It was all about defense. The Bonnies lit up the scoreboard with 90 points in a 90-64 victory over Binghamton. The big story. though, in the Bona win on Friday at Reilly Center was the defensive effort following intermission. Bona improved to 8-3 while coach Levell Sanders’ Bearcats fell to 7-5.
Possessions: 69
Offensive efficiency: St. Bona 130, Binghamton 93
After struggling with a 77 offensive efficiency in the FAU setback, the Bona offense bounced back in a big way. Bonnies shot 56% from the floor and 48% (10 of 21) from three point range.
Four Factors:
| St. Bona | Binghamton | |
| eFG pct | 64 | 50 |
| FT Rate | 31 | 26 |
| OREB pct | 29 | 22 |
| TO Rate | 15 | 20 |
Kenpom.com MVP: Moses Flowers. The Bona redshirt senior scored a game high 25 points in 26 minutes of action. Flowers shot 8 of 13 from the floor including 5 of 8 from downtown. It was his high scoring game in a Bona uniform. Previously he scored 20 against Richmond last season. His career high is 28 against St. Francis Brooklyn, in 2019, during his time at Hartford.
Defense. Bona led 41-37 at the half and the Bearcats were still in striking distance down five at the first media time out. Then the Bona defense tightened up allowing the offense to fashion a game altering 14-3 run. For the half Binghamton shot 39% (after a 55% first half) missing all of their eight attempts from beyond the arc.
“It was all defense,” Bona mentor Mark Schmidt told gobonnies.com. “In the first half, we didn’t have much resistance. They got to the paint too much, they were going by us. In the second half, we had much more of a presence defensively. We were just more energetic. We got offense off of our defense.”
Turnovers and second chance. Two Bona sore spots in last week’s loss to FAU. On this night Bona committed just 10 turnovers, forced 14, enjoying a 16-4 advantage in points off turnovers. In second chance points, Bona led 15-10.
Balance and depth. Bona placed four in double figures. Beside Flowers, Mika Adams-Woods scored 14, Charles Pride 13 and Noel Brown 12. Chad Venning just missed with 9 in a foul plagued 18 minute outing.
Bona led 45-16 in bench scoring. Flowers had 25 of those. Regardless, it was Bona’s first time scoring 40 or more bench points since December of 2017 when they had 40 in a win over Vermont in Rochester.
Kyrell Luc scored 7 in 11 minutes of action. Barry Evans had another vintage performance that speaks volumes in terms of value. Evans had a game high eight rebounds along with four assists, one block , two steals and zero turnovers. The sophomore forward also did a lot of things not measured in the box score during his 24 minutes of action.
“Our bench guys gave us a lot,” Schmidt praised. “I thought Tyrell was terrific in giving us a lift. Barry didn’t have a point but made a huge difference defensively. He showed that you don’t necessarily have to score to make a big impact. Moses, the way he shot the ball was great, and Noel gave us a lot. The bench was critical.”
Final notes. Binghamton was led by Tymu Chenery with 14 points. The other Bearcat to hit double figures was Dan Petcash with 10. Senior guard Symir Torrence had a team high six boards and a game high nine assists.
It was the third time this season Bona hit for 90 or more points.
Next up for the Bonnies is a December 30th meeting with Akron in Cleveland prior to A10 play starting in the new year.
