The feel good mindset of a fast 12-5 start soon faded for the Bonnies and the Reilly Center faithful. A 51 point second half was instrumental in Fordham defeating the Bonnies on Wednesday. The 79-68 setback dropped the Bonnies to 10-11 (4-4). Fordham improved to 16-4 (4-3). Numbers and notes…
Possessions: 69. Not really a transition, fast breaking pace. The number of possessions suggested an uptempo game as Bona, facing a deficit, fouled late in an effort to extend the game.
Offensive efficiency: Fordham 114, St. Bona 99. Hot shooting second half, including an 11-1 run. That resulted in the aforementioned 51 points and did it for the Rams.
Four Factors:
eFG Pct: Fordham 51, St. Bona 46. Again, the final twenty minutes were the difference. Fordham shot 58% during that stretch. For the game Fordham shot 43%, Bona 36%.
FT Rate: Fordham 68, St. Bona 66. Fairly close in a game with 53 personals ( 28 Bona and 25 Fordham) and one technical (Bona) called. Fordham was 25 of 36 (69%) from the charity stripe, Bona shot 25 of 31 (81%).
OREB Pct: Fordham 28, St. Bona 25. Deceptive numbers. Fotrdham came on top 10-8 in raw numbers off the offensive board. A number of those rebounds however, turned into baskets when the Rams were on a game breaking second half run.
TO Rate: Fordham 16, St. Bona 19. For the Bonnies, the turnovers were under the 20% mark. Defensively they were hoping to force Fordham into a higher rate.
Streaks. This past Saturday Loyola ended a winless stretch as an A10 member by getting their first conference win at Bona’s expense. On Wednesday, Fordham ended an eleven game losing streak to Bona by scoring their first win since 2013.
Kenpom.com MVP: Daryl Banks III. The Bona junior scored a game high 29 points. Banks was 7 of 12 (3 of 7 from three) from the field and a perfect 12 of 12 from the line. Bona’s only other double digit scorer was Kyrell Luc with 10.
Fordham was led by Khalid Moore with 19. Dariys Quisenberry added 17 and Will Richardson 16.
Ram tough. Keith Urgo’s club is in the midst of a three game win streak and has won four of their last five. During the current win streak, all three were away from home. Their 16-4 record is drawing comparisons and bringing back memories of the outstanding ‘71 NCAA Tournament squad coached by Digger Phelps. Fordham, in recent years, set to be one of the four playing the first day of the A10 Tournament is now being discussed as a serious possibility for finishing in the top four of the conference.
Foul mood. Probably used this heading in the past but here it is again as foul trouble was a factor. Chad Venning (8 points, 6 rebounds) fouled out after logging 23 minutes. Moses Flowers also fouled out after scoring three points in 3 minutes. Minus Venning down low and Flowers outside, the Bona offensive options were limited.
“There’s no defense for foul shots,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt told tapinto.net(Olean). “We have to do a better job of playing cleaner and keeping the ball in front of us. When they got to the paint we fouled them.”
Tough stretch. The next week sees the Bonnies at VCU on Saturday, at Richmond on Wednesday and home to entertain Dayton the Saturday after. A demanding three games. Going into that stretch it was important for the Bonnies to at very least split the games against Loyola and Fordham. They came up empty in both. And now face an arduous task.
“Give Fordham the credit. They played hard consistently. We missed layups we didn’t play our best basketball. Fordham knocked us back on our heels.” – Mark Schmidt
