Alejandro Vasquez had 20 points and Justin Winston 19 to lead St. Bonaventure to an 80-74 victory over Rutgers on Saturday night in a neutral-court game at Toronto.
Kyle Lofton also had 12 of his 17 points in the second half for the Bonnies, who won for the first time this season and gave Rutgers (3-1) its first loss. St. Bonaventure (1-3) was also helped by Dominick Welch's 11 points.
Caleb McConnell had 13 points and six rebounds for Rutgers. Myles Johnson added 12 points, Geo Baker 11 and Akwasi Yeboah 10.
The Bonnies went through a 0-of-7 stretch from the field, scoreless for 5:12, until Vasquez made a 3-pointer with 4:36 remaining to give his team a 70-63 lead.
Another 3-pointer by Vasquez gave St. Bonaventure a 73-65 lead with 2:35 remaining. He was the only player on his team to score for a stretch of 7:59 until Welch made a layup with 1:49 left to increase the lead to 75-68.
McConnell's layup with 1:01 left cut the lead to 75-71.
Lofton, a 92 percent free throw shooter, was fouled and he made both shots with 32 seconds left. After McConnell missed a 3-pointer, Vasquez was fouled. He made one of two free throws with 20 seconds left to give St. Bonaventure a 78-71 lead.
St. Bonaventure made 58.6 percent of its shots in the first half to take a 43-30 lead at halftime.
Vasquez had 13 points on 6-of-9 shooting in the half to lead the Bonnies. Winston added 11 points while making 3 of 4 shots from 3-point range.
The Bonnies outscored Rutgers 23-6 in one stretch of the first half to gain separation, taking a 34-15 lead with 5:22 left on a 3-pointer by Winston. Rutgers made only 32.1 percent of its shots and committed eight turnovers in the first half.
The Scarlet Knights scored the last six points of the first half and gradually cut into St. Bonaventure's lead in the second half. Rutgers scored eight unanswered points cut the lead to 67-63 with 5:04 left in regulation.
--Field Level Media
St. Bonaventure | Rutgers | |
Alejandro Vasquez 20 | Scoring | Caleb McConnell 13 |
Kyle Lofton 8 | Assists | Jacob Young 8 |
Amadi Ikpeze 8 | Rebounds | Shaq Carter 6 |
Kyle Lofton 7 | Free Throws Made | Caleb McConnell 8 |
Kyle Lofton 2 | Steals | Montez Mathis 2 |
Amadi Ikpeze 1 | Blocks | Geo Baker 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
St. Bonaventure | 80 | 49.2 | 11-24 | 11-13 | 16 | 27 | 2 | 6 | 11 |
Rutgers | 74 | 42.9 | 7-25 | 19-30 | 18 | 35 | 5 | 4 | 13 |