The Boonies face their stiffest competition of the weekend tonight against the host New Mexico Lobos. The Lobos, under the guidance of first-year coach Steve Alford, have coasted to a 3-0 record to start the season and are 20-point favorites tonight. They defeated Presbyterian, the Bonnies’ opponent tomorrow, last night by a score of 88-57, and the game wasn’t even that close.
The Blue Hose of Presbyterian ran a 1-3-1 defense and the Lobos picked it apart, particularly Chad Toppert who came off the bench and scored 21 points, including five 3-pointers. The hometown junior hit all his 3’s from the baseline, as the Blue Hose failed to rotate on the zone and left Toppert open all night. Kansas transfer J.R. Giddens is an athletic guard who attacks the goal at any opportunity. He’s second on the team in scoring at 11 per game and has a team-leading 26 rebounds.
The Bonnies plan to start out the game playing man-to-man defense, as that is what Colorado did against the Lobos in the first game of the season and lost by just seven, 54-47. Zarryon Fereti is expected to match up against the 6-foot-5-inch Giddens who plays much bigger than his size indicates. Giddens is more athletic and quicker than Z, so we’ll see how this matchup plays out but I don’t foresee it working in Z’s favor.
To keep this game close, the Bonnies need to cut down on their turnovers. Eleby is again getting the start over Relph and we’ll see how the freshman adapts to the in-your-face man-to-man D Alford plays. I’ve heard some grumblings that Relph may not play tonight, but he is dressed and expected to be a main contributor again tonight – especially if Eleby can’t handle the pressure.
The two key matchups to watch are Eleby/Relph against the Lobos defensive pressure and Fereti against Giddens. The Bonnies need to do a better job holding on to the ball because this Lobos team is fast and will run at every opportunity. The line is 20 and I’m inclined to agree that that’s about where this game will end up. New Mexico 87, Bonnies 65.
Starting Lineup St.Bonaventure
G – Zarryon Fereti, 6-3
G – Malcolm Eleby, 6-3
G – Hillary Haley, 6-6
F – Michael Lee, 6-9
F – D’Lancy Carter, 6-10
Starting Lineup New Mexico
G – Jonathon Willis, 6-5
G – Jamaal Smith, 5-9
G – J.R. Giddens, 6-5
F – Johnnie Harris, 6-8
C – Daniel Faris, 6-9
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