Photo: Scott Eddy
BY: ANDREW HALE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
KISSIMMEE, Fla. — The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team plays for third place in the NIT Season Tip-Off Friday, taking on Northern Iowa.
Bonaventure (6-1, 0-0 A-10) enters Friday’s matchup with the Panthers, having lost Game 1 of the tournament to Utah State 72- 67.
Offensively, the Bonnies outshot Utah State. Bonaventure shot 43% from the field and 29% from beyond the arc while holding Utah State to 34% and 21%, respectively. However, the Aggies outrebounded the Bonnies by four and won the battle at the free throw line by 13.
Four of the Bonnies’ five starters finished the game in double figures scoring. Senior guard Chance Moore scored 12 points, grabbed seven rebounds and blocked four shots in the loss. Senior guard Melvin Council Jr. finished with a double-double, scoring 13 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. Graduate center Noel Brown and junior guard Dasonte Bowen both tied for the team-high in points with 15.
The Panthers (3-3, 0-0 MVC) fell 68-48 to North Texas in their opening game of the tournament.
North Texas held Northern Iowa to 41% from the field and 24% from three. However, the Panthers outscored the Mean Green in fast break points and points off the bench.
Redshirt junior Ben Schwieger led the way for the Panthers, scoring 13 points and grabbing three rebounds.
Both the Bonnies and Panthers have some recent history, facing each other four times, twice since 2021. Northern Iowa has defeated Bonaventure in the last two matchups, most notably in 2021, when the Panthers gave nationally ranked No. 16 Bonaventure their first loss of the season. In the following season, the Bonnies fell to the Panthers 62-52.
Both teams enter this year’s matchup with a third-place placement in the NIT Season Tip-Off on the line.
“[Coming in] we want to win the tournament,” Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. “Every game you want to win. So, we can’t win the tournament, so the next game, we want to come out of here 1-1.”
Tipoff is set for 9:00 p.m. at the State Farm Field House and will air live on ESPNU. Radio listeners can tune into the game via the Bonnies Online Network.
halea22@bonaventure.edu
