Photo courtesy of gobonnies.com
BY: WILL NUNN; CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SPORTS EDITOR
The St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball team put together a 77-69 wire-to-wire victory over the University at Buffalo Saturday, handing the Bulls their first loss of the season.
It was a balanced offensive output for the Bonnies (9-1), who finished the game with six players in double-figures. Senior forward Daniel Egbuniwe led the team with 15 points off the bench. Freshman guard Ilia Ermakov posted the highest scoring output of his college career, scoring 12 points in 22 minutes off the bench.
Senior forward Frank Mitchell posted his fourth consecutive double-double, with 11 points and 13 rebounds. Senior guard Cayden Charles added 14 points. Junior guard Darryl Simmons II and redshirt junior guard Dasonte Bowen added 12 and 11 points respectively.
Buffalo (8-1) was led by junior guard Ryan Sabol, who scored 21 points, shooting 5-of-10 from three. Sophomore guard Daniel Freitag added 17 points and seven assists.
Bonaventure jumped out to an 8-0 lead in the first four minutes of the game, with senior guard Cayden Charles scoring the first five points of the contest.
Charles exited the game after picking up his second foul with 12 minutes to play in the first half with the Bonnies leading 16-7. The Bulls immediately cut the lead to one behind eight straight Buffalo points from Sabol.
The Bonnies carried a 38-32 lead into the half behind eight points each from Simmons and Ermakov. The Bonnies knocked down seven first-half threes, with Simmons and Ermakov each knocking down two.
Freitag led the Bulls with 11 points and three rebounds in the first half. Freitag and Sabol each hit two three-pointers in the first half.
In a game riddled with turnovers, it was the Bonnies who were able to force more mistakes down the stretch. After trailing by as many as 14 points in the second half, the Bulls cut the lead to as little as five in the final minute, but Bonaventure put the game to bed at the free throw line. Each team turned the ball over 17 times in the game.
The Bonnies return home for a meeting with Colgate University Wednesday in the Reilly Center. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. and will be streamed live on ESPN+ and broadcast live on the Bonnies Online Network.
