The script was flipped Wednesday night at the Reilly Center as the Bonnies needed to rally from 11 down and led for just over nine minutes of game time.

In the end, though, the result was another Bona’s victory, the fourth in a row for a young squad that remained perfect at home and improved to 5-2 overall on the year.

Kyrell Luc carried the team down the stretch with multiple big shots while helping to ice the game away in the final 90 seconds at the line, finishing with 22 points to lead all scorers.

“Tonight, Kyrell showed how good of a player he can be and he has a lot of upside,” St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. “He’s getting better every day, but I don’t think he’s anywhere near where he’s going to be. He’s not afraid of the big stage or moment.”

St. Bonaventure’s Daryl Banks III puts up a shot. Photo courtesy of St. Bonaventure Athletics

Daryl Banks III chipped in 15 points while Chad Venning tallied 13.

St. Bonaventure opened the game hot as Banks drained two quick 3s for the first six points to reach 1,000 for his career.

The Bonnies would go cold, though, and Middle Tennessee embarked on a 14-2 sprint to take a 24-17 advantage with 6:25 left before halftime.

MTSU would eventually push its edge to 11 before the Bonnies would claw back to a 35-29 score at intermission.

“In the first half (MTSU) got a lot of second-chance opportunities,” Schmidt said. “Our guys did a good job in the second half to outrebound them by eight. It shows our toughness, character, and understanding of what we needed to do to win.”

Bona would take advantage of an uneven start to the second half, one filled with whistles, tying the game on a Barry Evans dunk just over four minutes in, 37-37.

That would start a back-and-forth that saw the teams exchange the lead six times and share nine ties.

Tied, 44-44, the Blue Raiders picked up one of their 14 offensive rebounds which would result in a three-point play with 10:19 to go.

The hosts would score the next six points, finally pushing ahead for the first time in the half on free throws from Venning with 6:30 to play.

As the lead swapped side-to-side, Luc banked home a 3 with 2:28 remaining to push ahead by a point.

MTSU (5-3) tied it at 58-all as Teafale Lenard made good on one of three tries at the line following a Bonnies foul beyond the 3-point line.

Luc and Banks would combine for the rest of the scoring.

The biggest shot came from the sophomore guard Luc, who came through with a pull-up jumper as the shot clock ticked to two seconds, giving the Bonnies a 61-58 lead.

Evans swatted away a 3 attempt from MTSU to tie, allowing Banks to haul in the rebound. From there, Bona’s backcourt salted away the game at the line.

“Middle Tennessee is long, athletic, and very aggressive. I told the guys that this would be like an Atlantic 10 game. I thought early on they got the best of us physically, we had a hard time getting the ball into the paint. We found a way for a young team, we handled the adversity,” Schmidt said. “I thought Kyrell hit some huge shots, but the biggest aspect for me is how we handled things when they weren’t going well. We kept on fighting and it was a good victory for us. It was huge for us to hit free throws at the end of the game and seal the win.”

MTSU, which like Bona had entered the day on a three-game winning streak, was led by Lenard’s 16 points.

NOTES: The Bonnies shot nearly 49% from the floor while MTSU finished at 46%. The Blue Raiders scored 44 points in the paint and went 2-for-18 from beyond the arc. … Banks scored 890 total points in his first three seasons at Saint Peter’s and is averaging over 15 points per contest through his first month at SBU. … MTSU, members of Conference USA and the nation’s only team with a conference victory already after defeating Rice in an early start to C-USA play, won 26 games last season, reaching the CBI Championship Game. … Evans recorded 8 points, seven rebounds and three steals. … Brett Rumpel made his collegiate debut off the bench. The redshirt freshman missed the first six games of the year due to a foot injury suffered in preseason. … The Bonnies and Blue Raiders had met just twice previously with SBU taking both matchups; the first coming in 1993 on neutral court in New Mexico and the last being a 2019 one-point decision at MTSU. Wednesday’s game was the scheduled “return game” from a home-and-home series that began in 2019 but was delayed due to the pandemic.

UP NEXT

The Bonnies travel to Buffalo for a Big 4 rivalry game matchup at UB Saturday afternoon. Tip time is slated for 2:30 p.m.

St. Bonaventure 71, Middle Tennessee 64

MIDDLE TENNESSEE (5-3)

Dishman 6-9 1-5 13, Millin 1-2 0-0 2, Lawrence 5-12 2-4 13, Lenard 7-10 1-3 16, Weston 2-7 2-2 6, King 0-4 0-0 0, Porter 6-14 2-4 14, Coleman-Jones 0-0 0-0 0, Bufford 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 8-18 64.

ST. BONAVENTURE (5-2)

Evans 3-5 2-5 8, Farell 2-6 1-2 6, Venning 5-7 3-4 13, Banks 3-9 6-6 15, Luc 7-14 6-8 22, Mellouk 1-1 2-2 4, Flowers 1-2 1-3 3, Hill 0-0 0-0 0, Rumpel 0-1 0-0 0, Amadasun 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-45 21-30 71.

Halftime–Middle Tennessee 35-29. 3-Point Goals–Middle Tennessee 2-18 (Lenard 1-3, Lawrence 1-7, Weston 0-1, Porter 0-3, King 0-4), St. Bonaventure 6-16 (Banks 3-6, Luc 2-5, Farell 1-4, Flowers 0-1). Fouled Out–Weston. Rebounds–Middle Tennessee 29 (Dishman 9), St. Bonaventure 26 (Farell 8). Assists–Middle Tennessee 9 (Dishman 3), St. Bonaventure 8 (Luc 3). Total Fouls–Middle Tennessee 22, St. Bonaventure 18. A–3,089 (5,480).