Photo: St. Bonaventure Athletics
BY: ANDREW HALE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team plays at home for the first time in 13 days, returning to the Reilly Center to face Big Four rival Buffalo Saturday.
The Bonnies (8-1, 0-0 A-10) enter Saturday’s rivalry game coming off a dominant 64-57 victory over Bucknell Wednesday. The Bonnies shot 45% from the field and 32% from three while holding the Bison to 38% and 20%, respectively.
While the Bonnies dominated most of the game, Bucknell finished the second half on a 19-6 run.
“We got up by 30, and those are the situations where you put [players off the bench] in to get some playing time, some experience, and it didn’t go as well as I planned it to go,” Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. “We got outscored by 15 in the last 10 minutes in that game. So that was disappointing.”
Freshman guard Noah Bolanga has seen an increase in playing time off the bench after junior guard Jaxon Edwards missed the last three games with an injury. Bolanga recorded three assists and three rebounds in nine minutes against Bucknell.
“[Bolanga’s] getting better,” Schmidt said. “I think he’s really committed himself to playing defense, and that’s the first thing you got to do here. In the last two or three games, you go out there and you see his determination to get down and gritty and play hard. He has a really good feel offensively. He had a couple of really good passes against Bucknell, and I think the more he plays, the more confidence he will get.”
The Bonnies have cemented their identity as a defensive team, holding their opponents to 61.1 points per game, good for 17th in the nation.
“We’re not a great half court offensive team yet, so we need to get offense off of our defense,” Schmidt said. “We need to get stuff in the open court. And I think, our defense has been good for the most part. We’ve gotten into the ball. We’ve made it difficult for the opponent.”
The Bulls (5-4, 0-0 MAC) come to the Reilly Center winning three of their last four games of the season.
“Coach [Halcovage III] has done a really good job,” Schmidt said. “They’ve gotten better. You watch them the first game of the year, and then you watch them against Penn State, and they’ve really improved. They play hard. They run good stuff”
Buffalo has shot 46% from field goal range and 31% from three while holding its opponents to 44% and 37%, respectively.
Bulls sophomore guard Ryan Sabol leads the team in points, shooting 47% from the field. Sabol ranks 44th in the nation in 3-point percentage at 46%.
“Sable is one of the best 3-point shooters in the country, so they present a lot of problems,” Schmidt said. “When they’re shooting the ball well from three, they’re a really hard team to guard, and they’re playing hard. And when a team plays hard, good things can happen.”
In last year’s matchup between the Bonnies and Bulls, Bonaventure dominated Buffalo on the road, winning 80-65. Buffalo will be making its first trip to the Reilly Center since 2021 when Bonnies guard Jalen Adaway hit a game-winning 3-pointer to defeat the Bulls 68-65.
“It’s always good to play in the Reilly Center,” Schmidt said. “It’s one of the best places to play in the country. Playing in front of a home crowd and a student body, and playing a Big Four opponent, it’s exciting. Playing at home, there’s nothing like it, so [I’m] looking forward to it and I know our guys are too.”
Tipoff is set for 4:00 p.m. and will air live on ESPN+ and YES Network. Radio listeners can tune into the game via the Bonnies Online Network.
halea22@bonaventure.edu
