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| Game 6: UB at Saint Bonaventure | ||
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| Date - December 3rd | Record: 4-1,0-0 | |
| Time - 7:00 PM |
League: A-10 | |
| Venue - Reilly Center | RPI - 232 | |
The Big Four Classic featured two huge blowouts. Bull Run has already covered how Buffalo dropped Canisius like a bad habit. What you might not know is that just before Buffalo played the Niagara Purple Eagles were slapped silly by Saint Bonaventure.
Buffalo, Canisius, Niagara, and Saint Bonaventure are all in various states of rebuilding. The quickness with which Buffalo and Saint Bonaventure have put the Griffs and Purps behind them may be an inditement of the MAAC.
Saint Bonaventure's Youssou Ndoye scored 23 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and blocked five shots to lead St. Bonaventure to a 74-59 victory over Niagara.
The Purps made just 19 of 52 field goals (36.5 percent), hit 14 of 22 free throws (63.6 percent) and turned the ball over 20 times. Either Niagara is dumpster fire bad or the seven foot Ndoye and his team will be a big challenge for Buffalo. Or both.
Last year these teams met in Alumni Arena and the Bulls finished the game on an 18-7 run, downing Saint Bonaventure 78-73 in front of 4,652 fans.
Shannon Evans and the Bulls found themselves trailing by six with 5:14 left when the three-point barrage began. Josh Freelove nailed a triple from the left corner, and Evans did the same on the next possession from the same spot, on the same play.
From that point on it was Buffalo's game, their sole Big 4 win of the 2013 season.
| Players to Watch | |||
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| Raheem Johnson |
Johnson is one of coach Nate Oats' players from his stint at Romulus High School in Michigan. During his senior year of High School "The Dream" helped lead the team to a 22-3 record and a perfect 8-0 league mark. After Romulus Raheem played two seasons at Barton Community College. In his second year he averaged 11.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game during and was named honorable mention KJCCC West Division All-Conference. Against Canisius Raheem had three blocks, four points, and four rebounds in 15 minutes of play |
Youssou Ndoye |
The 7-0 Saint Bonaventure senior came to the Bonnies as the 78th overall center of his class. Before Bona he played two seasons at Lee Academy in Maine, and averaged seven points, seven rebounds and two blocks per game in helping the Pandas to a 27-1 record that included 23 consecutive wins. Last season Ndoye ranked third in the A-10 in blocks (2.2), 11th in field goal percentage (.520) and 20th in rebounding (5.7). He started off slow this year but in his last game Youssou destroyed Niagara with 23 points, 11 rebounds, and 5 blocked shots. All of this presence in the paint and yet he committed only 2 personal fouls.; |