Photo courtesy of gobonnies.com
BY: WILL NUNN; CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SPORTS EDITOR
The St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball team dropped its second consecutive Atlantic 10 game, losing 89-80 to Richmond University Wednesday.
The Spiders (12-4, 2-1 A-10) were led by a pair of graduate guards, AJ Lopez and Will Johnston. Johnston led all scorers with 24 points, shooting 6-of-12 from the floor and 3-of-4 from deep. Lopez added 19 points, shooting 6-of-8 from the field, hitting both of his attempts from beyond the arc.
Junior guard Darryl Simmons II led the Bonnies (11-4, 0-2 A-10) with 18 points. Redshirt junior guard Dasonte Bowen added 15 points and four assists and senior forward Frank Mitchell tallied 14 points and 12 rebounds.
Senior forward Daniel Egbuniwe registered his first start in a Bonaventure uniform, knocking sophomore forward Joe Grahovac, who had started every game thus far this season, to the bench. Egbuniwe scored 13 points and made a team-high three 3-pointers.
The Spiders controlled much of the first half, leading by as many as 10 points, before the Bonnies stormed back, using a 10-3 run to cut the lead to 40-37 going into the halftime break.
Lopez and junior guard Collin Tanner each scored 10 first-half points for Richmond, while Mitchell and Egbuniwe paced Bonaventure’s first-half offense with eight points apiece.
Richmond came out of the gates hot in the second half and would not look back, using a 14-4 scoring run out of the break to extend the lead to 13. The Spiders would hold the lead until the final whistle, leading by as many as 16.
Shooting woes plagued the Bonnies all night. Bonaventure shot just 45.1% from the field, and went 8-of-28 from beyond the arc. The 28.6% clip from deep is the Bonnies’ third-lowest mark of the season.
The Bonnies conclude their two-game homestand in their next contest, a matchup with the Fordham University Rams Saturday, Jan. 10 in the Reilly Center. The game is scheduled to tip off at 12 p.m. and will be broadcast live on USA Network and the Bonnies Online Network.
