ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure Bonnies have won back-to-back games for the first time since late November. Bona fought off a tough George Mason team, 73-69, to improve to 2-0 in conference play. Although it's early, the Bonnies currently find themselves in second place behind Dayton, the Atlantic 10 preseason favorite.
 
Here are five takeaways from Wednesday's game:
 

1. Daryl Banks III Loves Bob Lanier Court: In the conference opener against UMass, Daryl Banks III, the 6-foot-3 junior from Somerset, N.J., scored 31 points. He followed up that exhilarating performance with another terrific display Wednesday as he poured in a game-high 27 against the Patriots. The last time a Bonnies player scored 25 points or more in back-to-back games was Jaren Holmes in 2021. He scored 38 against St. Joseph's on Jan. 6, then scored 26 at Fordham a week later. Against George Mason, Banks III drained six 3-pointers for the second consecutive game and made all five free throw attempts. No shot was more important than the dagger he hit with 46.3 seconds remaining. With his team up by three, Banks head-faked, dribbled to his right, double-clutched, and fired a 3-pointer from the right wing. Bang. Nothing but net. This huge shot iced the game. Overall, he shot 8-of-14 from the field while playing a game-high 39 minutes. He has shot the ball remarkably well on his home floor this season, having drained 36 of his 71 (50.7%) 3-point attempts through nine games at the Reilly Center. He now averages 17.4 PPG, good for fourth in the conference.

 

2. Kyrell Luc, the Quarterback: For the first time in his collegiate career, Kyrell Luc, Bona's point guard, finished with a double-double. The former Holy Cross Crusader finished with 10 points and 10 assists in 33 minutes. Luc did a masterful job in distributing the ball against George Mason. Whether in transition or while running the offense, Luc found the open man when needed. He played terrific defense too, as he helped limit George Mason—the best 3-point shooting team in the conference---to shoot 38.1% from beyond the arc, almost eight points below the team's season average. Luc finished with two steals and committed just one turnover.

 

3. Sharing the Wealth: Every Bonaventure player who entered Wednesday's game scored at least one field goal. Chad Venning finished with eight points and a team-high nine rebounds. Moses Flowers, the 6-foot-4 guard who transferred to Bona's from Hartford, led the way off the bench with 12 points. Flowers, who should be in the discussion for the Atlantic 10's Sixth Man of the Year Award, shot 5-of-6 from the field and drained two 3-pointers in 21 minutes. Four other Bonnies off the bench contributed offensively, as Anouar Mellouk and Anquan Hill had three points apiece. Mellouk, a native of Amsterdam, hit a big 3-pointer from the top of the key in the first half. Meanwhile, Hill converted a tough shot through contact and subsequently converted the three-point play with 10:11 left. Max Amadasun and Brett Rumpel each scored a bucket too. In conference games like these, against tough opponents like George Mason, any scoring contributions off the bench are vital. Bona's bench scored 22 points, while Mason's finished with 13. A big stat, considering the Bonnies won by just four.

 

4. Clutch Freshmen: After the Bonnies held a comfortable lead throughout the second half, George Mason roared back and cut it to 68-67 with 2:10 left. Before tonight, Bona struggled to finish out close games. SBU held late leads at Canisius, vs. South Dakota State, vs. Iona, and at Siena, but they lost all four of these games. To this point, the young Bonnies have made plenty of mistakes in pivotal moments. Yet, the freshman phenom, Yann Farell, had other ideas against George Mason. After the Patriots got within a point, Farell hit a clutch 18-foot jumper with 1:43 to play to put Bona up 70-67. That was his only bucket of the game. Mason would not draw closer than that. Barry Evans, the 6-foot-8 freshman, had a terrific game too. Coach Mark Schmidt awarded Evans big minutes in the second half thanks to his active defense. Evans corralled six rebounds and scored four points, but his contributions on the floor do not appear on the stat sheet. Wednesday's game against Mason may have been Evans' best defensive performance of the season. Farell and Evans did not light up the box score but contributed to a big conference victory. When the final buzzer sounds, Schmidt needs winning plays from his freshman: they delivered against George Mason.

 

5. Next Up: St. Bonaventure heads back to the Midwest to face the Saint Louis Billikens on Saturday afternoon at the Chaifetz Center. The Bills, picked second in the Atlantic 10 preseason poll, have disappointed mightily this season. Numerous pundits felt they could go to the NCAA Tournament as an at-large team, but Saint Louis has already racked up six losses. They most recently fell to the UMass Minutemen in Amherst, 90-81. Yet, Travis Ford's Billikens still pose a formidable test. They return a lot of talent from a season ago, and this game in the Gateway City will surely test the Brown and White. A Bonaventure victory would certainly put the rest of the conference on notice. Nonetheless, expect Bona to enter Saturday's game as an underdog. Tune in to ESPN+ at 4 p.m. EST to see if the Brown and White can pull off the upset.

 
Jack Milko is a current graduate student at St. Bonaventure University. He will graduate with an M.A. in Sports Journalism in May 2023. Follow him on Twitter @Jack_Milko.

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