A disappointing loss on one level last night in Niagara. Obviously, it seemed like the game was there for the taking, but a rash of turnovers and the Purple Eagles' hot perimeter shooting were too much for the Bonnies to overcome in the second half. On another level, though, the game has to be encouraging. Niagara has handled the Bonnies fairly easily the past four years, even dropping the century mark on SBU. With Niagara being a tournament team two out of the past three years and returning its best player from a year ago, Charron Fisher, this game didn't look very winnable on the schedule. The Bonnies gave the Purple Eagles all they wanted though right down to the buzzer and that has to be taken as an encouraging sign of "getting it back."
Nice to see Matt Morgan make such a jump in his maturation as a Division I player. Last night was easily his best game on both sides of the ball and he was key to sparking the Bonnies' first half run to go from down six to up four at the break. More importantly, he played a solid 23 minutes. This team desperately needs someone from the freshman trio Morgan, Malcom Eleby and Hillary Haley to step up and take minutes because its not a pretty sight when someone like Tyler Benson is getting 30+ minutes a night. Let's face it, Benson is a nice guy to bring off the bench when one of your starters needs a blow for a minute or two, but aside from taking a quick three and heading back to the bench, Benson is completely overmatched at this level. He's trying to compensate for the ability he doesn't have when playing starter's minutes and has been losing his three-point touch entirely. He built a house in the Gallagher Center last night with all the bricks he was throwing up (0-for-5 from the field, 0-for-3 from behind the arc).
Speaking of struggles, that is Malcom Eleby's middle name right now. It's disappointing to see a kid so many were so high on struggle so mightily to kick off the season. The talent everyone speaks of has been visible in really short spurts so far this year, so I have confidence that he'll continue to grow as a player as the season goes on. Last night, however, was brutal. He was really a detrement to the team in the waning minutes, forcing shots that just weren't there. By the way, anyone else notice the confrontation between Mark Schmidt and Eleby after some of those shots? Eleby might be reduced to another two minute performance like he saw against Eastern Michigan this Saturday when Canisius comes to town.
Speaking of Canisius, the Bonnies have to take this game at home from their other Little 3 rival. Canisius has sunk to Anthony Solomon levels in the RPI rankings, 335 out of 341 DI teams. The Golden Griffs have been anything but golden this season, and still should be searching for their first victory of the 2007-08 campaign when they leave the RC. A nice 93-40 loss at RPI #305 Penn State highlights their lackluster season thus far. They are a small, young team, giving the Bonnies what should be their easiest game of the season, fingers crossed.
Until next time....
-Scott Eddy, BV Online Director
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment