Skip To Main Content

St. Bonaventure

The Official Athletics Site of St. Bonaventure

Men's Basketball

Rhode Island Upsets @BonniesMBB, 87-78

Box Score

Final Score: Rhode Island 87, St. Bonaventure 78

Location: Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center – St. Bonaventure, N.Y.

Records: St. Bonaventure 16-11 (6-7) | Rhode Island 12-16 (3-10)

Box Score (PDF) | Final Stats and Play-by-Play

Rhode Island spoiled a feel-good day at the Reilly Center as the Rams scored 54 second half points and posted an 87-78 win over St. Bonaventure, snapping the Bonnies' three-game winning streak. A near-capacity crowd was on hand the day that former Bona great and current Orlando Magic forward Andrew Nicholson's #44 was retired in a pre-game ceremony.
After leading 43-33 at halftime, the Bonnies struggled to stop the Rams down the stretch. Rhode Island outscored the Brown and White 54-35 in the second half, thanks to nearly 60% shooting from the floor. Xavier Munford went 10-19 from the field and 9-9 at the free throw line and totaled 32 points for URI, which snapped its six-game losing streak.
Youssou Ndoye scored a career high 21 points and had six rebounds and three blocks before fouling out with 30 seconds to go. Matthew Wright added 20 points and four assists on the afternoon.


How It Happened:

  • A defensive stand by Marquise Simmons led to a fast break layup for Andell Cumberbatch that gave the Bonnies an early 8-3 lead with 16:46 left in the half. 
  • Rhode Island responded and took a 21-16 lead with 10:40 remaining.
  • Matthew Wright hit a three-pointer on the ensuing possession to cut the Bonnie deficit to two.
  • Following a missed Rhode Island bucket, Charlon Kloof took it coast to coast and drew an and-1 layup. He converted his free throw to give Bona's a 22-21 lead with 9:57 remaining in the first half.
  • After a slow couple of minutes, Matthew Wright converted a pair of free throws to give the Bonnies a 30-25 lead with 5:08 remaining in the first half.
  • Denzel Gregg went the length of the court and made a contested layup to push St. Bonaventure's lead to 35-27 with 3:24 left until the break.
  • Youssou Ndoye converted two free throws with 1:16 left in the half that gave the Bonnies a 10-point lead at 41-31.
  • The Bonnies entered halftime with a 43-33 lead. Ndoye lead all scorers in the first half with 13 points. Freshman Denzel Gregg converted all three of his field goals for six points to give the Bonnies a boost off the bench.
  • The Bonnies exchanged buckets with Rhode Island for the first few minutes of the second half. Matthew Wright, who was 8-8 at the free throw line on the day, made a pair that gave the Bonnies a 49-40 lead with 15:42 left.
  • Rhode Island then went on a 12-2 run to retake the lead at 52-51.
  • Marquise Simmons put back a Jordan Gathers missed shot to regain control of the lead, 53-52 with 10:57 remaining in the game.
  • After a Rhode Island three pointer to cut their deficit to one, Denzel Gregg drew a foul and converted one of two free throws to give the Bonnies a 62-60 lead with 6:07 left in the game.
  • Matthew Wright converted an acrobatic layup from under the hoop to tie the game up at 68 apiece with 3:17 remaining.
  • Ram freshman E.C. Matthews made a three-pointer to make it 71-68 with 3:00 left, a lead that URI would not give up the rest of the way.
  • Charlon Kloof drove to the basket and scored to cut the Bonnies' deficit to three at 74-71 with 1:45 left.
  • The Bonnies forced a wild shot by Munford but teammate Gilvydas Biruta grabbed the offensive rebound, scored and was fouled. His three-point play gave Rhode Island a 77-71 lead with 1:15 left.
  • Ndoye scored inside with 1:03 left, but Munford was fouled and made two free throws with 57 seconds remaining to keep the Rams' lead at six.
  • Matthew Wright and Kloof missed three-pointers, and Rhode Island closed out the upset by making all 10 of its free throws in the last minute.
  • The Rams out-rebounded St. Bonaventure 40-26, major factor in the Bonnies' inability to get defensive stops. URI totaled 14 offensive rebounds.

Beyond the Box Score:

  • Rhode Island's 87 points are the second-most allowed by the Bonnies this year (89 at Iona), and URI's 54 points in the second half are the most points allowed in any half by the Bonnies this season. Xavier Munford's 32 points were the most scored by an opposing player against SBU this year.
  • Even with the loss, St. Bonaventure remained in eighth place in the Atlantic 10 standings, two games behind Dayton (7-5) and ahead of LaSalle (4-8).
  • Freshman Denzel Gregg gave the Bonnies a spark off the bench, scoring seven points and blocking two shots in nine minutes of action.
  • St. Bonaventure did continue its strong free throw shooting in A-10 play, going 24-30 for the game.
  • With his 20 points against Rhode Island, Matthew Wright moved within 29 points of 1,000 for his career.

Quotes from St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt:

  • "All the credit goes to Rhode Island. They played a terrific second half. Matthews and Munford played extremely well. They got on a roll and we just couldn't stop them." 
  • "In this league if you can't defend, especially the guards, it's going to be difficult to win. They deserved to win though – they played better."
  • "It's the trifecta - defend, rebound, and take care of the ball - we didn't do two of them, and when you don't do two of them, you're going to lose. That's what happened. We didn't rebound and defend, and that's why we lost."​

Up Next: The Bonnies hit the road to take on La Salle on Wednesday night at Tom Gola Arena in Philadelphia. It will be the second meeting this season between the teams.

Print Friendly Version