Patriots Tussle With Bonnies Wednesday in Western New York

Patriots Tussle With Bonnies Wednesday in Western New York | https://gomason.com/

By Press release submission

Jan 6, 2023

Patriots Tussle With Bonnies Wednesday in Western New York

The George Mason University men's basketball team (9-5, 1-0) hits the road for the first time in conference play to battle St. Bonaventure (7-7, 1-0) Wednesday night inside the Reilly Center.

Tip-off between the Patriots and Bonnies is set for 7 p.m. Wednesday's game will be streamed on ESPN+. In addition, Bill Rohland will handle play-by-play duties on the GoMason Digital Network, with pregame coverage beginning at 6:45 p.m. (ET).

PATRIOT POINTS
• Mason has won seven of its past eight games. Most recently, the Patriots opened A-10 play with a 62-58 home victory over Richmond. In the decisive second half, Mason held the Spiders to just 35.5 percent (11-31) overall and 23.1 percent from 3pt range.

• Junior guard Ronald Polite III led the Patriots with career highs in points (22) and free throws made (9-10). He 6-of-9 attempts from the floor and dished out two assists.

• Senior Josh Oduro tallied his second-straight double-double (10 pts, 12 reb) vs. the Spiders. He ranks second in the A-10 and 30th nationally with five double-doubles on the year. Over the past two games, Oduro is averaging 11.0 points, 12.0 rebounds and shooting 52.9 percent.

• The Patriots committed just 10 turnovers vs. the Spiders. Mason is now 5-1 when tallying less than 15 turnovers this season, but 4-4 when committing more than 15.

• Graduate guard Victor Bailey Jr. is shooting 52.9 percent (18-34) from 3pt range over the past six games. His 42.5 percent overall 3pt mark this season ranks third in the Atlantic 10. He has tallied 10+ points in five of the past six games and is second on the Patriots with 12.6 points/contest this season.

• Over the past three games, Polite III is sporting a 5.0 assist/turnover ratio (15a, 3to).

• Graduate forward Ginika Ojiako is averaging 10.7 points and shooting 75 percent from the floor over the past three games. He ranks third in the A-10 in FG percentage this season (.700, 42-60).

• Mason leads the A-10 and ranks 69th nationally in 3pt FG percentage (.367). The Patriots have shot 40 percent or better from beyond the arc in six games this season.

• The Patriots rank 34th nationally in effective field goal percentage (.545) and have climbed to 44th in 2pt FG percentage (.542). Mason shot 65.5 percent from inside the arc (19-29) against Richmond and the team is 61.4 percent (54-88) from 2 over the past three games.

• Mason is allowing just 0.979 points/possession this season, which ranks 94th in the country.

• After Wednesday's game, the Patriots will play three of their next four games inside EagleBank Arena.

HISTORY vs. ST. BONAVENTURE
Wednesday's matchup marks the 16th all-time meeting between Mason and SBU. The Bonnies hold an 11-4 advantage in the series, including a 10-2 mark since Mason joined the A-10 in 2013-14. The Patriots will be looking for their first win inside the Reilly Center since a 95-58 victory on Dec. 28, 2004.

Last season, the Patriots picked up a 75-66 win over the Bonnies on Jan. 26 in Fairfax. After a back-and-forth first half, Mason walloped the Bonnies with an 18-0 run to go up 51-33 at the 15:30 mark of the second half. SBU worked their way back gradually over the next 10 minutes to move within four (61-57) with five minutes to play. But the Patriots answered with big-time back-to-back 3-pointers from DeVon Cooper and Xavier Johnson. The Bonnies could not move closer than six (69-63) for the remainder of the game.

D'Shawn Schwartz led Mason win 20 points in the win, while DeVon Cooper tallied 18 points (5-11 3pt FG). Josh Oduro added 15 points, seven rebounds and four assists.

A LOOK AT THE BONNIES (7-7, 1-0 A-10; NET #177, KenPom #148)
St. Bonaventure was picked 10th out of 15 teams in the 2022-23 Atlantic 10 preseason poll. The Bonnies went 6-7 in the non-conference, including a neutral site win over Notre Dame (63-51) and a home victory over Middle Tennessee State (71-64). SBU opened the A-10 schedule with an 83-64 home triumph over UMass on Saturday. The Bonnies are 6-1 in the Reilly Center this season. SBU ranks fourth in the A-10 in scoring defense (66.2 ppg) and is 11th nationally in 3pt FG defense (.275). St. Peter's transfer Daryl Banks III leads the team with 16.7 points per game, shoots 38 percent from 3pt range and ranks third in the conference with 2.93 triples made/contest. Kyrell Luc chips in 13.4 points per contest and is fifth in the A-10 with 4.3 assists/game. Chad Venning (10.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg) and A-10 Rookie of the Year candidate Yann Farell (10.3 ppg, 7.7 rpg) also average double figures for Mark Schmidt's squad.