Falcon MBB Loses to Bonnies

BG Men's basketball lost at St. Bonaventure yesterday in a game the Bonnies largely controlled from wire to wire.  BG led only for about two minutes and the game was only tied twice.  It's a tough place to play, with the #50 home-court advantage in college basketball, and the predicted #8 team in the #10 conference was just better than the #9 predicted team in the #18 conference.

BG did not quit.  A 13-0 run put the Bonnies up by 20 with about 14 left in the second half.  BG chipped away and had the lead to 9 with about 8 minutes left.  But Banks III made a 3, block a shot on the defensive end and then came down and hit another 3FG to make the lead 15 again in 1 minute of action.

It was over 10 until about 2 minutes left, BG dipped it to 9 again but it was over and there was an 81-68 final.

It was a 71 possession game, which is decent for BG.  The Falcons continue to struggle to score, with the clear issue being shooting.  BG had .96 points per possession, their third game under 1 per possession in 4 outings this year.  Their only representative offensive game was Oakland. This was their worst shooting game of the season, but those three poor games have all been below 45% EFG.  The national average is 50%.

BG shot clearly focused on shooting 2FGs.  They shot only 25% of their FGs from 3FG.  They were only in that range a couple times last year.  To do that, you need to make 2FGs, though, and BG made 48%, which is still below average.  And they made 16.7% of the 3FGs they did attempt.  They are 8-42 from 3 in their last two games.  As you can see, they won the turnover battle, held their own on the boards and was -10 on FTs and that adds up to the loss you see.

BG gave up 1.14 points per possession, with the Bonnies taking 52% of their FGAs from 3 and making over 40%.

Individually, the story of the game was Darryl Banks III, the St. Peter's transfer.  He never left the floor, had 34 points on 3 of 5 shooting from 2FG and 7 of 11 from 3FG, 6 rebounds and 4 blocked shots, if that would interest you.

Ayers III was BG's leading scorer again.  He had 18 on 8 of 12 and 0 of 3 shooting, plus 2 of 5 at the line and 7 rebounds. Samari Curtis had 13 on 5 of 11 and 1 of 3 shooting and 4 assists.  Metheny had 10 on 2 of 4 and 2 of 8 shooting and 3 assists. Chandler Turner had 10 and 5 rebounds in 30 minutes off the bench.

Agee battled foul trouble and only played 11 minutes and BG had really rough shooting off the bench (other than Turner.)   They were 3-15.

Anthony McComb III played 5 minutes in his first regular season game.

So, BG now 2-2 and heading to Notre Dame on Tuesday.