St. Bonaventure Game Notes (PDF)
Radio: WPIG 95.7 FM, ESPN Radio 1450 AM (Olean, NY) with Gary Nease (pxp) and Don Scholla
Twitter: @BonniesMBB
Game Promotion: St. Bonaventure and Five Star Bank will present the Five Star Bank Food Drive and ticket giveaway. Starting at 5:00, the first 200 fans who donate a canned food item at the Five Star Bank drop-off spot outside of the SBU Ticket Office will receive a free ticket to the game from Five Star bank. All fans are asked to bring a canned food item to donate to the Olean Food Pantry. Last year, Bonnies fans donated over 272 pounds of food at this event.
The Starting Five Notes:
1. Saturday night in the Reilly Center, St. Bonaventure and Loyola (Md.) meet for just the second time since 1975. The Bonnies look to bounce back after a hard-fought loss at Syracuse, while the Greyhounds got their first win of the year on Wednesday at UMBC.
2. This Bonnies led for the majority of their game at Syracuse on Tuesday before falling 79-66 in a game that was much closer than the final margin. The Bonnies made 11 three-pointers (of 32) and outrebounded the Orange 43-33 on the night.
3. St. Bonaventure's roster includes just eight healthy scholarship players. Both Jordan Tyson and Courtney Stockard are out indefinitely due to injuries they sustained in the preseason.
4. Junior Denzel Gregg has played the best basketball of his career over the season's first two games. With the Bonnies depending heavily on him, the 6-foot-7 forward has produced, averaging 13 points and 9.5 rebounds. Gregg ranks fifth in the A10 in rebounding.
5. Coach Mark Schmidt is in his ninth season at the helm of the St. Bonaventure program. Schmidt, who is the fourth-longest tenured coach in the Atlantic 10, has 125 wins at Bona's.
The Series
This will be the ninth meeting between the schools. St. Bonaventure leads the series 8-0.
St. Bonaventure's Last Game: Syracuse 79, Bonnies 66
St. Bonaventure led for nearly 30 minutes of Tuesday night's battle vs. Syracuse at the Carrier Dome, building double-digit leads multiple times, including during the second half, but the Orange rallied and pulled away late for a 79-66 victory. Sophomore Jaylen Adams paced the Bonnies with 16 points, also adding a game-high seven assists as well as three steals. Senior Dion Wright posted 13 points and eight rebounds and junior Denzel Gregg gave St. Bonaventure a third double-figure scorer with 11 points as well as eight boards. The Bonnies sank 11 three-pointers on the night, finishing 11-of-32 from long range and won the battle of the boards by a 43-33 margin. Syracuse was red hot from the floor during its second half rally, connecting on 56 percent of its shots (14-25). The Bonnies finished the night shooting 36.4 percent from the field (24-66).
Gregg's Opportunity
Starting out his junior season, Denzel Gregg has the opportunity to become a player the Bonnies can depend on heavily. A role player most of his first two seasons, Gregg came on strong at the end of last year, earning starts in the last five games. The lanky 6-7 forward opened this season with his first career double-double, 15 points and 11 rebounds in the Nov. 13 win over Binghamton. He played 31 minutes coming off the bench and also blocked four shots. Gregg followed that with an 11-point, eight-rebound effort in front of his hometown fans in Syracuse.
Scouting The Greyhounds
Loyola picked up its first win of the young season on Wednesday, a 76-57 decision at UMBC. Forward Jarred Jones led the Greyhounds with 26 points and 11 rebounds, his second straight double-double. Loyola started the season with home losses to Tennessee State and LIU-Brooklyn. For the season, Jones is averaging 19.3 points and 10.7 rebounds per game. Guard Tyler Hubbard averages 14.3 points per game and has made 11 of 18 shots from three-point range. Eric Laster and Franz Rassman both average 10 points per game.
