Bonnies Win Season Opener

Despite a 16-0 run to start the game, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team had to fight off a gusty second half performance by Robert Morris for a 72-62 season-opening win Friday evening on Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center.

Juniors Jonathan Hall and Chris Matthews were the offensive stars of the game, combining for 37 points and 11 rebounds. Hall led the way with a team-high 19 points on 6-of-14 from the field and also chipped in with six rebounds. Matthews buried a career-high five three-pointers to finish with 18 points, while his five rebounds were also a career-best.

The game looked everything like the first contest of the season for both clubs as they combined for 56 free throw attempts, 48 fouls and 34 turnovers.

“I thought the first half, the whole first half, we played great defense, switching and getting some energy and picking them up full court.,” said head coach Mark Schmidt, who coached Robert Morris for six seasons prior to coming to St. Bonaventure. “It’s a great victory for us, our goal was to be 1-0 after tonight and we are but there are a lot of things to work on.”

The Bonnies opened the game on a 16-0 run that was fueled by solid defense and torrid shooting from long range. Sophomore Malcolm Eleby and Matthews started the streak with back-to-back three-pointers forcing Robert Morris to take a timeout just 55 seconds into the game.

The timeout wasn’t the answer for the Colonials as Matthews drilled his second trifecta in as many minutes to up the lead to 10-0. Hall followed with back-to-back buckets, while freshman Andrew Nicholson wrapped up the run with a fade away jumper to make it 16-0 less than five minutes off the clock.

In all, the Bona defense forced RMU into eight empty possessions to start the game, including 0-of-6 from the field and two turnovers.

Luckily, for St. Bonaventure, its defense was consistent throughout the half. The Bonnies went nearly the next seven minutes without a field goal and still owned a 22-6 edge with 8:31 remaining.

The St. Bonaventure lead reached its peak with 2:43 left in the half as the home team strung out a 14-8 run for a 36-14 lead. Hall was the catalyst on both ends of the court, scoring nine points in a variety of ways, while Eleby drilled his second three of the contest.

Robert Morris scored the remaining five points of the half to trail 36-19 at the half.

The St. Bonaventure lead held strong at 18 points, 46-28, four minutes into the final frame, but a 15-3 Colonial run that took up just over four minutes made it a two-possession game, at 49-43 with 12:03 to play.

Matthews broke the Bona scoring slump and halted RMU’s run with a pair of threes, his fourth and fifth of the game, to pump the lead back up to double-digits at 55-45.

Robert Morris refused to go away, cutting the lead to four, 66-62, on a Jeremy Chappell three-pointer with 1:09 to play.

The Bonnies iced the game by stopping the Colonials on their final four possessions and sinking 6-of-8 free throws in the final minute for the 72-62 outcome.

For the game, St. Bonaventure shot 45 percent (22-49) from the field and 39 percent from long range. The Colonials improved mightily on their 23 percent shooting clip in the first half by going 46 percent in the final frame. The rebounding edge went in favor of the Brown and White by a slight, 38-35 edge.

St. Bonaventure’s point guard by committee look of sophomore Malcolm Eleby and junior Ray Blackburn combined for 14 points, seven assists, seven rebounds and five steals. Redshirt freshman Da’Quan Cook scored eight points in 17 minutes of work.

A NEC preseason All-Conference pick, Chappell led Robert Morris in scoring and on the glass with 20 points and 10 boards.

Tonight’s game was the first of four in the Garden State Challenge for St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies will be back in action on Monday night when they travel to Poughkeepsie, N.Y. to take on Marist. The game will be televised live on Time Warner SportsNet and will begin at 7:30 p.m.