By Sean Lynch
Coming off an important non-conference win against the Maryland Terrapins, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies (3-2) dropped the Emerald Coast Classic title game 89-79 to the Texas Christian University Horned Frogs (6-0).
Coming in with a 10-game winning streak, the Horned Frogs started scoring early off a Kenrich Williams three-pointer. The game was a back and forth affair for some time, but the Horned Frogs broke away for an 8-point lead at 10:35 off a Williams and-one to make the game 22-14.
Bonaventure went into the half trailing 39-36. The Bonnies continued their strategy of forcing turnovers from their game against Maryland and had 11 at halftime. Rebounding was a huge first half problem for the Bonnies, finishing -11 behind TCU for rebounding for the half.
After tying the game 41-41 in the second half, TCU began to pull away once again. The Bonnies would not come back, only once closing the lead to seven at 66-59 with 8:04 left in the second half.
After going 0-7 from three-point range against Maryland, Bonaventure finally struck from three-point range, finishing 7-20 from long range for the game.
Senior Matt Mobley had a difficult time finding looks from the field throughout the game. TCU held Mobley to 18 points. Mobley shot 3-11 from the field with many of his points coming from foul shots as he finished 9-12 from the line.
One bright spot for Bonas came in the form of freshman Izaiah Brockington. After his first start for the Bonnies against Maryland the night before, Brockington finished with a game high 20 points, shooting 4-8 from three-point range.
Another positive was last night’s hero, Courtney Stockard. Playing in his second game back from his groin injury, Stockard finished with 16 points and 7 boards, coming off the bench.
The Horned Frogs had multiple players rise to the occasion. Sophomore Jaylen Fisher finished with 20 points and 5 assists. Former VCU Ram Amhed Hamdy-Mohamed came up big in a support role off the bench with 9 points, 3 rebounds and a block.
Kenrich Williams also played a big role in the Horned Frog’s offense, finishing the game with 17 points and 11 rebounds; his second double-double of the tournament.
The Bonnies will take on the Siena Saints next on November 29 in Albany, N.Y. for the seventh installment of the Franciscan Cup. Bonaventure is coming off an 81-74 win in the Cup last year.
Bonas leads the series at 4-3 and is 1-2 in cup games at Siena.
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