Photo: St. Bonaventure Athletics
BY: ANDREW HALE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team picked up its ninth win of the season, defeating Big Four Rival Buffalo 65-55.
The Bonnies (9-1, 0-0 A-10) started the game guns blazing, going up 10-0. The Bulls (5-5, 0-0 MAC) fought back, going on a 17-8 run of their own and cutting the lead 23-19.
“I thought we got off to a great start,” Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. “I thought we created a lot of offense off of our defense. We got up 10 to nothing, and then we went into our lull. And I thought defensively, we hung in there. It was just offensively; it was just sluggish.”
Bonaventure answered back, finishing the half on a 9-3 run and going up 32-22 at halftime.
The Bonnies shot 46% from the field and 3-9 from 3-point range in the first half. Buffalo, on the other hand, shot 35% and 3-14, respectively.
Nine Bonnies played in the first half, with seven recording a point. Redshirt sophomore guard Jonah Hinton finished the half with a game-high 10 points, shooting 3-5 from the field and 2-3 from three coming off the bench.
“[Hinton] struggled a little bit, offensively, taking care of the basketball, but 2-3 from three, [he] made his foul shots,” Schmidt said. “He had some plays that he knows he needs to get back, but he’s going to be a good player for us.”
Bonaventure and Buffalo played even basketball throughout the second half, both scoring 33 points.
While the Bonnies maintained their lead throughout the second half, the Bulls fought back, cutting the lead to six with 1:35 left and forcing a Bonaventure timeout.
“[I’m] really proud of our team’s defensive effort for the full 40 minutes,” Buffalo head coach George Halcovage III said. “We grinded and gave ourselves a chance at the end to cut it to six with the ball and had some great looks. [I’m] just proud of our guys sticking together in a really tough environment.”
However, after a pair of free throws from junior guard Dasonte Bowen and Hinton, the Bonnies secured themselves a 10-point win.
The 17th nationally ranked Bonaventure scoring defense held Buffalo to its lowest point total of the season and forced 18 Bulls turnovers. The Bonnies held the Bulls to 42% from the field and 32% from the three throughout the game.
“I thought our defense has to be the staple this year, and I thought it was [today],” Schmidt said. “I thought we did a really good job of turning [Buffalo] over 18 times. We’re not a great half court offensive team, so we got to get stuff in the open court. And I thought we did a decent job there.”
Offensively, the Bonnies struggled in the second half, shooting 10-23 from the field and 1-6 from three.
“Give Buffalo credit; they pushed us out a little bit, but we got to play harder on offense,” Schmidt said. “We’re passing up good shots, and we’re taking contested shots. It’s funny; you always talk about playing harder on defense, but we got to play harder on offense.”
Senior guard Chance Moore finished the game with a game-high 16 points, going 5-11 from field goal range.
“We’re definitely coming together more,” Moore said. “We’re realizing that we’re an elite defensive team, and we’re going to keep working on the offensive end too. [We need to] have both components so that we can really be able to put teams away. We just try to work hard every day, trust coach’s game plan and hopefully we come out on top.”
Junior guard Lajae Jones finished the game with six points, eight rebounds – seven defensively – four steals and one block.
“One thing we really pride ourselves on is defense,” Jones said. “We found out [that] we’re top 20 in points allowed, so we want to make defense our identity and try to get top five, top one by the end of the season, hopefully.”
Buffalo sophomore guard Ryan Sabol, who entered the game ranked 44th in the nation in 3-point percentage at 46%, finished the game tied for a team-high in points with 14, shooting 3-6 from three.
“I’m just really proud,” Sabol said. “I think that was one of our best defensive efforts this year, and I think especially in the second half. I think that was all just our effort together. So I was really proud of that.”
The Bonnies head to Uncasville, Connecticut, Saturday to participate in the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase against Providence. Tipoff is set for 4:00 p.m. and will air live on CBS Sports Network. Radio listeners can tune into the game via the Bonnies Online Network.
halea22@bonaventure.edu
