OLEAN — Few leashes are shorter than the one St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt has on

his point guards. Make an ill-advised pass, take a seat. Get beat defensively off the dribble,

time to sub out.

Through three games, including Friday night's 66-40 laugher over gutted Binghamton, Schmidt

has almost evenly dispersed minutes among incumbent starter Malcolm Eleby and junior college

transfer Ogo Adegboye. So far it's worked. But will the two-headed point serve the Bonnies'

best interests once the Atlantic-10 season is upon them?

This is nothing new. Schmidt utilized former Lackawanna standout Ray Blackburn as a

change-of-pace conductor last season when spelling Eleby. Blackburn didn't return for this

season, and Adegboye is close to a mirror image in both size (6-foot) and speed. Still, it's a

rarity when a coach employs two point guards on a nearly equal basis, and Schmidt has no

urgings to surrender to convention and push one of them consistently into the 30-minutes

range.

"Probably not," Schmidt said. "Malcolm can always slide to the 2 or the 3 at times too, and

we do that because Malcolm's a good defender. But, no, I don't want one guy to play all those

minutes. I like to get relatively even."

Adegboye, who hails from London, England, played 24 minutes, producing four points, four

assists and three rebounds against just one turnover. Eleby went the other 16 minutes, also

scoring three points with four assists and two turnovers. It's hard to say the offense was

more fluid under either on this night since the Bearcats, ravaged by preseason scandals and

disciplinary suspensions, offered little in the way of resistance.

"They're both great point guards," said senior guard Chris Matthews. "Malcolm brings a big

body for a point [6-foot-4]. If he's checking a small defender he can harass him better and

see the floor. And Ogo brings speed. They both have pluses to their game but they're both

different players."

Maybe at first the makeshift Bearcats were ignorant of the fact that many teams, even

those with national reputations, have been known to struggle at the Reilly Center. Maybe St.

Bonaventure sized up the situation and concluded this would be a walkover. Whatever the

reasons, the Bonnies were forced to strain and exert during the first half before scoring the

final 11 points and building a 32-17 advantage at intermission.

Bona center Andrew Nicholson, shooting 72 percent from the field coming in, missed

back-to-back gimmes in the opening minute. Meanwhile, Bearcat guards Dylan Talley and Moussa

Camara had success driving the lane as Bona's backside defense failed to adequately adjust to

the attacks.

Jonathan Hall (team-high 12 points), uncharacteristically silent in the early going, scored

his first basket with less than four minutes remaining and then kept pouring it on. He added a

pair of free throws, a fast-break jam and a 15-foot jumper before the half arrived, giving the

Bonnies some breathing room against an opponent they were expected to handle easily from the

get-go.

In contrast, Binghamton cooled after its torrid start and found few second chances as Bona

produced 13 rebounds on the defensive end while allowing the Bearcats just one second chance

off the boards.

The Bonnies will be on the road for four games before returning to the Reilly Center to

face Le Moyne on Dec. 10. They'll be at the BTI Classic beginning next Friday to face

Southeast Missouri St., Norfolk State and host Illinois State. That'll be followed by a Dec. 5

contest at Mississippi State.