By Jeff Fasoldt @Jeff_Fasoldt
The St. Bonaventure University Bonnies defeated the Niagara Purple Eagles 74-59 in the Big 4 Classic at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo to improve their record to 4-1.
Block party: The Bonnies recorded eight blocks in total with five of those coming from Youssou Ndoye. The Purple Eagles were clearly outsized and outmatched leading to a dominating end on the defensive side and the offensive side as well, with a 40-20 win for points in the paint for the Bonnies.
Ndoye’s big game: Big is an understatement. Youssou Ndoye had the best game of his career this afternoon going 9-16 from the field for 23 points, 11 rebounds, five blocks and a steal. Again, being 7-feet tall the Purple Eagles couldn’t match up with him.
Cumberbatch chipping in: Andell Cumberbatch is a senior and establishing himself as the leader, along with Ndoye, of this Bonnies team. He grabbed five boards and had four steals and also put in a solid effort offensively going 6-12 from the field for 16.
Wright is consistent: Dion Wright has shown thus far that he will always give you solid numbers. He went 6-11 from the field for 14 points, grabbed six rebounds and had two assists. In the second-half most of Wright’s baskets came off of easy drives in the lane and layups off the glass.
Hitting the freebies: In Bonaventure’s first two games against Dartmouth and Siena, the Bonnies shot poorly (about 65-percent) as a team from the stripe and it hurt them especially in the Siena game. Something must’ve clicked because the Bonnies have shot upwards of 75-percent since then. Today they went 19-25 (76-percent) .
Key quotes:
Mark Schmidt:
“We took a step in the right direction and got a lot better as a team today.”
“When Youssou plays the way he’s capable of playing we’re a lot better.”
“I thought it was a good crowd. The Bonaventure people really support us, and I thought the environment was good.”
Youssou Ndoye:
“We got a pretty young team and a bunch of new guys that are still trying to figure stuff out. I thought today we got a lot better.”
“I was hoping that someone would play man (to man) one of these games.”
Up next for the Bonnies is the University of Buffalo at 7pm at the Reilly Center Wednesday night.
intrepidsbu.com 