By Paul Gotham
BUFFALO, NY – Bobby Hurley saw his opportunity, and the first-year coach didn’t waste it.
When St. Bonaventure’s best perimeter scorer went to the bench with an injury, Hurley made an adjustment.
UB’s Bulls locked down on defense, and their offense found its rhythm for a 78-73 victory over Big 4 rival St. Bonaventure at Alumni Arena Saturday afternoon.
Bonaventure’s Matthew Wright landed awkwardly on his ankle and went to the bench with 14:52 remaining in the game.
Soon after the Bulls went to a 2-3 zone and that proved to be the difference.
“We just needed to change things up a little bit,” Hurley said of his decision to switch defenses. “At that time Wright was out of the game, and he was the guy I was concerned with shooting the perimeter shot. Once he was out of the equation I just thought it made sense to go to the zone. We stole a number of possessions with getting stops.”
The shorthanded Bonnies also went zone. The Bulls, though, found success.
With the defense holding serve, four different Bulls connected on corner three balls as UB turned a six-point deficit into a three-point advantage.
“I’m just very impressed with our team and how clutch we were in the second half,” Hurley stated. “We didn’t shoot the ball particularly well early in the game, (but) late in the game when it mattered, guys really stepped up, hit big shots.”
Josh Freelove started the barrage when he drilled a catch-and shoot trey from the left corner. On the next trip, Will Regan found the measure from the same spot. After a turnover, Shannon Evans delivered a third trifecta from that same left corner spot.
“You can put the bottom guy in a bind if you’re running a guy through,” Hurley explained of UB’s attack against the zone. “We did that a couple of times. The back guy in their zone had to make a decision between the wing and the corner, and we were able to get that corner shot a couple of times.”
Jarryn Skeete gave the Bulls a lead they never surrendered when he connected from the opposite corner. With the SBU zone collapsing in the paint, he took an inside-out feed from Javon McCrea and found the net for a 72-69 lead with 2:09 remaining.
McCrea, the Bulls leading scorer, did not take a shot in the second half.
“If teams are going to choose to play us that way, and because they don’t want to see the ball go into Javon McCrea and what could happen there, I have a lot of confidence these guys are going to step up and make the three-point shot,” Hurley commented. “Javon is an unselfish player. He is committed to winning, and he was as happy as anyone in the locker room.”
McCrea finished with 10 hitting all three of his field goal attempts in the first half to go with four free throws.
“I thought we did a decent job on McCrea,” said SBU head coach Mark Schmidt. “That was one of the big keys coming into the game. Coming into the game we were down a player. We wanted to slow it down a little bit and not have the game go too much up and down.”
Evans and Skeete shared game-high honors scoring 17 apiece. With Jarod Oldham on the bench early in the second half with foul trouble, and the Bonnies defense taking McCrea out of the game, the guard tandem combined for 21 of UB’s 40 second half points.
“We pick each other up,” Skeete said. “We play off each other. We play hard, and on any given night, anybody could go off.”
Evans scored 15 in the second stanza. The freshman hit 5-of-8 from the floor including 2-of-4 behind the arc.
“I have a lot of confidence in his ability,” Hurley said of Evans. “I trust him. He is going to be a great player in this program.”
“Skeete and Evans really hurt us from the perimeter,” Schmidt commented.
St. Bonaventure held the slimmest of margins at halftime.
The teams traded baskets and the lead for the final two minutes of the first half.
Trailing by three, Xavier Ford hit a jump hook in the lane and took a charge at the opposite end of the floor. Freelove made good on the opportunity when he went to his left and used the window for a 36-35 UB edge.
Denzel Gregg answered for the Bonnies with a leaner in the lane.
Skeete and Andell Cumberbatch matched free throws, and SBU had a 39-38 at the break.
After starting the game hitting 4-of-11 from the floor, SBU hit 8-of-12 to close the first twenty.
SBU finished the game 24-38 from the free throw line. Bona has missed double-digit free throws in each of their three losses.
“We fought; they made the plays,” Schmidt noted. “In the end they made their foul shots. On the road, you got make your foul shots. Missing 14 is unacceptable.”
Oldham sparked the Bulls to an early nine-point advantage. The senior guard got behind the Bona 2-3 zone and corralled a Shannon Evans 3pt. attempt for a rebound, putback and 18-9 UB lead.
McCrea started the spurt when rose above everyone on the floor for a putback slam of an Evans layup try. Oldham finished in traffic and led Skeete in transition for a basket.
Oldham scored nine, dished out five assists and grabbed four rebounds.
Charlon Kloof and Marquise Simmons led a 19-6 rally to give Bona its first advantage of the game.
Kloof finished a baseline floater. Matthew Wright used a Youssou Ndoye for a pullup jumper. Simmons tied the score at 22 with a pair from the charity stripe. Kloof scored in transition giving the Brown and White a 24-22 edge. The senior guard stretched it to four when he stepped between a Regan to Oldham pass, went the length of the floor and finished with a one-handed flush.
Kloof led the Bonnies with 17 points and five assists. Simmons and Cumberbatch each added 16. Cumberbatch notched his second consecutive double-double pulling down a game-high 10 off the glass.
Matthew Wright joined Jordan Gathers on the bench with an injury. For the second game in a row, Gathers did not suit up because of an injured groin.
Hurley was issued a technical with 7:49 remaining. The Bulls outscored Bona 20-9 after that point.
UB finished with a 33-31 advantage in rebounds and a 19-17 edge in points off turnovers. The Bulls bench outscored their counterparts 23-11.
SBU scored 40 points in the paint to UB’s 22. The Bonnies held 15-12 edge in second-chance points and 6-2 on the fast break.
UB improved to 4-2 with the win and will play Canisius Wednesday night at the First Niagara Center.
St. Bonaventure falls to 6-3. The Bonnies will travel to New Rochelle next Saturday to take on the Iona Gaels.
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