By Carson Hayek, Sports Staffer
BRONX, N.Y. — The St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball team meets Fordham for the second time this season on Saturday at 2 p.m. in the Rose Hill Gym.
The Bonnies enter having lost their last two contests by a combined six points, including their most recent 72-70 loss to Dayton on Tuesday. Bonnies junior guard Darryl “Buddy” Simmons II led the team with 17 points, while senior forward Frank Mitchell grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds in the loss.
The Rams lost 63-59 to Virginia Commonwealth University on Tuesday. Fordham graduate guard Dejour Reaves led all scorers with 21 points, while junior forward Rikus Schulte recorded six rebounds in the loss.
Fordham defeated Bonaventure 81-77 on Jan. 10. Simmons’ led the Bonnies with 24 points, while senior guard Cayden Charles tallied eight rebounds. Reaves led the Rams with 31 points and sophomore center Jack Whitbourn recorded a game-high 11 rebounds.
Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said defending paint against Reaves will be crucial.
“We have to keep him out of the paint,” Schmidt said. “He scored 31 points [against us the first time], and he had one three-pointer. We have to do a better job of ball-screen defense, keeping him in front, and we can’t foul him.”
Fordham leads the Atlantic 10 in offensive rebounds with 13.4 per game. Schmidt also said rebounding will be a focus.
“We have to keep their big guys off the back board,” Schmidt said. “A part of that, though, is trying to keep the guards in front of us so we don’t have to get into rotations. Rebounds are always a critical thing, and they are good at it. We did a decent job in game one, but we have to do as good a job or a better job [Saturday].”
The game will air on ESPN+. Radio coverage can be heard 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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