Nicholson Carries Bonnies into NCAA Tournament

It took 26 points, 14 rebounds, and 8 blocks from the A-10 player of the year but Andrew Nicholson and the rest of his Saint Bonaventure Bonnies are heading to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2000.

12 years ago, the Bonaventure basketball program was embarrassed after they were found using an illegal player and then allowing the remaining players to boycott the remainder of the season.

Head coach Mark Schmidt talked all week about rebuilding the program the right way. The school's first Atlantic 10 championship is a great way to show that they have done that.

Da'Quan Cook and Charlon Kloof added nine points a piece to go along with Nicholson's magnificent performance Sunday afternoon in Atlantic City.

"He's a poor man's Tim Duncan" said Xavier head coach Chris Mack after the game. Nicholson was spectacular on both ends of the floor for the Bonnies. He hit shots in the post area as well as beyond the arch. His 8 blocks were the most telling stat as he consistently kept Xavier's forwards ineffective for the majority of the game.

St. Bonaventure opened up a double digit lead multiple times in the first half before taking a 13 point lead into the break.

During the halftime coverage on CBS, analyst Charles Barkley said that the Bonnies should have been up by even more. "They clearly outplayed the Musketeers in the first half."

Xavier hung tough in the second half after the Bonnies hot shooting went south. They were able to close the gap to as few as four but Nicholson and the rest of the players made big shots when they were needed.

Saint Bonaventure will await their seeding and opponent tonight at 7:00 pm EST when the brackets are released.

Regardless of the outcome in the tournament, the Bonnies have brought a spark back to "big four" basketball and athletics here in the Western New York Area.

Bonnies Headed to A-10 Final

After being up by as many as 16 in the second half, the St. Bonaventure Bonnies staved off a furious University of Massachusetts comeback to reach it's first Atlantic 10 final since 2000.

The Bonnies lead by by seven, 48-41 at the break and were guided by junior guard Demitrius Conger who finished the game with 22 points, 10 rebounds, and 8 assists.

Conference player of the year Andrew Nicholson hit a three point shot with 7:33 left in the second half to give his Bonnies a 70-54 lead. After a UMass timeout, they slowly started to chip away at the lead and trailed by just one, 81-80 with 0:16 left.

After Charlon Kloof made one of two shots at the free throw line for Bonaventure, Raphiael Putney missed a deep three for Massachusetts and the rebound was secured by freshman Mathew Wright for the Bonnies who went on to ice the game with two free throws.

Conger said of his performance, "I felt like going with the flow of the game, you know, teammates was open, you know, they had open shots I passed the ball to them. I was open, they passed the ball to me. It was the flow of the game. Just so happened I scored 22 points."

Nicholson, who only played 25 minutes due to foul trouble had 19 points to go along with 6 rebounds.

When asked after the game what he thought of his team having the opportunity to go to the NCAA tournament, head coach Mark Schmidt said "It would be a great accomplishment for our team. You know, I said it yesterday, we said we were going to rebuild this program and we were going to rebuild it the right way, bringing in good guys, kids that are going to class, graduate, keep their nose clean socially, and we've done it."

Massachusetts was lead by Terrell Vinson who had 20 points. Freshman Maxie Esho came off the bench for Minutemen and contributed 16 points and 8 rebounds.

Saint Bonaventure, the tournament's fourth seed, moves on to face the winner of the other semifinal game currently in progress between (2) St. Louis and (3) Xavier. The final will take place tomorrow at 1:00 pm EST on CBS Sports.

Quotes obtained from www.atlantic10.com
Statistics obtained from www.ESPN.com

Nicholson Wins A-10 POY

Saint Bonaventure senior forward Andrew Nicholson has been named the Atlantic-10 men's basketball player of the year.

Nicholson led the league in scoring with 17.9 points per game and was second in rebounds per game at 8.3. He has scored 25 points in four of his past five games and has eclipsed 30 points, four times this season.

Nicholson started off his career at Bonaventure making the all-freshman team. He followed that up the next year being named to the A-10 second team. The past two seasons, Nicholson has been selected to the all conference first team and this year, he can add player of the year to his accomplishments.

The Bonnies sit in fourth place in the A-10 heading into the conference tournament with an overall record of 17-11 and 10-6 in conference. They will receive an automatic bye into the second round. They will face the winner of Saint Joesph's and Charlotte.

