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OLEAN, N.Y. -- After silencing a near sold-out crowd in the first half with its lights-out shooting, the Cornell men's basketball team couldn't get the offense going and the defense went with it as St. Bonaventure earned a 79-58 victory on Friday evening at the Reilly Center. The game was the season-opener for both squads.

Cornell shot 52 percent from the floor in the first half, including 57 percent from beyond the 3-point arc (8-of-14), but was just 30 percent accurate after halftime while missing all six 3-pointers. St. Bonaventure's All-America candidate Andrew Nicholson took advantage with 24 points, including making all 10 of his free-throw attempts, to lead three double figure scorers for St. Bonaventure. The Bonnies used their defensive surge in the second half to turn on the offense, shooting 52 percent after halftime for the win.

The Big Red used a balanced attack to stay in the game most of the night with Josh Figini the only scorer in double figures with 10 points. Dwight Tarwater and Drew Ferry each added eight points and Johnathan Gray and Shonn Miller had seven apiece. The team's leading returning scorer from a year ago, Chris Wroblewski, had six points and a game-high eight assists.

The bigger Bonnies held a 35-26 edge on the backboards and turned the ball over just 10 times to 18 miscues for the Big Red. Matthew Wright chipped in 13 points, seven rebounds and five assists and Michael Davenport scored 11.

Cornell's shooting made the game incredibly interesting early, hitting eight 3-pointers in the first 11:30 of the game. When Figini caught a Wroblewski pass for a dunk, the Big Red led 30-27 with 6:51 remaining in the half.

After Nicholson's basket opened the game for the Bonnies, nearly blowing the roof off the building, the Big Red calmly answered. A pair of Ferry 3-pointers and a third trey by Tarwater put Cornell up 9-7 by the first media timeout. The Bonnies regained the lead on a 3-pointer by Conger followed by a tip-in by Wright a minute later. Cornell again shook off the crowd, and freshman Shonn Miller calmly hit a 3-pointer from the top of the key for his first collegiate points to tie the game at 14-14.

The teams traded baskets nearly the entire first half with the Bonnies never leading by more than four points in a game that featured five ties and 14 lead changes in the first 20 minutes of action. A steal and layup by SBU's Cook with 31 seconds remaining in the half tied the Bonnies their biggest lead of that half at 40-36, but Cornell answered just before the horn to end the half. Wroblewski, who attempted just one shot before halftime, found Tarwater for a short jumper at the buzzer that took nearly the entire half to review, but when the officials viewed the replay, they counted the basket. That brought the Big Red back to within 40-38 at the break.

After getting off to a fast start offensively in the first half, the Big Red was just as cold to open the second. St. Bonaventure opened an uneven second half on a 7-2 run to extend the lead to 47-40 by the first media timeout. Eric Mosley's 3-pointer with 16:07 left in regulation made it a game-high seven-point bulge, and less than two minutes later a driving layup by Nicholson and a 3-pointer by Charlon Kloof forced a Big Red timeout and put the home crowd up 52-40. Cornell couldn't mount a serious comeback as the lead eventually grew to 13 (55-42) as the visitors had scored just four points in the first eight minutes of the half.

Cornell got four points back quickly on a layup by Chemerinski and a bucket by Miller after consecutive fantastic feeds by Miles Asafo-Adjei and Wroblewski on consecutive plays. That was as close as it would get, as the Bonnies gradually extended the lead behind Nicholson, who scored 10 points in a variety of ways during a five-minute span to put the game on ice for the Bonnies. A late 13-2 run turned a competitive game into a near-runaway victory for SBU.

The Big Red will open the home portion of its schedule when it plays host to Binghamton on Monday, Nov. 14 at 7 p.m. at Newman Arena in Bartels Hall.