By: Isaiah Blakely
The St. Bonaventure Bonnies (4-8) lost to the Northeastern Huskies (5-6) 64-59 in Matthews Arena Friday afternoon.
The Bonnies were led by senior forward Courtney Stockard who led all scorers in the game with 17 points. Northeastern was led by senior guard Vasa Pusica who had 16 points. Pusica had missed the last six games with a wrist injury.
The Huskies got out to a fast start with back to back three pointers to take a 8-3 lead. The Huskies leading scorer coming into the game, Jordan Roland, picked up his second foul early in the first half and the Bonnies stormed back and take their first lead behind a Stockard three pointer.
After a Roland three-pointer Northeastern would maintain a small lead for most of the half. Both teams struggled to score in the first half. The Bonnies shot 27% from the field and the Huskies were shooting 40% at halftime.
Senior forward LaDarien Griffin made his return today after being out since the season opener with a knee injury. His athletic reverse finish and junior guard Jalen Poyser’s three pointer tied the game back up at 18 for the Bonnies.
The back and forth action continued with a Stockard three pointer giving the Bonnies the lead with under a minute left in the first. Redshirt-freshman forward Jason Strong’s layup with 17 seconds to go before halftime gave the Huskies 27-25 advantage at halftime.
The Bonnies came out of the break hot with back to back buckets by junior forward Amadi Ikpeze and Stockard.
The back and forth action continued, Poyser and Stockard scored on back to back possessions to give the Bonnies a five-point lead.
The Huskies responded with a 10-0 run fueled by senior Anthony Green scoring four of his 11 points on back to back possessions to start the run.
Bonnies senior guard Nelson Kaputo scored five of his seven points in the second half, and his three pointer stopped the Huskies run.
The Bonnies chipped away at the deficit, and after a freshman forward Osun Osunniyi and-one dunk and a three pointer by freshman guard Kyle Lofton, the Bonnies were tied at 55 with 3:30 to go.
This is when the Huskies would pull away.
Pusica got fouled on a three pointer and made all his free throws, then two possessions later Green gets free for a dunk and puts Northeastern up 5 with 1:29 to go and they never looked back.
Lofton and Poyser along with Stockard were the three Bonnies in double figures as Lofton finished with 11 points and Poyser finished with 12 points.
The Bonnies look to end their three game losing streak December 29 in the Carrier Dome against Syracuse University at 2:00.
Picture Courtesy: GoBonnies
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