Photo courtesy of gobonnies.com
BY: WILL NUNN; CO-EDITOR-IN-CHIEF, SPORTS EDITOR
Despite its highest scoring output of the season, the St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball team dropped its third consecutive game Saturday against the University of Richmond, 99-94.
Leading all scorers was junior guard Darryl Simmons II, who played all 40 minutes for the Bonnies (14-13, 3-11 A-10), and dropped 30 points on 11-of-22 shooting, his second 30-point output this season.
Senior forward Daniel Egbuniwe poured in a season-high 22 points, knocking down six of his 11 attempts from beyond the arc. Senior forward Frank Mitchell added 16 points and 10 rebounds.
The Spiders (15-13, 5-10 A-10) were led by graduate guard Will Johnston, who connected on three 3-pointers in a 21-point outing. Richmond’s leading scorer on the season, graduate guard AJ Lopez, tallied 20 points. Freshman guard Aidan Argabright added 14 points in 32 minutes off the bench.
Both teams ran the floor at a rapid pace in the early going, with the Bonnies racing out to an 18-12 lead within the first six minutes, backed by Bonaventure knocking down eight of its first 11 shot attempts.
A back-and-forth opening half concluded with the Bonnies holding a slim 46-44 lead, after Argabright’s layup at the buzzer cut the Spider deficit to two. Argabright led the way for Richmond with 12 first-half points, while Egbuniwe led all scorers before the break with 13 points.
Richmond grabbed a lead early in the second half, and pushed it to as many as a six-point advantage four minutes into the half. The Bonnies stormed back and took a two-point lead two minutes later after Simmons scored five unanswered points.
The Bonnies would see the lead for the final time with 11 minutes to play, when freshman center Andrew Osasuyi’s slam put them ahead by two. Senior forward Apostolos Roumoglou drained a 3-pointer on the ensuing possession, as the Spiders retook the lead, which they would not relinquish.
Richmond led by as many as nine points with five minutes to play, and warded off a late Bonaventure charge to seal the home win and break a two-game losing streak.
The Bonnies return to the Reilly Center to take on the University of Rhode Island Wednesday night. The game is scheduled to tip off at 7 p.m. and will be broadcast live on ESPN+, YES Network and the Bonnies Online Network.
