St. Bonaventure 58, Siena 43
How Bona Won: Siena's 43 points were the fewest by a Bona opponent since a lowly Binghamton team scored 40 on Nov. 20, 2009. Charlon Kloof took Evan Hymes, Siena's leading scorer, out of the game and the Bonnies took charge late, pulling away from a 43-40 lead with 8:08 remaining.
Turning Point: Mathew Wright struck for a conventional three-point play with 6:37 left for a 48-40 Bona advantage. It was a continuation call, NBA-style, but the home crowd had no gripe.
Player of the Game: Kloof set down the law with the job he did on Hymes and his teammates followed the lead. He also had eight points, two assists, two steals and a block.
Best Supporting Role: Senior forward Marquise Simmons came up with his second career double-double -- 12 points and 10 rebounds.
What It Means: Bona improved to 5-2 and ended a streak of five straight games decided by five points or less. Siena dropped to 2-7 but don't discount their ability to make a little noise in the MAAC.
Stat Check: Bona went 2 of 20 from three-point land with Eric Mosley accounting for both of them.
Stat Check II: Talk about a reversal. Bona went 16 of 17 from the line after missing 16 of 38 against UB Saturday.
Stat Check III: Bona committed just five turnovers. Siena had 17.
Short: Siena's O.D. Anosike came in leading the nation with seven double-doubles. He missed No. 8, with 14 rebounds but just seven points.
In the House: The late start kept the crowd to 3,482 but the students, psyched for a TV game, made up for the lack of overall numbers.
They Said It:
"We just stuck to our game plan that we went over all week in practice and then we executed good tonight for the most part." -- Simmons
"You want guys that are self-motivated. My job is to motivate them but there's some days where they need to motivate me. And Charlon is someone that comes to practice every day. You don't have to yell at Charlon. You don't have to get him going. He's a self-starter and that's what you want. Not all are like that. Most guys aren't like that. When you get a self-starter that's a joy to coach." -- Bona coach Mark Schmidt
Next Up: Bona plays at Arkansas State Saturday before returning home for games against Cleveland State and Citadel.
-- Bob DiCesare
tagged
Atlantic 10 | College basketball | Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference | St. Bonaventure
