Bonnies bounce back at UMass, 73-59

Courtesy of GoBonnies.com

AMHERST, Mass. – St. Bonaventure enjoyed a bounce back Saturday as the Bonnies men’s basketball team led nearly wire-to-wire to finish their Northeast swing with a 73-59 victory at Massachusetts.

Five Bonnies tallied double-figure scoring led by a double-double off the bench by Chance Moore who recorded 15 points and 10 rebounds. He was not in the starting lineup after missing Wednesday’s game due to a foot injury but played over 37 minutes of reserve action Saturday.

Lajae Jones (14 points), Melvin Council Jr. (12 points, five rebounds, four assists), Noel Brown (12 points, seven rebounds) and Jonah Hinton (11 points) all added to Bona’s balanced scoring effort.

In the first half, the Bonnies (18-9, 6-8 A-10) went against two of their season strengths: few turnovers and even fewer fouls.

Bona committed six turnovers in the first seven minutes and met their season turnover average (11) before halftime.

On the fouls side of things, Bona has rarely found itself in foul trouble by posting the sixth-fewest fouls in the nation yet saw three starters pick up their second whistle before intermission.

As it turned out, those numbers meant little as the Bonnies cruised through the latter stages of the opening period and used a 10-0 run prior to the break to enjoy a 39-26 cushion at halftime.

What helped negate the previous stats was a 54 percent success rate from the floor including 3-of-5 from deep.

During the second half, the Bonnies limited the negatives but continued the positives as they continued to roll.

Within the first three minutes of the half, Bona’s lead expanded to 49-32 and the visitors were in complete control for nearly the entire second 20.

The Bonnies built a 20-point lead which would come in handy during a span of four minutes without a field goal.

Despite an 11-1 run, the Minutemen could only get as close as 66-56 during that stretch.

By that time, the Minutemen found themselves needing to foul and free throws from Moore and Jones pushed the Bonnies back ahead by a baker’s dozen.

The Bonnies would not sink a field goal in the final eight minutes, but the visitors did not need to as UMass hit just 35 percent of its attempts for the day and went 3-for-17 from distance.

St. Bonaventure led in nearly every statistical category including rebounds (37-31), points off turnovers (23-18), paint points (42-28) and second chance (11-10).

Tarique Foster showed the way offensively with 14 points for UMass (11-15, 6-7).