ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Kyle Lofton’s demeanor seemed different.
The sophomore point guard came at Buffalo from the outset, scoring 16 points — all but two of those coming in the paint — to lift the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team to a 38-35 halftime advantage. He kept the Bonnies afloat in the second half when that lead began to slip away. He engineered the late, frenzied run that allowed Bona to turn a 12-point deficit into a one-possession game.
Lofton had gotten off to a solid start in his second campaign, entering Monday’s non-conference finale as the Bonnies’ leading scorer while pacing the Atlantic 10 in assists, minutes and free throw percentage (he now ranks Nos. 1, 1 and 2 in those categories). But he had yet to have that signature scoring performance, the kind of game the national pundits might have envisioned when they labeled him as one of the sports “rising stars” in 2019-20.
Until Monday.
The 6-foot-3 guard finished with 32 points on 15-of-30 shooting, tying a career high that he’d established last year in a February win over George Mason. He was as assertive as he’s been all season, topping his previous season high (18 points in a loss to Canisius) by 14 and snapping a stretch of seven-straight games of 14 points or fewer.
True, for much of those first two months, Lofton didn’t have to be such a go-to scorer. Bona won all seven of those aforementioned games, and he’d more than made up for the lack of points with an amazing three-straight contests of 11 assists.
As the calendar turns from 2019 to ‘20, though, and its schedule becomes much more difficult against a dramatically improved A-10, Bona will need Lofton — and, to a similar extent, classmates Dominick Welch and Osun Osunniyi — to be the guy that finished last season so strong and was almost universally viewed as a top 6-8 A-10 player entering Year No. 2.
And though it came in a loss — and against a defense that was deliberately allowing the Hillside, N.J., native to more easily operate — perhaps THIS was the outing that will set him back on that path.
“The way they were playing the ball screens, they were packing it inside, so it gave him much more opportunity to get into the paint,” coach Mark Schmidt noted. “He got hot early and got some confidence.
“This (was) the best offensive game he’s played all year from a scoring standpoint, so hopefully he can continue to score. We don’t need him to score 32 every night, but he’s our quarterback, he’s got to run our team. I think it’s good for him to see the ball go in (the way it did tonight).”
A year ago, when he first dropped 32 in that win over the Patriots, Lofton was believed to be the first Bona freshman to eclipse 30 points since Essie Hollis went for 30 against Belmont Abbey in 1974.
His second such performance, which included another eight helpers and five rebounds, was nearly as impressive to those who watched it.
“(Lofton) was outstanding tonight,” UB coach Jim Whitesell said after Monday’s game. “The one big 3 he made in front of their bench (to make it 79-70 with 1:24 remaining), they came out and they kind of twisted the ball screen. Davonta (Jordan) had done a good job with screens, but was just a little late, and I thought that was a big shot for them.
“I thought he had to make some tough shots in the second half. The first half, he had his way with us. The second half, I thought he really earned them.”
As a freshman, out of necessity, Lofton had to become a more selfish scorer for the young Bonnies, to almost reinvent himself from the pass-first player he was in his post-grad year at Putnam Science Academy.
He obliged, and what unfolded was one of the most outstanding inaugural seasons in program history.
The soft-spoken lead guard first broke out with three-straight 20-plus point games in late January. He had 32 against Mason and hit the buzzer-beating jumper to down La Salle three days later. He closed the year with games of 20 and 23 in Brooklyn, a weekend that earned him A-10 All-Tournament Team honors.
As a sophomore about to enter that same stretch, he’ll likely need to be similarly strong for the Bonnies to have a chance at competing for that No. 4 spot and a “double bye” again this winter.
Lofton, who still needs to improve from the perimeter after making progress in that area last year (he’s made just 12-of-49 3s for 24.5 percent) appeared to take a step in that direction on Monday. He became just the second Bona player in the last decade to take 30 shots in a game, joining Courtney Stockard, who scored 36 points on 13-of-30 shooting in a double OT loss to Dayton last season.
He was aggressive. He looked to, and succeeded in, taking the game over for certain stretches.
Going forward, the Bonnies need more of the same.
