BUFFALO, N.Y. – The St. Bonaventure University men's basketball team scored an 88-49 victory on the road at Canisius Saturday evening.
Saturday's win marks the first victory for the Brown and White under head coach Mike MacDonald.
Ari Fulton paced the Bonnies with 18 points and eight rebounds while Zach Philipkoski added 16 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. Benjamin Bill also finished in double figures for the Brown and White with 10 points with five rebounds and a pair of blocks.
The Bonnies got off to a fast start Saturday night, hitting on 5-of-6 shots and running out to an early 12-0 lead that forced Canisius to call a timeout.
Bona's pulled ahead 16-0 before Canisius was able to find its first basket of the game with 14:54 showing on the clock.
The Brown and White kept the foot on the gas, forcing another Golden Griffins timeout at the 12:27 mark of the first half with a 6-0 spurt to take a 22-2 advantage.
Midway through the first half, the Bonnies kept the play alive on the offensive end with a pair of offensive rebounds before Fulton grabbed a miss and went back up for a slam dunk, pushing the Bonnies ahead 28-11 with 7:33 to play in the first.
Bona's would only allow three more Canisius points the rest of the first half, building a 43-14 lead at halftime.
Back-to-back threes early in the second half from Philipkoski and Fulton to push the Bonnies lead to 56-25.
A 5-0 Bonnies spurt with under 10 minutes to play gave the visitors 72-35 lead.
The Brown and White got scores from Akbar Waheed III, Achille Lonati and John Ikpotokin in the latter stages of the second half to extend the lead out to 79-41.
GAME NOTES
- The Bonnies finished the game shooting 33-for-59 (55.9 percent) from the field and were 8-for-18 (44.4 percent) from beyond the arc.
- Akbar Waheed III also finished in double figures for the Brown and Whit with 10 points and seven rebounds in 13 minutes off the bench.
- Cameron Blankenberg gave the Bonnies quality minutes off the bench as well, finishing with eight points and five rebounds.
- Bona's won the battle on the glass, 48-23
- Saturday's 39-point victory matches the largest margin of victory for the Bonnies in the all-time series against Canisius.
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MIKE MACDONALD
"I was really happy with how our guys came out. We talked about that life is 10 percent what happens and 90 percent how you react to it. I thought we reacted very well to getting beat Monday night. I thought our focus and intensity in practice you could see right from the jump ball. It was really good to see and I'm really happy for those guys."
UP NEXT
The Bonnies return home and kickoff a three-game homestand Wednesday, Nov. 11 when they host Cornell.
Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m. at the Reilly Center and is the second game of a doubleheader with the women's team who takes on Mercyhurst at 4:30 p.m.
------
For the latest news on St. Bonaventure athletics, stay connected on social media. Follow the Bonnies on X @GoBonnies and get men's basketball updates @BonniesMBB. Keep up with the Bonnies on Facebook /GoBonnies and on Instagram @GoBonnies. Bonnies Men's Basketball can be found on Instagram @bonnies_mbb.
