Saint Louis was in a slump. The Bonnies were coming off two straight A10 wins. On Saturday it proved to be a definitive role reversal. The host Billikens posted a resounding 78-55 victory over St. Bonaventure at the Chaifetz Arena. Saint Louis is now 10-6 (2-1) while the Bonnies are 8-8 (2-1). Numbers and notes…
Possessions: 64. Grind it out pace, numbers wise, in the comfort zone range of both teams.
Offensive efficiency: Saint Louis 122, St. Bona 86. The numbers basically tell the whole story.
Four Factors:
| St. Bona | Saint Louis | |
| eFG Pct | 45 | 59 |
| FT Rate | 19 | 49 |
| OREB Pct | 21 | 33 |
| TO Rate | 17 | 20 |
Travis Ford’s Billikens won three of the Four Factors handily. They shot well, got to the line and hit the boards hard. Bonnies did have an edge in the turnover department. They have been cutting down on those miscues of late as the chart tells,
| UMass | 16 |
| George Mason | 18 |
| Saint Louis | 17 |
It has been previously noted, a team aims to be under the 20% turnover rate percentage each game. Through three conference outings the Bonnies have done just that. An improvement over earlier this season.
Kenpom.com MVP: Chad Venning. The Bona big man went for a game and career high of 23 points while pulling down 6 rebounds. Venning was effective the final half, helping the Bonnies cut the deficit to nine with over 12 minutes remaining. That proved to be as close as Bona would get. Moses Flowers added 15 with another solid showing off the bench.
Saint Louis was led by Gibson Jimmerson with 13 points. Yuri Collins, the Bills outstanding lead guard, could have been the MVP with little debate. Collins posted an 11 point, 14 assist double-double.
“Collins controlled the whole game and he’s the known,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt told gobonnies.com. “It was like he was playing in slow motion.”
Banks closed. Saint Louis did an outstanding job defensively limiting the Bonnie’s Daryl Banks to one point. Banks came into the game averaging 29 ppg over the first two A10 contests. Banks shot 0 of 5 from the floor in 33 minutes of action. “They did a good job on Daryl denying him things,” Schmidt said of the Saint Louis defense. “They did a good job scouting.”
Key spurt. It was critical for the Bonnies to have a consistently strong forty minutes. That was not the case in this matchup. Bona scored the game’s first four points. Following a four minute dry spell Bona regrouped to take a 15-11 lead. Saint Louis then went on a 16-0 spurt, leading to a 39-23 lead at the half. “I thought we got off to a really good start,” Schmidt said. “But when they came back we didn’t answer.”
Bonnies did not get to the line until the 18:37 mark in the second half. Bona shot 6 of 10 from the line while the Billikens were 20 of 24.
Saint Louis enjoyed a 35-25 edge under the glass. Francis Okuro led the way with a game high seven rebounds. Bonnies shot 43% from the field while Saint Louis checked in with a 49% performance.
Despite 11 turnovers and an under 20% turnover rate, Bona found those errors a bit expensive. Saint Louis scored 20 points off turnovers.
Next up for the Bonnies is a trip to the Ocean State on Wednesday. Bona will face a Rhode Island team coming off an overtime loss at La Salle. URI is 1-2 in A10 play.
“It was a tough game.They had lost at UMass and were looking to rebound and we knew we needed to play really well to have a chance…Their physicality took us out of a lot of things.” – Mark Schmidt