Nicholson has been regarded as professional prospect for some years now and ESPN currently has Nicholson as a late first round pick in June's draft.

Information for this post obtained from www.atlantic10.com

Play-Action Sports: February 1st 2012

Men's Basketball:

Buffalo 73 Ball St. 57: Make it five in a row for the UB Bulls as they were able to pick up their sixth conference win and 13th overall on the year with a 73-57 win over Ball State in Alumni Arena. Mitchell Watt loaded up the stat sheet for the Bulls as he racked up 20 points, 7 rebounds, 5 blocks and 4 assists. Zach Filzen added 14 and Javon McCrea 10 as the Bulls were able to shoot 54% from the floor (52.6% from three). They also out-rebounded the Cardinals 35-20.

St Bonaventure 62 St Louis 86: The Bonnies suffered a setback Wednesday night as they suffered a 24 point loss at the hands of the Saint Louis Billikens. The team lost their grasp on first place in the conference and dropped to 12-8 (5-3). Andrew Nicholson was a non-factor in the game as he was constantly in foul trouble, playing only ten minutes and scoring just two points. Saint Louis had five players in double figures and were led by Kwamain Mitchell who had 22. Dwayne Evans added a double-double as well with 10 points and 11 rebounds.

The Week Ahead : 1/29-2/4

Another new segment to Downtown Sports! In this part I will be giving everyone a look ahead at the games on tap for all area teams.

Make sure you check back for updates, reviews, recaps, and interviews.

Hockey:

Buffalo Sabres
Tuesday Jan 31st: @ Montreal Canadiens 7:30pm (MSG)
Wednesday Feb 1st: New York Rangers 7:30pm (NBCSN)
Saturday Feb 4th: @ New York Islanders 7:00pm (MSG)

Men's Basketball:

Saint Bonaventure Bonnies
Wednesday Feb 1st: @ St. Louis 8:00pm

Syracuse Orange
Saturday Feb 4th: @ St. John's 12:00pm

Buffalo Bulls
Wednesday Feb 1st: Ball State 7:00pm
Saturday Feb 4th" @ Toledo 7:00pm

Niagara Purple Eagles
Friday Feb 3rd: @ Fairfield 7:30pm

Canisius Golden Griffins
Thursday Feb 2nd: @ Iona 7:00pm
Saturday Feb 4th: @ Marist 7:00pm

Play-Action Sports: January 28th 2012

Here is a new segment to Downtown Sports. In this section I will be having multiple recaps and scores from nights when multiple teams in the area play.

Men's Basketball:

Buffalo 74 Northern Illinois 59: The UB men (12-6, 5-2) picked up their 4th straight win Saturday night by taking care of business on the road against Illinois 74-59. Javon McCrea had a double-double for the Bulls with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Zach Filzen had 12 and Mitchell Watt also added 10 in a collective effort. Ten different Bulls scored in the game as they were able to close to within a half-game of conference leading Akron.

St. Bonaventure 62 Richmond 47: Andrew Nicholson 14 points (6-7 FG) and 8 rebounds for St. Bomaventure as they were able to stay in first place in the Atlantic 10 with a 62-47 home win against the Spiders of Richmond. They improved to 12-7 and 5-2 in conference play. The Bonnies out rebounded Richmond 39-23 and had four players total in double figures.

Bonnies Lose Tight Road Game to (22) Illinois

Andrew Nicholson's 17 points and 8 rebounds weren't enough Wednesday night as St. Bonaventure fell just short of completing a major upset on the road against a Big Ten contender in Illinois.

The Bonnies hung with Illinois and held the lead in most of the game tonight but were unable to close it out as the Illini closed the game on an 18-4 run to win an ugly offensive game 48-43. Bonaventure was only able to shoot 35% from the field and Illinois only shot 32%. It was a defensive battle to put it nicely.

Illinois was led by Brandon Paul who had 17 points and D.J. Richardson had 11. They were the only two on their team to be in double figures. Illinois was able to overcome the poor shooting and being out-rebounded by ten to pick up a scrappy win.

St. Bonaventure drops to 3-4 while Illinois stays undefeated at 9-0. The Bonnies will try and get back to .500 on Saturday when they host Canisius at 7:00.