In launching this blog, I hope that fans enjoy the memories of some special games, both wins and losses, through the years. Game #179 would be fresh in his mind years later: Coach Jim Barons squad beat the University of Southern Mississippi for a first-round NIT victory, 75-70. Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt made sure to honor Lanier during his postgame media session. As a senior, he averaged 17.5 ppg and was named First Team All-A-10. Tom Stith, the two-time All-American and runner-up national player of the year that season, scored 34 points, while Freddie Crawford added 29 points. The St. Bonaventure Basketball Centennial Season All-Time Team: Jaylen Adams We hope that you continue to enjoy our free content. Entering the game, Birdsong and the size of Houstons roster were on Satalins mind, but there was a key factor that he liked. He was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2006. MAAC athletes must also sign a "Social Responsibility Pledge for Covid-19" as a condition of participating in championship competition. Since you viewed this item previously you can read it again. By the time that Stith joined the varsity squad in 1957, the streak of victories in the Olean (NY) Armory had gained national attention. I dont mean this to be trite: We honestly loved each other and would go through the wall for each other, Lanier said, recalling the preseason goal the team had set for itself over beers and burgers at The Burton. After all, losing wasnt common to Stiths career at SBU. Last time I saw Pistons superstar BOB LANIER was several years ago when he spent the weekend at my house as he attended my Gala. Lanier told The News in 1990 that he was hurt and angry but determined to prove Mogavero wrong but also called Mogavero a very perceptive and compassionate coach, and a hell of a human being., It probably was one of the best things that could have happened to me, Lanier said at the time. $3.00 In his senior year, he was the Times Herald's beat reporter for St. Bonaventure's women's basketball team. While the Bonnies won the NIT in 1977, Southern Mississippi took that same crown in 1987 in defeating LaSalle in the championship game. This victory is for those guys. I thought there was enough time left, he recalled. The Bonnies made Bramah's list of three finalists . The backcourt dished out 14 assists, while both Hollis and Sanders fouled out of the game. The Bonnies last loss had come to Niagara on February 11, 1948. Each ballot cast counted as one vote - each panelist vote counted as one while the top 20 from the fan vote counted as a single ballot as well. Nonetheless, St. Bonaventure left the Garden with a 76-73 victory. Brea Olinda vs Canyon Game Highlights - Jan. 13, 2023. While Birdsong went quiet offensively, Sanders was just starting his barrage. Promotional Rates were found for your code. Neither were we, quite frankly, but we and they were able to outscore teams most of the year. Yet, to the surprise of many, they did get an NIT invite. He played professionally with the Virginia Squires of the ABA and the New York Nets of the NBA before earning SBU Athletics Hall of Fame honors in 1974. Thank you for reading! St. Bonaventure started 0-3 before win streaks of four and five games boosted them in the home stretch of the season. Sign up for our newsletter to keep reading. Olean, NY REBECCA FIELD OBITUARY Rebecca A. Millis Field OLEAN - Rebecca A. He's played as a pro overseas for 15 years. So what does Sabres GM Kevyn Adams do this week? They finished the season 1813, 108 in A-10 play to finish in a three way tie for sixth place. His enormous influence on the NBA was also seen during his time as President of the National Basketball Players Association, where he played a key role in the negotiation of a game-changing collective bargaining agreement. A win may have vaulted the team into the 32-team NCAA tournament. He didnt want Lanier to get hurt playing against older, more skilled players. Tommasino described the crowd as incredible with an energy level absolutely through the roof., The Bonnies responded in kind, surging to a 25-8 lead and ahead, 34-27, at half. Edit Close Sign Up Today! More importantly, he led the 1994-95 team to the NIT - the first for the program since 1983. . Bob Lanier thanks the current players after the St. Bonaventure Bonnies basketball Final Four team was introduced at the end of the game at the Reilly Center at St. Bonaventure in Olean on Dec. 7, 2019. As a reserve on the Bona team in 1947-48, Donovan knew the history all too well. Dont foul. I've worked in sports journalism since 1997 and I have covered everything from college football to the Stanley Cup playoffs, high school sports and the NCAA Tournament. The Niagara loss in the Olean Armory ended SBUs 99-game home winning streak that dated to 1948, while the Dukes upset the Bonnies in overtime, 79-74, in Pittsburgh. In 52 years, only his career points record has been surpassed by three men who played 29, 37 and 48 more games than Lanier did, when freshmen were allowed to play varsity (after 1972) and schedules grew larger. They saw it Feb. 1 against Davidson, when the Bonnies nearly wiped out a 16-point deficit and made it a one-possession game with less than 11 seconds left in an 81-76 loss to the Wildcats. We were kind of warriors in this trench together, and we had one focus: to win an NCAA title. They lost their last two regular season games before falling in double overtime to St. Joes in the Atlantic 10 tournament and finding themselves with a record of 17-12. A two-time ECAC All-Star (1976, '77), he was a co-captain of the NIT Championship Team in 1977, scoring 24 points in the championship game win over Houston after scoring in double figures in every game of that tournament. I didnt even know at the time I tore my knee up. It was Crawford, however, who kept St. Bonaventure in the game, as he demonized Ohio States zone in scoring 18 points in the first half. One of the main article in the sports section headlined, The Fortress Falls100 Never CameJoy for OneTears for Another.. Greg was a very, very good offensive rebounder, so my guess is, in that game, he got a significant amount of offensive rebounds. Athlete, coaches and staff members will be required to wear a mask provided by the school, and equipment such as basketballs will be cleaned