PostGame: Bonnies 63- Binghamton 53
By: Cody Didas
The Result: The Bonnies were able to “take care of business” against the Binghamton Bearcats Friday night at the Reilly Center. In an ugly shooting performance for both teams, the Bonnies only held a 4 point lead at the half. Binghamton was able to keep the game within two possessions for the large majority of the second half, until the Bonnies were able to pull away with a few minutes remaining. There was a needed spurt after the score was cut to 50-48 Bonaventure, that entailed two made free throws from Derrick Woods and a clutch corner three from Nelson Kaputo.
This may not be the sort of blowout that many Bonnies fans may have been expecting in this game, yet remember that Binghamton played this team solid for 35 minutes last year and even Jaylen Adams (our fearless leader) admitted to having nerves in the first real game action. Schmidt pondered what it must have been feeling like for Woods to be a starter in his first ever action as a Division-1 athlete. We have to assume this team is going to have some better shooting nights on the floor than 37%. The Bonnies received almost no help from Idris Taqqee, Woods or senior Marcus Posley so when you consider that, the outcome wasn’t all that bad. Still, there’s certainly tons of room for growth going forward.
The Difference (Team): Needless to say not a strong shooting night for either side. The Bonnies’ ability to turnover Binghamton would again be the key to this game. They forced 19 turnovers, while committing only 14. Even better, 9 of those 19 came on steals. Steals will allow this team to push the pace and run like they want to, think of the Kaputo alley-oop to Denzel Gregg. To boot, the Bonnies had 25 points off turnovers to Binghamton’s 11. While SBU did will enough to turn the ball over they also missed a ridiculous seven lay-ups in this game; a figure that has to be cut down against better foes…like Syracuse on Tuesday.
The Difference (Player): Gregg continued his strong performance in the exhibition game into the Bonnies’ first game of the regular season. Gregg put up a stat-line of 15 points (career high), 11 boards, 4 blocks (career high) all on 6-12 shooting. Many of those blocks come of the “are you kidding me?” variety and can catapult the Bona faithful into electrified mode. The jump shot was not necessarily there tonight, with only 1-4 from deep, but this is the type of performance that Bonnies fans should be looking for from Gregg throughout the year. A double-double consistently will place Gregg on the radar for teams around the Atlantic 10. Of note, Coach Schmidt in his press conference pointed out that Gregg experienced leg cramps down the stretch. Freshman Nelson Kaputo would be a close second here for his great play off the bench in sparking the winning rally.
The Stats:
The Video: Coming…
What’s Next?: The Bonnies will travel on Tuesday night to take on Central New York rival, the Syracuse Orange (1-0). The Orange were able to defeat the Lehigh Mountain Hawks 57-47 in the Carrier Dome earlier this evening.
