ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – St. Bonaventure could not overcome a furious second half run by visiting Canisius as the Griffs held off the Bonnies in the waning seconds, 70-67, Saturday afternoon at the Reilly Center.
St. Bonaventure (1-1) rode a strong first half to a 37-30 lead at the break, fueled by a 10-0 run that allowed the Bonnies to lead by as many as nine points.
Bona's edge was 41-32 after
Mika Adams-Woods logged the first four points of the second half for the hosts, but things quickly went awry.
Canisius (1-1) held the Bonnies scoreless for over four minutes, embarking on a game-changing 17-0 run that would ultimately stretch to a 25-2 break as the Griffs surged ahead by 14 at the 12:56 mark.
The Bonnies would attempt to climb out of the hole, getting the deficit back to single digits multiple times before Canisius would hit another shot to stop the rally.
Bona seemed to break through whenÂ
Daryl Banks III was fouled while shooting a three, converting a trio of foul shots to close within 67-59 with 3:31 to play. That would start a 10-2 run for the hosts, and as the clock ticked under two minutes, Bona twice had good looks at a 3-pointer that would have ignited a sold out crowd ready to come unglued.
Neither attempt fell, though, with the second leaving the Bonnies down, 69-65, with under 30 seconds to go.
By the time Adams-Woods saw a jumper fall with two seconds to play, the deficit stood at three and the Bonnies could not come up with a desperation steal as time expired.
Charles Pride led all scorers with 16 points and nine rebounds, as well as two steals.
Chad Venning had a solid stat line of 14 points, five rebounds and four blocks. Adams-Woods posted 13 points and four assists and Banks chipped in with 12 points.
Frank Mitchell recorded a double-double of 11 points and 10 boards for Canisius with Tre Dinkins Siem Uijtendaal recording a team-best 16 and 13 points respectively.Â
GAME NOTES
- The Bonnies held a 35-29 edge on the glass as well as 36-26 in paint points. The Griffs, though, made good on 50 percent of their 3-point tries as they drained 12 shots from long range and the Bonnies struggled to a 4-for-20 clip from deep.
- Bona had 26 free throw attempts to Canisius' seven, but the Bonnies went 65 percent from the line as they finished 17-26.
- Canisius shot 54 percent overall from the floor during the second half and made good on six of 10 3-point tries after halftime.
- Bona now holds a 34-7 record vs. the Griffs at the Reilly Center and a 102-69 advantage all-time. The teams were meeting for the 171st time, the longest-running series in Bonnies program history.
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QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MARK SCHMIDT
"Give Canisius credit; you're not going to beat many teams when you allow the opponent to shoot 12-for-24 from 3s. We got outscored 36-12 from beyond the arc and that's a recipe for disaster."
"I thought the game was lost at the beginning of the second half. I always try to stress to the team the importance of the first five minutes of the second half. When you're up seven at the half, is it going to go from seven to 14 or seven to zero, and tonight it went seven to zero and got worse than that."
"Our defense was poor, every time we gave them an open shot they knocked it down, but we had some breakdowns. Our defense was affected by our inability to score. We can't shoot 4-for-20 (from three) and expect to win. Our We missed nine foul shots. We had opportunities to cut into the lead, but at the end of the day you won't win many games when the other team shoots 50 percent from the field and from three."
UP NEXT
The Bonnies hit the road for the first time this season, making the trip to Brooklyn for the Legends Classic at Barclays Center. St. Bonaventure plays the first of two games in the tournament Thursday night vs. Oklahoma State. Tip time is slated for 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
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