before and after each practice or workout. National media, including Sports Illustrated, headed to the corner of Times Square and Barry Street for the February 25 spectacle. They lost their last regular season game at third-ranked Rutgers, 85-80, in a heartbreaking defeat. The MVP of the 1974 NBA All-Star game, Lanier had his No. Bill Butler It was always a great experience, especially when Niagara would come in, he said. He was, in those years, a box-score stuffer with per-game averages of 2, The question is a slam dunk for any St. Bonaventure alumnus or any Western New York basketball fan who can remember, We played here 50 years ago, but it feels like 10, Billy Kalbaugh told a standing and cheering crowd of, St. Bonaventure will honor the 50th anniversary of the Final Four team on Saturday at the Reilly Center on a busy. An Honorable Mention All-American selection by the Associated Press following his senior season, Adams' name is written throughout the Bonaventure record books. St. Bonaventure had won 99 straight games at home. Mike Harrington: His team looks good, even without Alex Tuch. Keep reading with unlimited digital access. As part of the St. Bonaventure Basketball Centennial Season celebration, the Athletics Department gathered voting from fans and partnered with some of the most well-versed individuals on the history of the program to create an All-Time Team. Crawford was inducted into the Athletics Hall of Fame in 1970. Raised in the upper Manhattan neighborhood of Harlem, Crawford found the Holiday Festival experience to be a coming home of sorts, and playing at the Garden was a particularly special memory, especially in 1960. His #22 jersey was raised to the Reilly Center rafters upon his 1969 induction to the Universitys Athletics Hall of Fame. In addition, only five baskets were scored from the field by both teams in the final nine minutes of regulation. One team in the field was the University of Houston Cougars, coached by Guy Lewis, who ended up winning nearly 600 games in his 30 years as its head coach. According to The New York Times, Houston guard Ken Williams hurried downcourt after the turnover and took a shot, seemingly in panic, instead of slowing down the game and setting up a play. Bona center Tim Waterman grabbed the rebound and headed to the foul line, making one free throw. Vanterpool helped lead the Bonnies back to national respect, taking Atlantic 10 All-Rookie Team honors in 1991-92. Bob Lanier speaks at the dedication of the Reilly Center court to him in 2007. They werent a great defensive team. A player in the NBA for Washington and New Jersey, Vanterpool today is a well-respected NBA assistant coach, today with Minnesota and previous with Portland. Its just that youre not there to help them. He even has a mention in pop culture, in the movie "Airplane!," when a young fan recognizes Kareem Abdul-Jabbar disguised as a co-pilot named Roger Murdock and insists the Los Angeles Lakers center doesnt give enough effort. Having set an NCAA record for the highest freshman free throw percentage (88.4 percent) in 1979, Jones went on to become the seventh-leading scorer in program history at the time he finished his career. But it was Laniers three years with the Bonnies that helped solidify their spot in college basketball lore, and helped catapult Lanier to a Hall of Fame professional basketball career. Hollis scored 37 points27 in the first half alonebefore a capacity crowd in what was Jim Boeheims first year as the Orangemen head coach. Bob transcended race, united a campus and, by the way, was one of the best basketball players who ever lived. For the upcoming season, Ill be St. Bonaventures #1 fan in Dubai. The 55-point output by Bona against Pete Carrils Tigers was a season low, yet was two points more than opponents average against Princeton. 7. 60 in the NET rankings, the sorting tool the NCAA Tournament committee uses in selecting the 68-team field. Laniers touch would have made him great in any era. I remember it vividly, he remembered. He's the school record-holder in both assists (657) and steals (325) - ranking second in Atlantic 10 history for steals and eighth in assists. Over his career, Winn guided the Brown and White to 66 wins, an NIT berth in 1998, an appearance in the Atlantic 10 Championship Game and a berth in the 2000 NCAA Tournament. Still the Purple Eagles of Niagara nearly sent SBU fans home from the Armory in shock. 2. (); : The front page had no story of the consecutive home wins. Flynn said that he cried like a baby after the Niagara loss. Combing through them uncovered an array of Bona gems. Error! He was named by Look Magazine to the All-District Team the same season. I survivedI got through it. 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Unique in its own way, the Armory offered something special for those sitting in the first row of the courtside bleachers: Their feet actually straddled the out-of-bounds lines. 2. Not a lot of people knew what they wanted to be at that age, but I did. The St. Bonaventure Bonnies men's basketball (formerly the St. Bonaventure Brown Indians) team is the college basketball team that represents St. Bonaventure University, located near the city of Olean, New York.The school's team currently competes in the Atlantic 10 Conference and plays its home games at the Reilly Center.The Bonnies are currently coached by all-time coaching wins leader Mark . The good thing was that they played a style that was similar to ours in that they loved to get up and down [the court]. Lanier returned to campus less than two years later, in December 2019, when Bona honored the 50th anniversary of the 1970 Final Four team. He didnt need to take any shots. a group of Olean Times Herald columnist and former sports editor Chuck Pollock and former beat . ALLEGANY The St. Bonaventure mens basketball team likely let out a collective sigh of relief as the buzzer sounded Monday night at the Reilly Center. Hagan also posted 13 points in a win over Oregon as well as 14 points in the championship game win over Houston. An eight-time NBA All-Star and member of the 1970-71 All-Rookie team, Lanier scored more than 19,000 points over his 14-year career with Detroit and Milwaukee, averaging 20.1 points, 10.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1.1 steals while shooting 51.4 percent from the field.