Minutemen Fall Narrowly to St. Bonaventure in Back-and-Forth Battle, 73-72

AMHERST, MASS. -- Massachusetts basketball (12-18, 7-10 A-10) fell 73-72 to St. Bonaventure (20-10, 8-9) in a back-and-forth battle on Wednesday night at the Reilly Center. In a game which featured 13 lead changes the Minutemen fought till the last whistle, as the buzzer beater attempt from Rahsool Diggins just missed in the final moments.

Massachusetts recorded 42 rebounds, marking the 12th game this season the Minutemen have eclipsed 40 boards.

Daniel Hankins-Sanford continued his impressive run of form, scoring a career-high 22 points while snagging 11 rebounds and three steals. The performance marks the third consecutive double-double for Hankins-Sanford, moving past teammate Daniel Rivera with a team-high eight on the season.

Diggins remained consistent offensively, tallying 18 points while recording four rebounds and a pair of assist. Curry followed closely behind with 16 points, four rebounds and three assists.

The Bonnies were led by Lajae Jones who scored 15 points on 7-of-12 shooting from the field.

Breaking Down The Action

Daniel Hankins-Sanford opened the scoring in the matchup, sinking both a layup and three-point basket to give Massachusetts an early 5-0 advantage.
Shahid Muhammad made it an opening 7-0 run for the Minutemen, sinking a layup with 16:56 to go in the first half.
Jaylen Curry sank a corner three-pointer to get Massachusetts into double digits, the Minutemen holding a 10-6 lead with just over 15 minutes to go in the half.
Melvin Council Jr. finished a driving layup to cap a 4-0 St. Bonaventure run and even the game at 10-10.
Another layup from Council Jr. pushed the Bonnie scoring to 8-0, St. Bonaventure now leading 14-10.
Rahsool Diggins found net on a floater cut the deficit back to 14-10 with 13:12 on the clock.
St. Bonaventure responded with a 9-1 scoring run, as five points from Lajae Jones helped push the Bonnie advantage to 23-13
A three-pointer from Jayden Ndjigue keyed a 9-0 run Massachusetts run, the Minutemen reclaiming a 31-29 lead with 6:21 to play until halftime.
A pair of free throws from St. Bonaventure's Noel Brown tied the game at 31-31.
Hankins-Sanford returned the favor with a jumper, tying the game at 33-33 with 3:45 left in the first half.
The two teams traded a one-point advantage as Jaylen Curry capitalized on a Nate Guerengomba steal to send Massachusetts into the break with a 39-38 advantage.
Hankins-Sanford opened the second half just like the first, finding net to give Massachusetts a 41-38 lead.
Diggins sunk a three-pointer to cap a 9-4 scoring run to push Massachusetts' advantage to 55-51 with 14:13 to play.
Four points from Duane Thompson keyed a 7-0 St. Bonaventure scoring run, the Bonnies taking back a 58-55 lead with 11:08 on the clock.
Jonah Hinton sunk a pair of three-pointers to fuel an extended 10-4 Bonnie run, pushing their lead 65-59.
Shahid Muhammad hammered home a put back dunk to cut the deficit to 65-61 with 8:32 left in regulation.
A three-point basket from Diggins capped a 7-2 Massachusetts scoring run, shrinking the deficit down to 71-69 with 4:19 on the clock.
Hankins-Sanford found the basket again to keep it a two-point deficit, 73-71 with 1:38 remaining.
Drawing a foul with 1:09 on the clock, Hankins-Sanford went 1-of-2 from the stripe to make it 73-72.
Massachusetts made three stops in the final minute but could not get the go-ahead basket to go down on the offensive end, falling 73-72 in Olean.

Rahsool Reaching 1,000

Rahsool Diggins scored his 1,000th point on Saturday, March 1 vs Rhode Island, becoming the 53rd Minuteman in program history to join the illustrious club.
The senior guard has scored 1,035 of his 1,042 career points in a Massachusetts uniform.
With 18 points on the night Diggins now ranks 46th on the Massachusetts all-time scoring list, sitting two points behind David Brown (1,037) for 45th.

Newcomer Notifications

Five newcomers saw action on the evening, with Adelgowad entering as a starter.
Luka Damjanac recorded three rebounds, playing 16 minutes on the night.
Shahid Muhammad played 18 minutes, recording six points, six rebounds and two blocks.

Numbers To Know

3: Three Minutemen reached double figures in Hankins-Sanford (22 points), Diggins (18 points) and Curry (16 points).
4: Hankins-Sanford notched his fourth straight game with 10 or more rebounds.
8: Hankins-Sanford recorded his eighth double-double of the season; and his third consecutive.
9: The Minutemen went on a 9-0 scoring run with 9:02 to play in the first half, marking the largest run of the game.
11: rebounds was a team-high for Hankins-Sanford.
18: Diggins has recorded double-digit points in 18 of his last 19 games.
22: Hankins-Sanford scored a career-high 22 points in the contest.
34: Massachusetts scored 30 points in the paint, recording 30 or more points in the paint in 25 games this season.

Series History

With the result, Massachusetts now holds a 42-36 record against St. Bonaventure all-time.
Massachusetts is now 24-29 in A-10 play and 10-21 on the road with Coach Martin at the helm.

Up Next

The Minutemen host Loyola Chicago on Saturday, March 8 for senior day at the Mullins Center. The game will be broadcast on ESPN+ with live updates and links available at umassathletics.com or @UMassMBB on X (Twitter).

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