St. Bonaventure took down Oklahoma State 66-64 tonight in the semifinal round of the Legends Classic. Tonight’s game in Brooklyn was truly a game of runs, as both teams took over for extended periods of time. Mika Adams-Woods led all scorers with 20 points, and the Bonnies survived a buzzer-beating attempt by the Cowboys.
The scoring began sluggishly as the teams each came up empty on their first possessions. Assa Essamvous would get the Bonnies on the board laying one in off a Venning miss. Oklahoma State responded to the opening bucket with a quick 10-0 run. Quion Williams tallied the first five Cowboy points while Eric Dailey Jr. and Bryce Thompson added five more. The first media timeout of the evening gave head coach Mark Schmidt’s squad a much-needed breather.
The Bonnies came out of that timeout and locked down the defensive end of the floor. Venning would then open a 7-0 scoring run for St. Bonaventure that included a deep three from Charles Pride. The Bonnies pulled within a point. The teams would then trade buckets with the Cowboys leading 19-16 with half the first gone.
St. Bonaventure once again came out strong following a media timeout. A Pride free throw began a 10-3 Bonnies run that ended in an Assa three pointer, prompting a timeout from Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton Jr. However, the Big 12 team hung around and battled back in the final minutes of the first half. A pair of Thompson free throws, a Mike Marsh layup and a Jarius Hicklen three pulled the Cowboys back into the lead.
Bonaventure would get the last punch of the first half as Adams-Woods gave the Bonnies a 30-29 advantage heading into the locker room. Pride led all scorers with 10 first-half points while Assa had tallied eight. Williams and Thompson shad the team lead for the Cowboys with seven points each. Bonaventure had also out-rebounded Oklahoma State 20-16 in the first 20 minutes.
The second half began in a similar fashion to the last game Bonaventure played in as Oklahoma State came out on fire. After a 5-2 start to the half for the Bonnies, Oklahoma State rattled of a 14-0 run which was largely supported by Eric Dailey Jr. and John-Michael Wright. Daryl Banks III ended the run and over six-minute scoring drought with a floater to cut the Cowboy lead down to eight.
Venning would then make a deep two before the under-12 media timeout. Bonaventure then came out of another TV timeout hot as the team got a defensive stop and a Charles Pride and-one to cut the Cowboy lead to three with about 10 minutes remaining. The 9-0 Bonnies run came to an end as Venning picked up his fourth foul of the night with just over nine minutes remaining. However, Banks would immediately put Bonaventure back on the attack with five points in two trips down the floor. The Bonnies were on a 14-1 run and now lead 49-46 with 8:13 left in the game.
The teams would trade points for the next few minutes, bringing the score to 55-54 with 5:00 remaining. Adams-Woods and Wright would then exchange smothered three pointers to keep the scoring going. St. Bonaventure led by one with 3:55 remaining. John-Michael Wright would then hit a jumper, drawing the fifth foul on Chad Venning. Dailey Jr. added two more of his own and Oklahoma State was on an 8-0 run. The Cowboys led by four with two minutes left.
Assa and the Bonnies would stop the run, hitting a pair of free throws, before Adams-Woods did the same. The game was once again tied, this time at 62 apiece. Quion Williams then made the move of the night, getting to the hole with a go-ahead layup to put the Cowboys up a pair with 34.7 seconds remaining. On the following possession, Banks was fouled shooting from deep. The veteran guard calmly stepped to the line and knocked down all three shots, giving the Bonnies a 65-64 lead with only 20.4 seconds remaining. The Bonnies stood strong defensively and Noel Brown came away with the rebound. He would be fouled and hit one of his two free throws. Bonaventure once again survived on the defensive end as Javon Small missed the step-back, semi-open, go-ahead three at the buzzer.
Mika Adams-Woods led all scorers with a season-high 17 points while Oklahoma State’s Eric Dailey Jr. had a team-high 15. John-Michael Wright notched the third highest total in the game with 14 points. Three other Bonnies we in double figures with Assa notching 13, Banks III scoring 11 and Venning potting 10.
St. Bonaventure shot 21/51 (41.2%) from the field while knocking down six three pointers on 19 tries (31.6%). The Bonnies were exceptional from the free throw line making 18 of their 21 free throws (85.7%) and outrebounded Oklahoma State 32-28.
The Bonnies will play the winner of the Notre Dame/Auburn game tomorrow night at 7:00 in Brooklyn.