By KEVIN L. SMITH
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team entered the holiday break on a high note following a 90-64 win over Binghamton on Friday.
The Bonnies and Bearcats went toe-to-toe in the first half. Despite a tight contest in the opening half, Bonaventure maintained a 41-37 lead at the break.
Bonaventure entered the second half with momentum on its side. The team went on a 10-1 run to start the second, which bulked to a 14-3 dart. The resulted concluded with an impressive 49-27 second half for the Bonnies.
The Bonnies were successful on 55% of its shots, including 47.6% from 3-point range. This included an 89% effort from the free-throw line (16-of-18).
The Bearcats shot 47.3%, but only 20% from three (3-of-15).
“It was all defense,” Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt said. “In the first half, we didn’t have much resistance. They got to the paint too much, they were going by us. In the second half, we had much more of a presence defensively. We were just more energetic. We got offense off of our defense.”
Moses Flowers paced the Bonnies with a game-high 25 points. The senior guard’s performance included being 5-of-8 from beyond the arc and 4-of-4 from the free-throw line.
“Moses is a talented shooter,” Schmidt said. “When he’s hot he can knock down some shots. Sometimes he takes some shots he shouldn’t take, but he can create his own shot and did a heck of a job for us tonight.”
Mika Adams-Woods chipped in 14 points, six assists and two steals for the Bonnies. Charles Pride provided 13 points and six boards, while Noel Brown added 12 points and six rebounds.
The depth of the Bonnies’ roster showed Friday evening. The bench provided a spark with 46 total points. The last time that Bonas had 40-or-more bench points in a game was on Dec. 16, 2017, when 40 was compiled in an 81-79 win over Vermont.
“Our bench guys gave us a lot,” Schmidt said. “I thought Kyrell was terrific in giving us a lift. Barry (Evans) didn’t have a point but made a huge difference defensively. He showed that you don’t necessarily have to score to make a big impact. Moses, the way he shot the ball was great, and Noel gave us a lot. The bench was critical.”
For Binghamton, Tymu Chenery finished with 14 points. Syracuse native Symir Torrence added nine points, nine assists and six rebounds. Dan Petcash had 10 points.
Bonaventure, now 8-3 on the season, will face Akron in the Legends Showcase at 4 p.m. next Saturday at the Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse in Cleveland, Ohio.
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