By Paul Gotham
ST. BONAVENTURE, NY – What one started the other finished.
And it was all hands on deck in between.
Matthew Wright netted a team-high 20, and Youssou Ndoye registered a double-double as the St. Bonaventure Bonnies opened Atlantic 10 play with a convincing 84-70 defeat of the Richmond Spiders on Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center, Wednesday night.
Wright paced the Bonnies to a double-digit lead at half as he hit 6 of 8 from the floor including 4 of 5 behind the arc in the first twenty minutes.
The senior guard sparked a 17-3 run midway through the first half hitting a pair of treys against a Richmond team which came into the game holding opponents to 28 percent behind the arc.
“We scouted them pretty well and the shots that I hit we worked on,” Wright said. “Especially in the corner, we knew that they were going to help a lot, so I didn’t really have to lift much. I just stayed in the corner and got two open shots. That got me going.”
Andell Cumberbatch converted a pair of free throws to give Bona a 15-14 edge, and Wright took over from there.
The senior drilled a catch-and-shoot three from the right wing and finished a baseline drive in traffic with a floater. Wright followed with another three from the right corner.
“If I’m open, I’m going to shoot the ball,” Wright stated. “The scouting that we did, that the coaches put in, the countless hours of film we just went out and executed.”
Wright lofted a shot over the outstretched hands of Derrick Williams, and Cumberbatch scored on a runner off the window for a 30-17 Bona lead.
“We played a great first half both offensively and defensively,” said St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt. “Matthew really did a heckuva job in the first half. We took care of the basketball. We shot the ball well. We defended well.”
Cedrick Lindsay scored five to cut the lead to 10.
Wright answered with a trey at the buzzer falling out of bounds from the left corner with hands in his face, and the Bonnies led 40-27 at half.
Richmond came out of the half and outscored the Bonnies 18-3 to take the lead. Lindsay and Trey Davis combined for 10 of the 18.
“We showed some toughness,” Schmidt commented. “We took a punch, and we didn’t fall down. We fought back.”
Alonzo Nelson-Ododa started the second stanza with a 3-pointer from the top. Lindsay took a kick out from Davis and drilled a three ball. Terry Allen connected on a jump hook in the lane. Kendall Anthony hit a trey before Davis scored on the break. Lindsay went back door and Nelson-Ododa fed him for two. Lindsay’s free throw completed the three-point play and knotted the game at 43. Davis gave UR the lead with a bucket in the lane.
“You know a good team like Richmond is going to come back,” Schmidt added. “You know they’re going to make their run…The game for 40 minutes is not going to go as perfect you want it. There’s going to be peaks and valleys. How you handle those valleys is going to determine how successful you are. And that was a big valley. We handled it well. We came out of it.”
Ndoye poured in 9 of 15 second-half points as the Bonnies outscored Richmond 27-13 to close the game.
After going just 2 of 5 from the free throw line in the first half, Ndoye hit 9 of 12 after the break including 7 of 8 in the decisive run.
“I thought Youssou was a huge part,” Schmidt said. “He showed some mental toughness in the first half missing those foul shots and coming back.”
Jordan Gathers connected on a three to give SBU a lead it never surrendered at 60-57. Wright converted a pair from the free throw line, and Ndoye scored the next six.
“I just wanted to stay focused the whole game,” Ndoye noted. “Once I started hitting the free throws, that’s what kept me going, just get in the game and get a couple of rebounds and everything comes easy.”
The 7-0 center hit a pair of free throws then used a drop step in the lane to set up a jump hook. Ndoye hit two more from the stripe, and SBU led 68-58.
“We could have crumbled when they took the lead. But we found a way. We got back our momentum and finished out the game strong.”
The Bonnies played much of the game without Charlon Kloof who picked up his second foul less than four minutes into the first half. The senior point guard played just eight of the first twenty.
Ndoye finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds. Cumberbatch added 12 and Gathers 11. Gathers dished out a game-high six assists.
SBU dished out 14 assists on 26 field goals while committing 11 turnovers.
Lindsay led all with 27. Anthony chipped in a dozen. Davis corralled a game-high 14 rebounds.
The Spiders turned the ball over 14 times while handing out just eight assists.
The Bonnies outrebounded their counterparts 41-35.
Richmond came into the contest holding opponents under 64 points a game. The Spiders were coming off a 67-58 loss at No. 12 Florida, a game in which UR held the lead in the final 10 minutes.
With the win, Schmidt improves to 99-99 in his seventh season at St. Bonaventure. He is now sixth all-time in wins.
SBU travels to Amherst to take on No. 19 UMass. Tip time at the Mullins Center is scheduled for 12:30 p.m. The game will be televised on NBC Sports.
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