Rutgers University
St. Bonaventure
RU Suffers Overtime Defeat to St. Bonaventure
Nov 23 | Men's Basketball
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Freshman forward Gregory Echenique (Guatire, Venezuela) posted the second double-double of his young career, scoring 14 points and grabbing 14 rebounds, but it was not enough as Rutgers (3-1) dropped a 64-63 overtime decision to St. Bonaventure (3-1) Sunday afternoon at the Louis Brown Athletic Center in the Garden State Challenge.
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Greg Echenique scored 14 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in the OT loss. (Tom Ciszek/NJSportsPhoto)
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Rosario, who finished with 14 points on six-for-17 shooting, was one of three Rutgers players to finish in double digits. He was joined by Echenique, who was a perfect five-for-five from the field, and senior Anthony Farmer (Millville, N.J.), who added a season-high 12 points. Rutgers shot 40 percent (24-for-60) for the contest.
The game was tied 22 times and featured 16 lead changes, with neither squad’s advantages growing bigger than four points. The Scarlet Knights put together a solid defensive effort once again, holding the Bonnies to 37 percent (29-for-78) shooting, including a 10.5 percent (2-for-19) mark from three-point range. Rutgers also limited St. Bonaventure to just five free throw attempts, all of which came in the second half.
The Scarlet Knights trailed by four with 26 seconds showing on the regulation clock after Farmer cut the lead to three on the first of two free throws. He was off the mark on this second attempt, but Echenique came up with the rebound and kicked it out to an open Rosario, who drained the deep three to help send the game into the extra period. Rutgers would then score the first four points of overtime, all from Echenique. SBU proceeded to go on a 6-1 run to finish the game and earn the win.
St. Bonaventure was led by a game-high 18 points from Jonathan Hall and a double-double from Andrew Nicholson (15 points, 11 rebounds).
Rutgers returns to the hardwood to meet Lehigh at the RAC this Wednesday. Tip-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.
Game Notes
The game featured 22 ties and 16 lead changes.
Rutgers has started its season 3-1 for the second consecutive year and the third time in the last four campaigns.
Today is the 18th birthday of freshman Gregory Echenique (Guatire, Venezuela).
Echenique and fellow freshman Mike Rosario (Jersey City, N.J.) each scored 14 points, and senior Anthony Farmer (Millville, N.J.) finished with 12, marking the second time this season that at least three Scarlet Knights recorded double-digit scoring. Four Scarlet Knights scored at least 10 points in RU’s 85-77 win over Delaware on Nov. 16.
The 14 points for Echenique marks a career-high. His previous high was 11, set against Marist on Nov. 14.
Echenique shot a career-high 100-percent (five-of-five) from the floor. He tied his career-high for field-goals made with five, previously set against Delaware on Nov. 16. The last time a Scarlet Knight shot 100-percent from the floor while attempting at least five field-goals was on Feb. 9, 2008, when Hamady Ndiaye (Dakar, Senegal) accomplished the feat in RU’s 71-68 home overtime loss to Cincinnati.
Echenique also grabbed 14 rebounds for the second double-double of his career. He previously accomplished the feat against Marist on Nov. 14.
Ndiaye finished with 11 rebounds, one off his career-high of 12. The last time two Scarlet Knights finished with double-figure rebounds in the same game was Nov. 25, 2007, against NJIT, when JR Inman (Pomona, N.Y.) and Byron Joynes accomplished the feat.
Ndiaye played a career-high 39 minutes against St. Bonaventure. His previous high was 34, set twice, most recently in RU’s 71-68 overtime loss to Cincinnati on Feb. 9, 2008.
Ndiaye has recorded at least one block in 12 consecutive games, going back to last season. His career-high for consecutive games with at least one block is 18, set from the end of his freshman season to the beginning of his sophomore campaign.
Ndiaye tied his career-high with two assists, previously set four times, most recently at Marquette on Feb. 23, 2008.
Ndiaye also tied his career-high with three steals, previously set against Marist on Nov. 14.
Inman grabbed three rebounds, giving him 558 for his career. He is now tied with Doug Clark for 26th-place on RU’s all-time career-rebounds list.
Farmer recorded one assist, giving him 293 for his career, tying him with Phil Sellers for 11th-place on RU’s all-time career-assists list.
Sophomore Mike Coburn (Mt. Vernon, N.Y.) finished with six assists, a new career-high. His previous high was five, set twice, most recently against Pittsburgh on Jan. 26, 2008.
POSTGAME QUOTES
Coach Hill:
On the final play in overtime…
“We had just taken a time out and I have all the confidence in the world in Anthony Farmer. We got the ball in his hands and I wanted him to come up the middle of floor and bring [Anthony] Rosario behind him and look to play out of a 1-4 low set. What I really wanted was Anthony [Farmer] to drive it hard, get a foul or layup and win the game for us. That’s the confidence I have in him. He saw a guy open and instinctively put the ball ahead and passed it up to a teammate and we were unable to make the play.”
On being out rebounded…
“We had a lot of balls in our hands and they bounced out. I thought we did a good job of getting our hands on stuff. It wasn’t like they got a lot of clean rebounds. We have to be stronger with the basketball. We had seven or eight great offensive chances but again, the ball bounced out of our hands. Those are a lot of big possessions you lose in a tight ball game.”
On JR Inman’s performance off the bench…
“JR Inman came off the bench and on the defensive end, made two gigantic plays to give us a chance to win it. That’s always what you want. You want a chance to win the game with the ball in your hands. We had that opportunity because JR [Inman] came off the bench and like a true veteran and senior, he knows what he is doing out there. He’s going to get more and more time, but I’m really proud that he came off the bench and made those plays for his teammates.”
On the game-tying play at the end of regulation…
“Greg [Echenique] got the rebound and if you can’t put it back up immediately, we work on in practice to kick it out and shoot a three. In the course of a game, that’s two freshmen listening in practice and making a big time play. It tells you how hard Echenique works in practice and how much he listens to be able to do those types of things.
St. Bonaventure Head Coach Mark Schmidt
On the Bonnies 64-63 OT win:
"I'm just extremely proud of our guys. We showed a lot of character today by bouncing back from a disappointing loss on Friday (against Delaware) when we didn't defend. Today, we could have come out and laid an egg but we didn't. We played great defense and outrebounded a team that was plus-10.5 rebounding margin."
"We could have quit when they hit that three at the end to send it into overtime, but our guys kept on playing and playing.
To beat a team of Rutgers caliber with where are program is and where we are trying to get to, it's a great win. Hopefully it helps legitimize our program."
On a 23-13 offensive rebounding margin
"We were really impressive on the glass. It's something we have been harping on since day one (getting to the offensive glass). We're not very big, especially when we go to a small lineup and move Jonathan Hall to the four. Jonathan had five offensive rebounds. Andrew Nicholson had five also. We were just relentless and that's good to see."
On his team's grind it out mentality
"We are a blue-collar team. We don't have any stars. We have all hard-nosed kids that aren't heavily-recruited and they play with a little chip on their shoulders. Our guys come out and try to blue-collar everybody, because we aren't going to outscore people. We're going to outrebound and outdefend them. We did that tonight and hopefully we can continue that trend."
