By Paul Casey Gotham
ST. BONAVENTURE, NY — For twenty minutes a visitor got comfortable in the Reilly Center. The relaxed state was short lived.
Player-of-the-year candidate Andrew Nicholson led all scorers with 24 points as the St. Bonaventure Bonnies defeated the Cornell Big Red 79-58 Friday night on Bob Lanier Court.
Leading by two at half, Nicholson sparked a 22-11 run as the Brown and White took a commanding 62-49 lead.
Matthew Wright entered the ball to Nicholson on the left block, and the senior forward took a dribble to create space and hit a turnaround baseline jumper for the 13-point lead.
After a layup by Cornell’s Josh Figini at the other end, Da’Quan Cook grabbed an offensive rebound and finished at the rim.
“We’ve always had our slow starts at the beginning of the second half,” said head coach Mark Schmidt. “I thought we came out and did a great job. We got a stop on the first possession and came down and scored. In a game like that, you talk about stops and scores. We put them together, and that’s what you got to do to beat a team like that.”
Wright gave the Bonnies a 66-52 lead when he caught on the left side, showed a ball fake, went one dribble to the right and pulled up from fifteen feet.
Eric Mosley added to the bulge when he grabbed a rebound of Wright’s three-point attempt and hit a jumper in the lane.
The Bonnies stretched it to 16 when Demitrius Conger used a bounce pass to lead Nicholson sliding from left to right across the lane, and the senior connected on a baby hook.
Cornell hit eight of their first ten from behind the arc as the teams traded leads fourteen times in the first half.
Michael Davenport finished a layup in transition for 23-22 lead.
After a making a pair of one-and-one free throws, Conger grabbed a defensive rebound and busted up the middle of floor. With Michael Davenport taking a defender with him on the wing, Conger finished a right hand layup in the lane. SBU led 35-31.
Cornell responded. Dominic Selfo came off the bench and hit back-to-back carbon copy treys from the right to give Cornell a 25-23 lead.
“They hit some tough shots,” Schmidt explained. “It’s not like we weren’t there. You live with it and keep on working. Hopefully, they’ll start missing, and that’s what happened.”
Johnathan Gray finished in transition and was fouled. Cornell trailed 35-34. Nenad Tomic finished a layup and the Big Red reclaimed the lead36-35.
Cook led the way as the Bonnies grabbed the momentum going into the half. Davenport fed Cook along the baseline to the right of the basket. The 6’8″ forward pivoted and used his body to shield a defender before scoring.
Next trip down the floor Cook took another pass on the baseline and used identical footwork to draw a foul where he cashed one of two.
The senior continued the effort at the defensive end with a steal and a layup for a 40-36 edge.
“That was a big lift,” Schmidt said of Cook’s steal and layup. “That layup wasn’t typical. That was a difficult layup. He did the blue-collar stuff. That’s what we want him to do.”
Cook accounted for eight points, seven rebounds and three steals.
Wright also provided valuable input. In 27 minutes, the sophomore added 13 points, seven points and five assists.
“I got to play through some mistakes,” Wright mentioned. “I got extended minutes, so I got to take advantage of it.”
“Matthew was terrific off the bench,” Schmidt noted. “He gave us a spark.”
After hitting eight of their first ten from behind the arc, the Big Red failed to connect for the rest of the game. The Bonnies used full=court pressure to slow the Cornell aerial attack.
“We told the guys to keep pressuring them and take their legs away,” Schmidt noted. “We won the game defensively. They’re a great three-point shooting team. The guys did it. They stepped up. We didn’t do anything differently as far as switching. We just got into them a bit more.”
The Bonnies are 43-3 in home openers at the Reilly Center.
Davenport added 11 points and three assists.
Conger chipped in nine points and grabbed four boards.
The victory came at a cost. Both Davenport and Marquise Simmons left the game with injuries. The two will be evaluated.
St. Bonaventure heads out on the road for their next three games with their first road test next Friday at Cleveland State.
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