Garrison heats up as NU ices Bona
OLEAN — Niagara's Rob Garrison had hit a tough stretch.
The junior guard from Niagara Falls was averaging 15.7 points a game through the first six games of the season, then hit a cold spell.
His scoring dropped to single digits and his touches declined. His scoring average fell to 10.7.
Garrison broke out of his funk in a big way Tuesday night, throwing in a career-high 23 points to give Niagara an 83-65 win over St. Bonaventure in front of 4,322 in the Reilly Center.
"My shots weren't falling and I knew the only way to fix that was to get in the gym," Garrison said. "I knew the last couple games that if I keep working hard I would see some results and I got to see the fruits of my labor tonight."
"Rob is one of the guys you can't get out of the gym," Niagara coach Joe Mihalich said. "He's the guy who after a game, you're getting ready to leave the office and you hear a ball bouncing out there, and it's Rob shooting. He's working hard and he believes in himself and that's why he's able to do what he did."
The 23 points came on 9-of-13 shooting from the field, including hitting 3 of 3 from three-point range and two free throws. It was his first double-digit scoring game since netting 19 against Hartford on Nov. 29.
"I felt comfortable from warmups," Garrison said. "I told coach before the game that I'm ready. I had no doubt that I was going to have a good game and that we were going to win. . . . When you see the stat sheet, I see four players in double digits. I wasn't the man tonight, I just happened to score the most points."
Bilal Benn had his fourth double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Benson Egemonye and Anthony Nelson each scored 14 for the Purple Eagles (9-2). Niagara shot 48.4 percent from the field for the game (31 of 64).
"Our problem was our defense," Bona coach Mark Schmidt said. "We got beat off the dribble so much. We couldn't keep guys in front of us, then we'd go to help and they were kicking it out and we were all out of whack. Once guys take you off the dribble, they're in attack mode and you're on your heels."
Defense, the pride of Niagara, helped the Eagles take a commanding 40-25 halftime lead. Aggressive ball pressure bothered the Bonnies at times. Bona shot just 32.2 percent from the field in the first half (10 of 31).
St. Bonaventure (7-4) had a good jump to start the game, taking an 8-2 lead, but Niagara fired back as Garrison scored 11 of his points in the opening stanza and the Purple Eagles notched 13 second-chance points off eight offensive rebounds.
"We got off to a decent start, but I thought Niagara came at us and put us on our heels for the next 20 minutes or so," Schmidt said. "They got really anything they wanted. They played harder, and I thought they played better. They got all the loose balls and just took it to us."
Freshman forward Andrew Nicholson scored a career-high 23 points for the Bonnies, hitting 11 of 14 from the field, while grabbing seven rebounds with three blocked shots.
Ray Blackburn scored 14 points for the Bonnies while Jonathan Hall grabbed seven rebounds with two blocked shots.
Niagara returns to action next week when it plays at the Dr. Pepper Classic in Chattanooga, Tenn., on Dec. 29 and 30.
St. Bonaventure next plays Dec. 30 at Bucknell.
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