ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure men's basketball team used a 15-0 first-half scoring run to establish control on Saturday afternoon at the Reilly Center, taking a lead which it would never relinquish on the way to an 81-58 victory over Lafayette.
Junior Ari Fulton paced the Bonnies (3-1) in the scoring column with 20 points, adding nine rebounds and two steals. Senior Zach Philipkoski continued his hot start to the season with 15 points, six assists and eight rebounds, six of which came on the offensive glass.
Redshirt senior Benjamin Bill brought the home fans to their feet early with three blocks in the game's first four minutes. The Bonnies also forced two turnovers in that stretch, but the Leopards (2-3) found some footing following the first media timeout, compiling a 15-7 scoring run to take the lead before the midway point of the first half.
Determined to regain momentum, the Brown and White then went on their game-changing scoring run. Junior Taj Au-Duke and redshirt freshman Akbar Waheed III found nylon from behind the arc on back-to-back possessions to set off that run.
Fulton then added to the three-point barrage, turning defense into offense after fellow junior Ryan Kalambay sent a Leopard shot in the opposite direction. Fulton's make on the other end gave the Bonnies a 27-18 advantage with around five minutes to play in the half.
The two teams continued to spread the floor, trading three-pointers as the first half ticked away. Lafayette buried a last-second attempt from deep on its final possession before the buzzer, cutting Bona's lead to 35-29 at halftime.
Philipkoski gave the hosts a boost coming out of the locker room, pouring in nine of Bonaventure's first 11 points of the half. He fought hard to draw a pair of fouls during that streak, knocking down all four of his attempts from the charity stripe.
That success helped SBU establish further control and compile a 21-6 scoring run to open the second half. Sophomore Mason Blackwood added some highlight plays to that stretch in his first regular-season appearance with the Bonnies, fighting through contact for an and-one finish on a fast break before burying a corner 3-pointer to push the lead past 20 points.
Bona protected its advantage down the stretch of the second half, finding an answer for nearly every Lafayette bucket. Fulton rocked the Reilly Center with just under three minutes to play, cutting through the lane untouched and receiving a timely feed from Au-Duke before slamming home a posterizing dunk.
With a confidently established gap on the scoreboard, the Bonnies were then able to salt away the remaining clock and pick up their third win in a row in front of the home crowd.
GAME NOTES
- Ilia Ermakov, Taj Au-Duke, Ari Fulton, Zach Philipkoski and Benjamin Bill rounded out Bona's starting five.
- Benjamin Bill scored nine points in the contest to surpass 1,000 points scored in his collegiate career. He also tied his season high with four blocks, adding nine rebounds.
- Mason Blackwood provided a boost off the bench in his first regular-season appearance for the Bonnies, scoring 11 points including a pair of three-pointers.
- The Bonnies crashed the glass effectively, outrebounding the Leopards, 46-28, with 16 of those rebounds coming on the offensive end.
- SBU led the contest for 33 minutes and 52 seconds in total, holding the advantage for 84.7 percent of the game. Lafayette's largest lead was just four points, which came with just under 10 minutes to play in the first half.
- The hosts collected eight blocks to the visitors' one.
- For the third straight game, every available Bonnie logged minutes in the contest. Freshman walk-on Leo Kirk knocked down the second field goal of his career on Bona's final possession.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MIKE MACDONALD
"I thought our guys' commitment to defense was outstanding. Last week Lafayette were at Saint Joseph's and went to overtime. Their guards are really good and you saw it in the first half. I thought we did a really nice job. The energy in the building was great, especially in the second half when we got rolling. It was just a great,, awesome environment for college basketball."
UP NEXT
The Bonnies wrap up their three-game homestand Thursday, Nov. 19 when they host Buffalo. Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. at the Reilly Center.
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