By KEVIN L. SMITH
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball squad jumped out to a big lead in the first half and never looked back in its 80-65 win over Big 4 rival Buffalo on Saturday.
“The key going into the game was trying to keep them in front of us and in the first half we did a very good job keeping them out of the paint and earning two or three shot clock violations,” Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt said. “We shared the ball and played extremely well on both ends.”
Playing without Charles Pride and Kyrell Luc — who were both out on Saturday due to ankle injuries — Bonas found ways to get the best of the Bulls. It’s the first time since 2017 that Bonaventure won at Alumni Arena, as the squad improved its all-time record to 12-5 against UB.
The Bonnies took a commanding 29-10 lead in the first half and bulked it to 39-21 at the break. The Bulls outscored Bonas, 44-41, in the second half but the Brown & White still maintained its advantage until the end of the contest.
“We play well in spurts, we have to do it consistently,” Schmidt said. “If we can play consistently for 40 minutes we have a chance to be pretty good. We have to get consistent effort all the time.”
Guard Mika Adams-Woods — who finished with 20 points, eight assists, six boards and three blocks for Bonas — was relieved with the win but noted post game that the team has to “take care of the ball better at the end” and needs to “control the game better.”
“I still have to control the game better down the stretch,” Adams-Woods said. “As the quarterback, Kyrell and I are the point guards of the team, we have to control the game a little better.”
Junior big man Chad Venning added that the team “at times we get complacent, a little too relaxed.”
“We have to keep going and play hard all the way through,” Venning added.
Venning led all scorers with 23 points, and also had five rebounds and two blocks for Bonaventure. Schmidt noted that Venning “played terrific inside,” giving the Bonnies an opportunity for “easy baskets.”
“Chad was dominating in the paint and that opened up things for me,” Adams-Woods said. “We were feeding him and getting him going. Once the defense started to collapse on him that created looks for me.”
Also for the Bonnies, Moses Flowers finished with 14 points and two steals. Daryl Banks III chipped in 14 points and two steals.
For the Bulls, Sy Chatman led with 20 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. Jonnivius Smith scored 14 points and Kanye Jones contributed 12. Shawn Fulcher tallied seven points, five assists and four steals.
The Bonnies, winners of three-straight games and now 5-2 on the season, will face another Big 4 rival in Niagara this Wednesday at 7 p.m.
Leave a Reply