By Cameron Hurst @CameronNHurst
The St. Bonaventure Bonnies rallied in the final 12 minutes of Monday evening’s game, to defeat the Army West Point Black Knights 92-83 at the Reilly Center.
Despite starting the game on a 8-0 run during the first three minutes, the Bonnies struggled to establish momentum in the first half. The Black Knights dominated with their 3-point shooting, hitting a combined 8-14 from behind the arc in the first half. This helped the Black Knights take a strong 37-30 lead with 3:45 left in the half.
The Bonnies rallied toward the end of the half, as junior guard Jaylen Adams put the team on his back with a 10-0 run, capped by a three-point field goal at the 1:27 mark giving the Bonnies a 41-40 lead. The shot by Adams also put him over the 1000 point milestone, surpassing Matt Gantt for 43rd place on the Bonnies’ all-time points list.
Coming out of halftime tied at 43, the Bonnies would take a quick 54-53 lead. A surge by the Black Knights put them up 61-57 with 12:23 left in the game thanks to a three-point shot by sophomore Jordan Fox. Fox led the Black Knights in scoring with 22 points and 5 assists.
However, an improved defensive effort from the Bonnies, holding the Black Knights to just 3-9 from behind the arc in the second half, helped keep the game close. Then senior forward David Andoh, who tied his career-high in points at 15, gave the Bonnies the momentum and the lead for good after back-to-back three-pointers with just under 10 minutes to play. Senior forward Denzel Gregg helped finish the job, shooting back-to-back jumpers as part of his 12 second half points, en route to the Bonnies 92-83 win over the Black Knights.
Despite only 12 shots taken, Adams wound up finishing with 31 points on his historic night, tying his career high at Hofstra on Dec. 6.
For the Black Knights, the loss places them at 5-6 heading into a home matchup on Wednesday against Binghamton.
The victory now puts the Bonnies at 8-3 ahead of their final non-conference game of the year against the Canisius Golden Griffins on Thursday, at the Reilly Center. The Bonnies will face off against a Golden Griffins team that has exceeded expectations, standing at 7-5 after being picked to finish seventh in the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference. Canisius is coming off a big 94-87 overtime victory over the Buffalo Bulls, which gave head coach Reggie Witherspoon sweet victory over his former team who he coached from 1999-2013.
The Bonnies look to snag a convincing non-conference victory over the Golden Griffins to gain momentum heading into their conference opener against UMass Dec. 30th, on the road.
Even with the Golden Griffins’ improvement, the Bonnies haven’t lost to their regional rival since 2012 and will look to continue that trend to close out non-conference play.
