Army Battles St. Bonaventure in Close One

Monday, December 19

Olean, N.Y.

7 p.m.

Army West Point

5-6

St. Bonaventure

8-3

Army West Point

St. Bonaventure

Army Battles St. Bonaventure in Close One

December 19, 2016 | Men's Basketball

Box Score

OLEAN, N.Y. – The Army West Point men's basketball team dropped a hard-fought decision here Monday night to St. Bonaventure, 92-83.

Throughout the course of the contest there were 14 lead changes and 10 tie scores.

It was a one-possession game until there was 3:19 remaining. The Bonnies then saw Jaylen Adams drain his second 3-pointer of the night to hand St. Bonaventure the 81-75 edge. From that point on, key makes at the free throw line handed the home team the nine-point victory. Of the Bonnies final 13 points, 11 were from the charity stripe in the last two minutes and 30 seconds of play.

Adams finished the game matching his career-best effort with 31 points. He went 7-of-12 from the floor, 3-of-6 from long range and 14-of-17 from the charity stripe.

For Army, Jordan Fox and Matt Wilson both matched their career-highs with 22 and 20 points, respectively. Fox went 8-of-12 from the floor and 4-of-8 from downtown, while Wilson did the majority of his scoring from inside the paint, finishing 7-of-13. He added 6-of-7 makes from the free throw line as well.

Luke Morrison also reached double digit for the third time this season, scoring all of his 12 points in the opening half of play. The junior drained 4-of-7 from behind-the-arc, which was one shy of matching his career-best effort.

Wilson led the team on the boards with seven rebounds, while Tommy Funk handed out a team-best seven assists.

ARMY HIGHLIGHTS AND GAME NOTES

Army led for 17:13. St. Bonaventure was in front for 18:04. The game was tied for 4:43.
The Black Knights held their largest lead of the contest at 37-30 after Morrison hit his final trey of the night with 3:45 remaining in the first half.
St. Bonaventure finished the night shooting 53.7 percent (29-of-54) from the floor and 38.9 percent (7-of-18) from downtown. They added 27-of-36 makes from the free throw line for 75 percent shooting.
Army shot 46.8 percent (29-of-62) from the floor and 47.8 percent (11-of-23) from behind-the-arc. The Black Knights converted on 14 of their 20 attempts from the charity stripe for 70 percent shooting.
Both teams scored 34 points inside the paint, but the home team held the edge on points off turnovers at 26-14.
The Bonnies slightly outrebounded Army at 32-31, but the Black Knights held the advantage on the offensive board at 11-8.
Army scored 15 points off second-chance opportunities, while St. Bonaventure tallied only eight.
The home team posted 12 turnovers to the Black Knights' 15.
Three cadet-athletes notched seven points in the contest in Mac Hoffman, John Emezie, and Jacob Kessler.
Kessler added four rebounds, while three others chipped in three apiece.
Fox and Kessler added five assists each as well. Kessler's five helpers were a career high for the sophomore.

TURNING POINTS

Army held a 63-59 edge with 10:50 remaining after Wilson converted on both of his free throw attempts. Unfortunately, the momentum shifted to the home team following back-to-back treys from David Andoh. His two makes from long put the Bonnies in front at 65-63 with a little under 10 minutes to play.
The Black Knights would, however, battle back and pull to within 76-75 on a Fox jumper but five straight points, including a game-changing trey from Adams with 3:19 left ultimately handed the Bonnies the needed points to remain in front for the rest of the game.

HOW IT HAPPENED

St. Bonaventure jumped out to a quick 8-0 lead but the Black Knights rallied to pull in front at 12-8 following four consecutive treys, including two from the hands of Morrison.
The teams went back-and-forth and were knotted at 14-all with 13:12 remaining in the opening period but a 10-4 run from Army made it a 24-18 ballgame a little less than four minutes later.
The Black Knights made it a six-point deficit on two more occasions in the first half until the Bonnies slowly started to chip away at the deficit, eventually tying the game at 37-37 with 2:14 left before half.
Each team took its turn holding the slim lead over the next couple possessions but a made free throws from Emezie with three seconds remaining sent the teams into the break knotted at 43-43.
Fox drained a 3-pointer right out of the break to open the scoring early in the second half.
But neither team held larger than a four-point edge throughout the first 12 minutes of the period.
With the game tied for the 10th time at 68-68 with 8:28 remaining, St. Bonaventure used a 17-7 rally over the next seven minutes to hand the home team their largest lead in the game at 85-75.
Despite some last-ditch buckets in the final minute and a half of play from Army, the Bonnies were able to maintain their advantage throughout the rest of the game. A big factor down the stretch was that St. Bonaventure finished 9-of-10 from the charity stripe in the final 2:30 of play.

STRAIGHT FROM THE SOURCE

Head Coach Jimmy Allen: "I thought it was an entertaining basketball game if you like a lot of points, we definitely got up and down. For us, the biggest thing coming into the game was that we wanted to get back to playing a little bit quicker moving the basketball offensively. For our team I thought we were able to do that a little bit tonight. But that's a really good basketball team that puts a lot of pressure on you in a lot of areas."

UP NEXT

Army closes out its non-league play Wednesday when it hosts Binghamton at 7 p.m. in Christl Arena. That game will be streamed live on the Patriot League Network.