LEWISTON — Niagara has an ailing offense and playing St. Bonaventure wasn’t the cure.
After long stretches without a basket in the previous two games forced the Purple Eagles to play from behind, the problem was exacerbated in a Big Four matchup with St. Bonaventure Wednesday at the Gallagher Center. An 8-2 run by Niagara to start the game quickly shifted to a 31-3 run that spanned 11 minutes, 25 seconds as the Bonnies rolled to a 94-60 win.
In a first half that ended with St. Bonaventure holding a 25-point lead, the Purple Eagles had two separate five-minute stretches without scoring, they had just one field goal in the last 8:47 of the half. The lone bright spot for Niagara was the halftime banner raising in honor of Marshall Wingate, who starred from 1968-1972, leading the school to the 1972 NIT final before falling to Maryland.
Niagara is now 0-4 at home for the first time since the 1989-1990 season, when its home games were played at the Niagara Falls Convention Center. It’s the worst margin of defeat in the Greg Paulus era and the second-biggest loss in the series against St. Bonaventure, missing the previous record of 36 points on March 1, 1970.
“I thought that they really did a good job kind of getting in us,” Paulus said. “They really were physical, aggressive extending up outside the 3-point line. I did think we missed it missed some opportunities that I that I liked. So I think it was probably a combination.”
St. Bonaventure (6-2) was already starting to roll when Niagara 7-footer Harlan Obioha picked up his second foul with 12:26 left in the first half. Already with a size advantage on a diminutive Purple Eagle team, the Bonnies began to score at will in the paint, finishing the first half with a 22-4 advantage inside.
Chad Venning (6-10) and Noel Brown (6-11) combined for 21 points in the first half and 29 for the game, 19 coming after Obioha’s second foul. After Ahmad Henderson II hit a 3-pointer to quell the initial St. Bonaventure run, Venning and Brown scored eight consecutive points to flip a five-point lead to 13.
Brown, who drew Obioha’s second foul, picked up a needless foul of his own while battling Niagara’s Yaw Obeng-Mensah for position in the paint and St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt, clearly displeased, immediately yanked him from the game. When Brown returned near the end of the half, he scored three consecutive baskets for the Bonnies.
“Half our points came within 10 feet in the basket,” Schmidt said. “We have two big guys that can play with their back to the basket, we have guards that can get by their guys and get into the paint and that’s when we’re most effective. We’re sharing the ball, we’re swinging it and then we’re driving it, or we’re swinging it, we’re throwing it inside and we’re playing inside-out.”
Having a 30-13 edge on the glass and 48-20 on points in the paint, allowed the Bonnies to free up 3-point shooters all game. Mika Adams-Woods scored a game-high 25 points, going 5 of 5 from 3-point range and the Bonnies shot 12 of 19 as a team from beyond the arc, while shooting 66.7% overall.
“Coach had let us know that we feel like we have an advantage inside and when you keep going inside, especially (Obioha) got that foul,” Brown said. “It’s just trying to double down on that, especially if we feel like Chad is going or I’m going and then it makes everything easier. Because once they had to help inside, it’s easy to kick out 3s, and it’s just the whole team gets involved.”
Niagara (1-6) was able to score at a more consistent clip in the second half, but after shooting 30.4% in the first 20 minutes, a comeback like the late rallies the prior two games against Saint Peter’s and Quinnipiac was unattainable.
While the Bonnies went 11 of 13 during their 31-3 run, the Purple Eagles went just 1 of 12, with five missed layups and five turnovers. When Niagara was able to get into its offense, St. Bonaventure’s physicality suffocated the Purple Eagles coming off screens and made it difficult to get into the paint for shots at the rim by staying in their defensive gaps.
“They’re really aggressive as far as like getting in the gaps and getting in passing lanes,” Niagara guard Randy Tucker said. “And for us, we have to do a better job keeping our dribble, playing through contact and really going hard to the basket, as well. Getting more fouls on their guys and just doing the little things right, as far as crashing the glass, too.”
Henderson had a team-high 13 points, while Tucker and Dre Bullock pitched in 10 points apiece for Niagara, which hosts Buffalo State at 2 p.m. Sunday.
Brown finished with 15 and Venning tossed in 14 for St. Bonaventure, which had five players in double figures.