By HUNTER O. LYLE
ST. BONAVENTURE, NY – Coming into the season, one of the biggest questions surrounding the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team was: could the players coming from Division II acclimate to the Division I standard? And could they do it quickly?
On opening night in the Reilly Center, Zach Philiposki was the first to emerge from the pack, erupting for a game-high 28 points as he dragged the Bonnies back into contention late in the second half.
“He’s a really good player. He just knows how to play and does things the right way,” said St. Bonaventure men’s basketball head coach Mike MacDonald, who coached Philipkoski at Daemen.
But Philipkoski’s efforts were out of desperation, not by design. His work in the clutch ultimately fell in vain in the Bonnies’ 77-71 loss to Youngstown State, a night that saw an inability to take care of the little things add up to big problems.
SBU had two blatant and constant failures throughout the night: rebounding and free throws.
The rebounding showed up immediately. Centered around their 6’11 man-in-the-middle – Kelvin Amoako, who ended with 14 points and 10 rebounds – Youngstown quickly got to work hammering the glass. Getting the right bounces, vying for positioning down low and out-hustling their hosts, the Penguins’ efforts, especially on the offensive boards, kept them competitive in the first half, before giving them the edge in the second.
Altogether, Youngstown won the rebound battle at 47-to-38 – 19-to-12 on the offensive boards – as six Penguins grabbed five or more rebounds throughout the night. For the Bonnies, just three had five or more – Benjamin Bill (9), Ari Fulton (8), Ilia Ermakov (5).
Those hard-fought second chance opportunities were much needed, especially since the free opportunities failed to fall.
While the Bonnies’ high-motion offense produced scattered scoring, they were routinely hamstrung by missed chances at the charity stripe. After going 6-for-12 in the first half, their success rate dropped significantly in the second, falling to 3-for-9 through the final 20 minutes. And these whiffs came in big moments, including splitting a trip at the line with just over 20 seconds left that would have kept SBU in striking distance.
“We talk about doing things that affect winning. We didn’t affect winning with our free throw shooting,” said MacDonald. “We left too many points at the free throw line.”
As they continued to miss out on momentum-building moments, the Bonnies’ offense seemed to stall. After seeing the game knotted at 47 with just under 13 minutes to go, the Penguins found their largest lead of the night with an 11-2 run over the next 120 seconds. Having shot 1-for-4 in that window and suffered three turnovers, things were looking bleak for the Bonnies.
However, Philipkoski then picked up the torch and re-lit it.
Staring up at a nine-point deficit, Philipkoski erupted, scoring SBU’s next 11 points over the following two minutes, including nailing an and-one 3-pointer from the right corner that ultimately tied the game at 60. Having the crowd back on their feet and the offense beginning to churn out points, the Bonnies rode the wave to a 66-63 advantage with four minutes left.
But Youngstown had a hot hand of their own. All the while Philipkoski was leading the Bonnies, Linus Holmstrom was leading the Penguins.
Scoring eight of his 26 points in the final six minutes, including a silencing deep triple with 25 seconds left to go, Holmstrom kept Youngstown just a step ahead. And after his crucial triple down the stretch, another critical Bona miss at the free throw line sealed the game.
“They hit big shots when they needed them. Holmstrom got going and he made as many threes as our whole team,” said MacDonald. “We need to do a little better job on that. It’s on me because I rolled the dice on (playing in a zone defense).”
Philipkoski ended with 28 points on 10-for-14 shooting, going 4-for-7 from deep, while Bill and Au-Duke both also scored double-digit points. Bill ended with 15 points and nine rebounds, while Au-Duke ended with 12 points and three steals.
The Bonnies will return to action on Saturday, heading north to play Canisius at 7 p.m.
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