It was alumni weekend and lodging was outrageously expensive and mostly sold out, but I was able to book a hotel across the street on points, thus saving nearly 70% over the going rate. Pro tip: buy points when they are on sale and use them in situations like this as some chains don't adjust their redemption levels when faced with high demand; my room was the equivalent of $104 with the rack rate over $300 including tax. Anyway, after checking in, I immediately walked over to the Reilly Center, home of Bonnies basketball. The venue is set deep within the tranquil campus and is quite a pleasant walk even in the cold. Should you be driving, there are several free lots on the west side of campus.
You enter through the doors shown above and walk down a corridor to have your ticket scanned. The Bonnies often sell out and tickets can be quite expensive, starting at $30 for this game, but I lucked out and found a lower level ticket online for only $20, an excellent deal.
Before entering the gym, you can look at a few displays, one featuring the Stith brothers, who starred here over 60 years ago and were recently honoured prior to a game.
There is also a Wall of Champions, where conference titles are celebrated with team pictures, a wonderful touch.
From here, you walk into the gym proper and it is truly impressive. Not just the court itself, but the surrounding halls and corridors, which are filled with historical features among their nooks and crannies. Reilly Center opened in 1966 and is named for Mike Reilly, who coached both football and basketball here. Capacity is 5,480 and with the compact nature of the gym, it is one of the toughest places to visit in the country.
On both sides of the court are narrow walkways that lead to the lower level seats and these get very crowded before the game as fans stop to say hi to their friends or wave to other friends across the way. This is a small school in a small town and everyone seems to know everyone else so expect a bit of waiting as you move through the building. Note the breezeways in the second deck in the photo above; there are seats directly above which are in front of a railing (below); these are cheaper than the surrounding seats because of this obstructed view.
St. Bonaventure is a Franciscan school (it is named after an Italian saint) and hence their colours are brown and white, which are used for all of their banners. As you walk through the crowd, you will also see the Friars in their robes chatting with fans. There's really nothing else like this place.
The school has two major accomplishments as you can see above. In 1970, Lanier led them to Final Four but he was injured in the regional final and the Brown Indians (the school's nickname before they became the Bonnies in 1992) lost to Jacksonville and then New Mexico State in the third-place game (UCLA beat Jacksonville to win their 6th title under John Wooden). Many believe that St. Bonaventure would have won the title had Lanier not been hurt; they finished with the #3 ranking in the nation.
Seven years later, and the school finally got that title, though it was in the NIT. A display in one of the corridors highlights this accomplishment, which saw the team win four games by a combined 12 points. Divine intervention indeed!
The corridors and stairwells are filled with history, such as murals depicting the various uniforms throughout the years (above) and the centennial anniversary's All-Time Team (below). Concessions here are grab-and-go, with 16 ounce beers (including Labatt Blue) going for just $6, add a $4 hot dog and dinner is served for a sawbuck. Cash is accepted here thankfully.
The Bonnies are in the Atlantic 10 and there is an outdated glass plaque in one stairwell; UMass left the conference for the MAC after last season. With all the conference movement these days, fixed displays such as this one become inaccurate very quickly.
Surprisingly, there are some trophies here in this stairwell too; you really need to get here early and walk around everywhere as so much history is hidden from view. The school last won the A-10 tournament in 2021.
Past coaches are honoured on one wall beneath the dot matrix scoreboard.
The main scoreboard is unique, with two large screens facing each sideline, but nothing facing the baselines. I particularly like the pregame screen, with George Mason's green and yellow ruining the aesthetic.
The mascot is the Bona Wolf as legend has it that St. Francis of Assisi tamed a wild wolf; the school's athletics site has a detailed explanation.
Below is the view from my seat, on the aisle in Row 8. I was very excited to be sitting so close to the action for such a high-profile conference battle.
Overall, Reilly Center is one of the best college hoops venues out there. There's so much going on here, from the incredible fans to the history that seems to fill every open space. Olean might not be a tourist destination, but this venue certainly is. And I ended up getting one of the best games I have seen.
The Game
George Mason (19-2, 7-1 in the A-10) were visiting and despite their gaudy record were only 1.5-point favourites over St. Bonaventure (13-8, 2-6). For the third game in a row on my trip, the visitors were wearing dark green, which had been a good luck charm so far.
The first two Patriot shots were airballs and I wondered how this team could be so good. St. Bonaventure scored the first six points and Rushed to a 21-12 lead (Canadian music joke there) at the midway point of the first half and they pushed that lead to 14 with a minute to go, only to allow Mason to score five points in the final three seconds (an idiotic turnover was the cause) that made the halftime score 39-31.
I thought those five points would signal a Patriot comeback but Bona kept hitting their shots and after Daniel Egbuniwe nailed a trey, they were up 63-49 with 11 minutes to go. The next three minutes were then scoreless as the teams combined for 7 turnovers while Mason missed three bombs and Bona botched a pair of free throws. Unfortunately for the home fans, the Patriots found their stroke while the Bonnies did not and over 4+ minutes, the visitors went on a 16-6 run to get within four. After the teams exchanged free throws, Kory Mincy hit a three for George Mason and it was 70-69 for St. Bonaventure. Oh-oh.
The Patriots then began to foul Frank Mitchell (#00 above), a big man from Toronto who lacks touch from the line. This strategy paid off as Mitchell missed three free throws down the stretch and when Fatt Hill completed a layup, Mason was up 73-72 with 33 seconds left, their first lead of the game. Mitchell was again fouled and again made 1 of 2 to tie things up with 21 seconds left and overtime loomed.
By now, I had moved to take photos from a different angle and I settled in, a bit too early as it turned out. On George Mason's final possession, Darryl Simmons II fouled Jahari Long, sending him to the line. He made both shots, but Bona still had a chance with four seconds left. Sadly, another turnover transpired, and again Simmons fouled Long and again he made both freebies and somehow George Mason escaped with a 77-73 win. Tough loss for Bona bettors as they didn't cover the 1.5 points.
The difference was free throws and perhaps fatigue. The Bonnies went 14-25 from the line (Mitchell was almost half of that at 7-13), but they also only used six players in the rotation, with Dasonte Bowen and Simmons each playing 40 minutes. They simply ran out of gas in the final quarter of the game and Mason capitalized. Mitchell led all scorers with 25, while Mincy had 22 for the Patriots in what was a classic comeback.
Notes
I did find a hard ticket after the game and thus have stubs from all four games of this trip (I went to Canisius the following day).
Best,
Sean
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