By Jeff Uveino
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team won a thriller over the Vermont Catamounts on Saturday afternoon, 81-79.
Being played in Blue Cross Arena in Rochester, New York, the Roc City Hoops Classic was, in fact, a classic between two solid mid-major conference teams from the Atlantic 10 and American East respectively.
St. Bonaventure got key contributions from many players off of the pine, scoring 40 bench points compared to 15 for Vermont.
The Bonnies had six different players reach double-digit scoring, including Jaylen Adams with 17 points, Courtney Stockard with 14 points, Izaiah Brockington and Amadi Ikpeze with 13 points each, LaDarien Griffin with 11 points, and Josh Ayeni with 10 points.
The Catamounts kept Bonnies senior guard Matt Mobley off the scoresheet for most of the game, but not when it mattered the most.
With about 5 seconds remaining in the game, Vermont scored on a tip-in by Payton Henson to take the lead, 79-78.
On the ensuing Bonnies possession, Jaylen Adams pushed the ball up the court and found Mobley open for a game-winning three-pointer as time expired.
The shot sent the Bonnies bench and a Bona-heavy Blue Cross Arena crowd into a frenzy. Those were the only three points Mobley had in the game—talk about clutch.
For Vermont, sophomore Anthony Lamb had a game-high 27 points and 8 rebounds in a return to his hometown. Lamb grew up in the nearby suburb of Greece, New York, attending Greece Athena high school, minutes.from the arena.
With the win, the Bonnies improved to 8-2 on the season, and with the loss, Vermont fell to 7-5. The Bonnies will return to the Reilly Center on Wednesday, December 20, to play Northeastern.
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