Photo courtesy of gobonnies.com
BY: WILL NUNN; CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SPORTS EDITOR
After trailing by as many as 14, the St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball team came all the way back to defeat Colgate University 85-77 at the Reilly Center Wednesday.
Senior forward Frank Mitchell recorded his eighth double-double of the season after a 19-point and 18-rebound outing, breaking Bonnies legend Andrew Nicholson’s program record for double-doubles in non-conference play in a single season.
Senior guard Cayden Charles tallied 20 points and 10 rebounds, posting his second double-double of the season. Redshirt junior guard Dasonte Bowen added 15 points, nine assists and six rebounds, and junior guard Darryl Simmons II poured in 17 points for the Bonnies (10-1).
The Raiders (6-5) were led by junior guard Jalen Cox and freshman forward Andrew Alekseyenko, who scored 26 and 25 points, respectively.
After a fast-paced opening to the contest, the Raiders used a 20-2 scoring run to jump out to a 32-19 lead, forcing Bonaventure Head Coach Mark Schmidt to call timeout with eight-and-a-half minutes remaining in the first half.
The Bonnies struggled to find rhythm from beyond the arc, shooting just 1-for-8 from three in the first half. Bonaventure turned the ball over seven times in the first half, leading to eight Colgate points.
Colgate took a 47-34 advantage into the halftime break, thanks to 14 first-half points from Alekseyenko and 13 from Cox. Mitchell led the Bonnies with 11 points and five rebounds in the first half.
The Bonnies would enter the second half with momentum, and would cut the lead to 53-52 in the first seven minutes of the half. The Bonnies took a 56-55 lead on a layup from Charles with 11 minutes to play.
Bonaventure would pull away, extending its lead to as large as 10, en route to its fifth consecutive win.
The Bonnies travel to Cleveland, Ohio for a matchup with Ohio University Saturday at Rocket Arena. The game is scheduled to tip off at 5 p.m. and will be broadcast live on passthaball.com and the Bonnies Online Network.
