DAYTON, Ohio – In a back-and-forth game that saw 15 lead changes, the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team erased a 13-point deficit but ultimately fell at Dayton, 72-70, on Tuesday night (Feb. 3) at UD Arena.
Buddy Simmons II led the Bonnies (13-10, 2-8 A-10) with 17 points, 13 of which came in the second half comeback push.
Frank Mitchell earned his 12
th double-double of the season with 16 points and 12 rebounds.
Dasonte Bowen (14 points),
Cayden Charles (13) and
Daniel Egbuniwe (10) rounded out the double-figure scorers for St. Bonaventure.
FIRST HALF
Both teams struggled to gain an advantage out of the gate, with seven lead changes in the first eight minutes. Eventually, Dayton (15-8, 6-4 A-10) took a commanding 30-22 lead with an 8-0 run five minutes before halftime.
The Flyers' lead grew as high as 13 in the first half, but a layup from Charles with 31 seconds before the break cut the Bonnies' halftime deficit to 41-30.
SECOND HALF
With 17:44 to play and St. Bonaventure trailing, 47-34, the Bonnies went on a go-ahead 14-0 run, capped off by back-to-back three-pointers by Simmons II and Egbuniwe. The two triples were SBU's first threes of the game and gave the Bonnies a 48-47 lead with 12:41 left on the clock.
The remainder of the game saw seven lead changes, with neither team taking more than a three-point edge the rest of the way.
With 57 seconds remaining and the game tied at 68, Dayton's Javon Bennett tallied a steal and a layup to give the Flyers a two-point advantage. Mitchell eventually tied the game at 70 with a pair of free throws, but Dayton's Jordan Derkack drew a foul and sank two free throws of his own with just 2.3 seconds on the clock. Simmons II got a clean look as time expired, but his buzzer-beating attempt drew front iron as Dayton held on for a 72-70 win.
UP NEXT
The Bonnies will face Fordham on Saturday (Feb. 7) at Rose Hill Gymnasium. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. ET, and the game will be streamed live on ESPN+.
NOTES:
- Buddy Simmons II has 995 career points, five away from 1,000.
- Thirteen points and eight rebounds of Mitchell's double-double came in the second half.
- Forward Daniel Egbuniwe tallied a season-high nine rebounds. He fell one rebound shy of his first double-double of the season.
- The game's 15 lead changes were the most in a game that St. Bonaventure has played in this season.