ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – St. Bonaventure started strong and never lost control on the way to a commanding win over visiting Le Moyne Saturday afternoon at the Reilly Center, 71-52.
Five Bonnies scored in double figures in a balanced scoring attack led by Noel Brown’s 15 points. Melvin Council Jr. turned in an all-around effort of 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists; Lajae Jones registered 12 points and eight rebounds; Dasonte Bowen posted 11 points, six boards and three assists and Jonah Hinton chipped in 10 points.
The Bonnies (4-0) hit on all cylinders from the outset, opening the game by going 6-for-9 overall from the floor, 3-for-4 from deep and 5-of-5 at the line as part of a 20-7 start.
Bona made good on 53 percent of its shot attempts and had the Reilly Center crowd buzzing throughout the opening 20 minutes on the way to a commanding 44-23 advantage at intermission.
“I thought our guys, especially in the first half, did everything we needed to do,” said St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt. “We defended the three-point line. They were 3-for-15. We out-rebounded them. We got the ball into the paint. We got points off turnovers. We were up by 21 and I thought we were playing really, really well.”
SBU again showed its depth as eight Bonnies cracked into the scoring column before halftime.
The Bonnies did hit a lull to begin the second half, suffering a five-minute scoreless streak that saw Le Moyne claw back within 50-34.
Jones finally broke the icy spell with a corner three with 11:09 to play, pushing the cushion back to 19.
From there, the Dolphins weren’t able to muster another charge as the Bonnies led for all but 28 seconds of game time.
Offense came as a struggle for Le Moyne (1-4) as the visitors shot 34 percent from the floor and just 28 percent from distance.
Bona’s dominated the glass as well, 43-28, and was plus-14 in the paint (34-20).
Darrick Jones Jr. was Le Moyne’s lone double figure scorer with 11 points.
“We’re 4-0 and that’s really good, but we’ve got a lot of work to do,” said Schmidt. “Both on the offensive and defensive ends and as a team too, playing together and playing fast and playing the game the right way all the time.”
Visit: https://gobonnies.com/news/2024/11/16/mens-basketball-bonnies-lead-wire-to-wire-in-win-over-le-moyne.aspx for more SBU Coverage.
