By Carson Hayek, Sports Staffer
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — The St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball team failed to make a field goal in the final 7:28 in a 77-73 late game blown lead against George Mason Saturday night at the Reilly Center.
Bonnies senior forward Frank Mitchell led all scorers with 25 points and recorded a team-high six rebounds. Patriots junior guard Kory Mincy registered 22 points while junior center Riley Allenspach had eight rebounds.
Following the loss, Bonnies head coach Mark Schmidt said lack of execution at the end of the game led to the loss.
“I thought we had some mistakes,” Schmidt said. “We are playing hard, but we just aren’t executing. Some of it is mental mistakes, but I can’t fault our effort. Other than the game against Saint Louis we have been right there. We have enough, we just have to learn to finish.”
Schmidt also said he told his team after the contest that they have to work on finishing games.
“We just have to work at it,” Schmidt said. “We are good enough, as we led in the past five or six games, but we have to learn to finish. We have character guys, and [although] we don’t have a lot of players, I think we have enough where we can be competitive in every game that we play. It gives us hope.”
Through the opening four minutes, the Bonnies scored nine of the first 11 points, with five points coming from redshirt junior guard Dasonte Bowen.
With a Bonnies 13-10 advantage, Bonaventure scored the next eight points, increasing its lead to 21-10 with 11 minutes remaining in the first half.
Over the next three minutes, the Patriots outscored the Bonnies 6-0 and cut the deficit to 21-16.
With three seconds left in the first half, the Bonnies led 39-26; however, in the last three seconds, the Patriots scored five points to cut the Bonaventure lead to 39-31 at halftime.
Five minutes into the second half, the teams traded baskets as the Bonnies led 50-40.
For the next seven minutes, the Bonnies continued to slowly increase their lead by outscoring the Patriots 13-9, and having a 63-49 lead.
With seven minutes left, George Mason started a run. The Patriots scored 12 of the next 15 points to cut the Bonnies’ lead to 69-65 with under four minutes remaining.
The Patriots continued their run by scoring six of the next eight points to tie the game 71-71 with just over a minute left.
With 31 seconds remaining, Patriots senior guard Fatt Hill made a layup to give George Mason their first lead, 73-72.
14 seconds later, Mitchell made one of his two free throws to tie the game, 73-73.
George Mason graduate guard Jahari Long made both his free throws after being fouled to earn George Mason the 75-73 lead with just over four seconds remaining.
The Bonnies never got a shot off as junior guard Darryl “Buddy” Simmons dropped a pass, and the ball went out of bounds. The Bonnies then fouled, and Long made both free throws.
Bonaventure falls to 13-9 (2-7, A-10) while George Mason advances to 20-2 (8-1, A-10).
The Bonnies visit Dayton on Tuesday, Feb. 3, while George Mason hosts Duquesne on Wednesday, Feb. 4. Both games tip off at 7 p.m. Bonaventure’s game will air on CBS Sports Network, and radio coverage will be on the Bonnies Online Network, 100.1 FM Bradford & Olean, 1340 AM Jamestown, 106.9 FM Hornell, and 92.1 FM Rochester.
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