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Men's Basketball
Lee, Hawkins lead Bonnies past Youngstown State, 66-58
Dec. 10, 2005
ST.BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - Solid defense and a combined 40 points Michael Lee and A.J. Hawkins led St. Bonaventure to a 66-58 win over Youngstown State Saturday night at the Reilly Center. The Bonnies improved to 5-2, their best start since 2001-02, including 5-0 at home. With All-Conference senior guard Ahmad Smith on the bench with foul trouble most of the game and three-pointers simply not falling, St. Bonaventure had difficulty finding any rhythm. Fortunately, the Bonnies were able to rely on two of their youngest players to provide the offense. Lee's 21 points tied a career-high, while Hawkins' 19 points were a season-high. St. Bonaventure came up with another solid defensive effort, limiting the Penguins to 37 percent shooting from the field. The Bonnies also out-rebounded the visitors 39-35. "This was a great win for our basketball team tonight. Defense bailed us out," said St. Bonaventure coach Anthony Solomon. "I've never been disappointed in an ugly win. There is no lack of enjoyment in finding a way to win." "It was a hard-fought game by both teams," said Youngstown State coach Jerry Slocum. "Neither one of us played particularly well, but both teams played hard. St. Bonaventure did the things to win." Scoring did not come easily in the first half, as the teams shot a combined 40 percent (21-53) from the floor. A 10-4 run gave Youngstown State a 13-10 advantage with 7:39 remaining. Hawkins gave the Bonnies a 15-13 lead on a traditional three-point play and a lay-up with 6:21 until halftime. It was a 25-24 Bonnies lead when Lee scored back-to-back field goals, including a three-point play, to make it 30-24 at intermission.
Youngstown State played evenly with the Bonnies for the opening seven minutes of the second half until an 8-2 run put St. Bonaventure ahead 47-40 with 11:22 remaining. With 8:09 left, Hawkins gave the crowd of 4,712 one of its few highlights when he leapt for a rebound off a missed lay-up by junior guard Terron Diggs, caught the ball in mid-air and dunked it to give the Bonnies a nine-point advantage at 51-42.
The Penguins pulled back to within 56-51, but St. Bonaventure scored the next six points to take its biggest lead of the game, 62-51, with 1:20 until the final buzzer. Smith wound up playing just 21 minutes after he picked up his fourth foul early in the second half. He finished with six points -- his lowest total of the season and 14 under his average - five rebounds and three assists. Patrick Lottin, St. Bonaventure's second-leading scorer, went 1-14 from the field and totaled only four points. He did grab eight rebounds. "Neither Ahmad or Pat had nights to remember, but we rely and will continue to rely heavily on Ahmad and Pat being key components," Solomon said. "Certainly our opponents continue to put pressure on them defensively and look for ways to stop them, but this is a team game. We did not change the way we play." Junior center Paul Williams also helped pick up the slack. He added a season-high 10 points and four rebounds. Diggs dished out a season-high nine assists to go along with three points and three rebounds while playing all 40 minutes. St. Bonaventure had 18 assists against 13 turnovers. "I thought Paul was active and gave us a lift, and Terron had another solid floor game with nine assists," Solomon said. "We made 21 field goals and 18 of them were assisted. That's a sign of an unselfish team." Quin Humphrey led Youngstown State with 17 points, while Derrick Harris added 11 points. The Bonnies are off until next Saturday, Dec. 17, when they will visit Toledo at 7 p.m. "This is a good time for us to have a bit of a break," said Solomon. "We've had an intense stretch of seven games to open the season and it will be good to re-charge a little and work on improving some things." GAME NOTES
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