When Reggie Witherspoon asked Byron Mulkey to redshirt his senior season just slightly more than a year ago, perhaps the point guard was discouraged from getting a chance to play on a conference championship team. After all, the Bulls had six other seniors returning to the team last year and had advanced all the way to the MAC conference championship game the year prior.
Mulkey, a former starter for Witherspoon who averaged more than 30 minutes per game as a freshman, had fallen out of favor with the UB head coach at the tail end of 2008-09 and was asked to redshirt last year in favor of John Boyer to start at point guard. Since both were seniors, Witherspoon couldn’t afford to head into 2010-11 without a veteran point guard. Plus, there simply weren’t enough minutes for both players.
Things didn’t work out all that bad. Boyer led the nation in assists-to-turnover ratio and the Bulls won 18 games, reaching the MAC quarterfinals.
College Corner: Mulkey Redshirt Move Pays Off – continue reading…
Revenge finally came six years later for Reggie Witherspoon and the UB Bulls basketball program.
Certainly the stakes weren’t nearly as high, but the unforgettable overtime loss in the 2005 MAC Championship game to Ohio — where the Bulls blew a 19-point second half lead — might have been finally exorcised when the Bulls won 73-68 over the Bobcats Saturday afternoon in Athens, Ohio.
The Bulls trailed by 18 to start the second half and even though the dramatic comeback win doesn’t get the Bulls an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, it sent a message to the rest of the conference who the best team in the MAC East just may be.
UB riding a three-game winning streak and have forged into a four-way tie for first place in the East division. Byron Mulkey, a fifth-year senior and former walk-on from Niagara-Wheatfield is clearly headed towards first-team all-conference honors, and should get consideration for MAC Player of the Year.
College Corner: Reggie’s Revenge – continue reading…
Andrew Nicholson and Xavier’s Tu Holloway have been named Atlantic 10 Men’s Basketball Co-Players of the Week, the conference office announced on Monday.
Nicholson recorded 44 points on 74 percent shooting from the floor (14-of-19) to lead all scorers and grabbed 12 rebounds for his fifth straight double-double in St. Bonaventure’s 112-107, quadruple overtime win over Ohio last Saturday. The game was the longest in St. Bonaventure history and Nicholson’s 44 points are the eighth highest single-game total in school annals. The junior forward played all 60 minutes and netted 15 of his points in the combined extra periods. Nicholson finished the game tallying career-highs in assists (5) and free throws made (16). The Mississauga, Ontario, Canada native registered a blocked shot in the win and became just the third player at SBU to block at least 150 career shots.
Holloway recorded a triple-double in Saturday’s win against Wake Forest with 14 points, a career-high 10 rebounds and a career-high 14 assists. The junior guard played 33 minutes against the Demon Deacons connecting on 50 percent of his shots from the floor (5-of-10) and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the free throw line. It marked the first triple-double in the A-10 since Duquesne’s Shawn James performed the feat in 2008, while it marked the first in Xavier school history since David West accomplished the feat in 2001-02 season. The 14 assists turned in by Holloway are a league-high, while he committed just one turnover. The weekly honor is the third for Holloway this year.
It had the making of a pretty boring week of local college hoops in western New York. With the fall semester coming to an end at most schools across the country, each of the area Big 4 teams took the week off from having games
Thankfully, it couldn’t have come at a better time for St. Bonaventure.
The Bonnies, fresh off a disappointing loss to Niagara last Saturday, again stole the local headlines with a jaw-dropping, record-breaking quadruple overtime game where the benchless Bonnies outlasted Ohio for a 112-107 victory.
Four of Bona’s starters played in at least 50 of the game’s 60 minutes, while the fifth, Da’Quan Cook fouled out in regulation, leaving a heavy workload for the seldom-used Jake Houseknecht. But that’s it. The rest of the four-person bench logged a whopping 21 minutes combined.
College Corner: All About Nicholson – continue reading…
Senior Chris Matthews equaled a career-high with 28 points and sophomore Andrew Nicholson turned in his third straight 20-point outing to lead St. Bonaventure to a 83-71 win over Duquesne Tuesday night in the first round of the Atlantic 10 Championship at the Reilly Center.
The win is the fifth in six games for the Bonnies, who improve to 15-15 on the season. The Brown and White’s A-10 postseason win is their first since 2002, when they also defeated Duquesne in the first round.
