Minutemen Fall To Bonnies At Home, 65-51

Team	1	2	F
St. Bonaventure	25	40	65
Massachusetts	23	28	51

St. Bonaventure

Massachusetts

AMHERST, Mass. – Kieran Hayward scored a career-high 12 points for the Minutemen, including three straight from range to put UMass ahead by nine midway through the first half in an eventual 65-51 loss to St. Bonaventure on Wednesday night in the Mullins Center. Hayward's triples gave the Minutemen (7-12 Overall, 0-6 Atlantic 10) their largest lead of the evening prior to a St. Bonaventure (7-12 Overall, 3-3 Atlantic 10) scoring run to end the first half.

Luwane Pipkins moved into possession of 17th on the UMass all-time leading scorers list, finishing with 12 points to move the junior past Trey Davis (17th, 2012-16, 1,353) with 1,361 career points. Pipkins needs just 10 more points to pass Clarence Hill and Julius Erving for 15th on the list.

UMass put together a 9-0 run after St. Bonaventure (7-12 Overall, 3-3 Atlantic 10) jumped out to a 5-0 lead, capped off by a Djery Baptiste offensive rebound and score through contact before Curtis Cobb connected from range the next possession.

The Minuteman defense held strong in the first half while the offense went on a four-plus minute scoring drought, forcing the Bonnies into seven turnovers while keeping them scoreless as well during the span prior a Keon Clergeot steal and dunk down at the other end. UMass forced St. Bonaventure into 10 first half turnovers on six steals.

Hayward's stretch of three straight made jumpers from range helped put UMass ahead 20-11 with just over seven minutes remaining in the first half after the scoring drought.

St. Bonaventure held the Minutemen scoreless for the final 4:38 of the first half while using a 10-0 run to go ahead 25-23 heading into the break. The Bonnie run continued into the second half before UMass connected on back-to-back triples from Clergeot and Jonathan Laurent tie it back up for the final time at 29-29. The visitors followed with an 8-0 scoring run to go ahead 37-29.

UMass shot an improved 42.3-percent from the field in the second half after shooting just over 28-percent in the opening 20 minutes to finish the night at 35.2-percent from the field while the Bonnies shot nearly 47-percent in the second half to maintain the lead the rest of the way after the lone tie in the second half. St. Bonaventure used a 15-2 scoring run over four minutes of game-time to pull ahead 56-38 with just over four minutes remaining.

The Minutemen will remain home in the Mullins Center this weekend when they play host to Rhode Island on Sunday at 2 p.m.

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Players Mentioned

Djery Baptiste

Keon Clergeot

Curtis Cobb

Kieran Hayward

Jonathan Laurent

Luwane Pipkins

Team Stats

Pipkins Luwane

Hayward Kieran

Clergeot Keon

Baptiste Djery