brown and White proceeded to trade buckets with the Minutemen until a post hook from redshirt junior Chad Venning tied the game with eight minutes to go.
UMass got the lead to four before a layup by redshirt junior Noel Brown and a ferocious and-one at the rim by Adams-Woods gave the Bonnies their first lead since that 7-0 run.
The final four minutes of the contest consisted of four lead changes, with the last coming after a Flowers driving score to take the lead at 74-73.
After an exchange of misses between both A-10 squads, the Bonnies got a crucial stop off a Thompson miss followed by a Mark Schmidt timeout with 41 seconds on the clock.
Coming out of the timeout, Venning played hero for St. Bonaventure, snagging an offensive rebound off an Adams-Woods missed three. This was followed by an immediate UMass foul.
Venning calmly sank both free throws, which dramatically danced around the rim before falling through, to put the Bonnies up 76-73.
In the following play, the Bonnies forced a missed Cohen 3-pointer. Adams-Woods immediately hit a cutting Venning, who posterized freshman guard Jaylen Curry, and secured a foul to seal the victory in front of an erupting Reilly Center.
“We got off to a great start, then we went into a low,” said Schmidt. “We gotta be better in our execution. I thought the second half, we got more points from our defense. We need to get that much in the first half.”
Four Bonnies finished in double figures. Graduate student guard Charles Pride led the team with 19, Adams-Woods and Venning had 15 and Flowers finished with 14.
“[Pride’s]’s a dog,” said Adams-Woods. “He makes everyone a lot better. He’s just going to play hard every time; we know that. We love him as a teammate too. He’s a great guy to be around.”
Cross ended with a team-high 19 for the Minutemen, followed by 16 from Thompson.
The Bonnies return to action this Saturday at the Reilly Center as they look to even the series against Duquesne. Tipoff is for 2 p.m. and will stream on ESPNU.
maierkj22@bonaventure.edu