St. Bonaventure advances to Friday’s quarterfinal round of the A-10 Championship in Atlantic City and will take on top-seeded and two-time defending tournament champion Temple. Gametime at Boardwalk Hall is set for noon.
Bona advances in A-10 Tournament – continue reading…
With the program’s first home postseason contest since 1995 just two days away, St. Bonaventure sophomore Andrew Nicholson was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Conference second team on Sunday afternoon, in voting conducted by the conference head coaches.
Nicholson lived up to his preseason All-Conference second team billing and is the first Bonnie since 2006 to be named to an A-10 All-Conference team. The 6-foot-9 forward’s stellar second season has come on the heels of being named the A-10 Rookie of the Year in 2009.
Nicholson is one two players in the A-10 that ranks in the top 10 in scoring (8th) and rebounding (10th), leading his team in both categories at 16.2 points and 7.1 boards, respectively. His 58 percent (185-320) shooting clip from the field leads the A-10 and is bolstered by a team-high 44 dunks. Nicholson has reached double figures 22 times this season, including a team-best eight 20-point performances.
Nicholson named A-10 All-Conference Second Team – continue reading…
A gutsy all-around effort by senior Jonathan Hall that included a game-high 24 points helped St. Bonaventure pick up its second straight Atlantic 10 road win with a 73-68 victory over Fordham on Wednesday night at Rose Hill Gymnasium.
The win marks just the third time in nine years that the Brown and White have won consecutive A-10 road games, as they improve to 12-14 overall and 5-8 in the league. Fordham drops its 19 straight contest to fall to 2-24 on the season. The season sweep is the Bonnies first over the Rams since 1998.
Hall’s 10-for-17 night from the field also included eight rebounds, a career-high four blocks and three assists over 32 minutes. The Miami, Fla. product scored 14 of the team’s first 20 points in the second half to help the Bonnies pull away after trailing by one, 35-34, at the half.
Hall leads Bonnies to second straight A-10 road win – continue reading…
For the second straight game it was the sophomore class to the rescue, as a game-high 26 points from Andrew Nicholson and Michael Davenport’s first career double-double helped St. Bonaventure hold on for a 70-69 Atlantic 10 win at Massachusetts on Wednesday night at the Mullins Center.
The road win is the first of the season for the Bonnies, who improve to 9-8 on the year and 2-2 in the A-10. The Brown and White have now taken two straight from the Minutemen, as they fall to 7-11 on the year and 1-4 in the conference.
Nicholson leads Bona to A-10 win over UMass – continue reading…
Behind a career-high 29 points from sophomore Andrew Nicholson (Mississauga, Ontario/Father Michael Goetz Secondary) and 21 points from senior Chris Matthews (Washington, D.C./Lutheran Christian Academy), St. Bonaventure pulled away for a 98-71 win over Norfolk State in a fast-paced contest on the second day of the Basketball Travelers Classic Saturday night on Doug Collins Court at Redbird Arena.
Nicholson did a majority of his damage in the first half, scoring 23 points. The Mississauga, Ontario product also grabbed a career-high 14 rebounds and finished 11-of-13 from the field for his second consecutive double-double. Matthews did his damage from the outside, connecting on six three-pointers for his fourth career 20-point game.
Matthews, Nicholson lead Bonnies to 98-71 win over Norfolk State – continue reading…
St. Bonaventure men’s basketball sophomore forward Andrew Nicholson has been named to both the Atlantic 10 Preseason All-Conference second team and All-Defensive team, announced during the league’s annual media day on Thursday.
Nicholson is the first Bonnie since 2005-06 to garner any kind of A-10 preseason accolade. The Mississauga, Ontario native is the eighth player in program history to earn preseason All-Conference status and just the fourth to be named to the All-Defensive team.
The reigning A-10 Rookie of the Year, Nicholson exploded onto the scene in 2008-09, averaging 12.5 points, 6.0 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. Nicholson led all A-10 rookies in six different categories, while ranking 11th and 12th in the nation, respectively, in blocks (81) and field goal percentage (.602). His .602 clip from the field established a new program single-season record, while his 81 blocks were the fourth most by an A-10 freshmen in league history.
Nicholson named A-10 Preseason All-Conference – continue reading…
