#MasonGameDay: George Mason vs. St. Bonaventure

January 6, 2019

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After a win over St. Joe’s, the Patriots head back to Fairfax for their second game of conference play. George Mason (7-7, 1-0 A10) faces off against St. Bonaventure (4-9, 0-0 A10).

The Bonnies took the last meeting by a score of 85-69 on Jan. 31 with Bonaventure’s Matt Mobley scoring 35 points and Otis Livingston II adding 30 points of his own.

This contest will mark the ninth matchup between these two programs. The Bonnies currently lead the series 6-2, with Mason having yet to defeat the Bonnies since joining the Atlantic 10 Conference.

St. Bonaventure is currently on a two-game losing streak and has lost 4 of their last five games, losing to teams like Georgia State, Akron, Buffalo, and Northeastern.

Mason, on the other hand, is currently coming off a 25-point victory against St. Joe’s and a one-point loss to Kansas State. Hopefully, the team that showed up to play St. Joe’s shows up to play throughout the A-10 schedule.

Breaking Down St. Bonaventure

The Bonnies have been riddled with injuries this year, in total, players have missed 35 games. Courtney Stockard missed six games due to offseason knee surgery, Melkisedek Moreaux missed 10 games due to a hyperextended knee, LaDarien Griffin missed 10 games with a sprained knee, and Dominick Welch has missed the last nine games with a bruised right foot.

Notable players:

Stockard is averaging 16.6 ppg, 5.7 rpg, and 2.8 apg, shooting 48 percent from the field.
Coming off the bench, senior Nelson Kaputo dropped a career-high 21 points on the Patriots last year and is currently ranked third in the A-10 in three-point field goal percentage (.447).
Freshman Kyle Lofton is averaging 13.8 ppg, 2.7 rpg, and 3.9 apg, shooting 45 percent from the field. He leads Bonaventure in steals and assists and ranks third in scoring. It will be interesting how Mason will adjust to this offensively as Lofton has started as the point guard despite only being a freshman.
Freshman Osun Osunniyi currently leads the A-10 in the category A.J. Wilson wants a part of…blocks. Osunniyi has 34 blocks on the season, six more than Wilson. The freshman also is second on the team in rebounding with 70 grabs.

Breaking Down Mason

Some notable things:

With Jaire Grayer out indefinitely, the rest of the team will have to continue to step up and take his place.
Otis Livingston II looks to be back in his groove and finally like an A-10 first-team player.

Related: Back to form, Otis Livingston II is playing at a high level

The Patriots look to start the conference schedule with a two-game win streak for the first time since joining the A-10.
Through the season, Mason is now connecting on 46 percent from the field and 35 percent from behind the arc.
Mason finally finished with a statement win against St. Joe’s and played a decent two combined halves.
In the last two outings Mason has almost doubled their opponents points in the second half. (51-26 at St. Joe’s, and 42-23 at K-State).
Justin Kier has gone off in the last five games. He’s recorded a double-double in the 3 of those 5 contests.He leads the team in scoring through those 5 games with 18.6 ppg and also averaged 4.8 rpg and 3.0 apg through those five games.
After Otis Livingston II’s performance against St. Joe’s he now sits at fifth in the all-time Mason scoring list. Tyler provided more details below.

Current scoring list (1/4/19) for @MasonMBB:
1. Carlos Yates 2,420
2. Kenny Sanders 2,177
3. George Evans 1,953
4. Robert Dykes 1,642
5. Otis Livingston II 1,634 https://t.co/lnRiyXPWHV
— Tyler Byrum (@theTylerByrum) January 4, 2019