One and done. Davidson defeated St. Bonaventure 65-54 Wednesday in the second round of the A10 Tournament. The contest at Barclays Center saw the Bonnies finish at 14-18 while Davidson, 16-15, advanced to face top seed VCU in the quarterfinals.With the victory, the Wildcats claimed their fifth win in the last six games. Bona finished dropping seven of their last eight. Numbers and notes…
Possessions: 62. The Davidson pace, on the deliberate side.
Offensive efficiency: Davidson 105, St. Bona 87. Once again, Bona was too generous on defense while struggling on offense.
Four Factors:
eFG Pct: St. Bona 46, Davidson 43
FT Rate: Davidson 25, St. Bona 11
OREB PCT: Davidson 28, St. Bona 23
TO Rate: Davidson 8, St. Bona 19
Davidson made up for the slight difference in eFG percentage by getting to the charity stripe with greater frequency. Wildcats enjoyed a 37-33 rebounding advantage. Matt McKillop’s Wildcats benefited efficiency wise by committing only five turnovers.
Perspective. Bonnies were in double bye contention in January. Following the three game winning streak, at VCU, Richmond and home against Dayton, things went in the other direction. His A10 coaching colleagues will tell you Mark Schmidt did a great job in bringing in a number of players last Spring in a short period of time. Players that fit in at Bonaventure, are talented and play well together. The ending was a tough one for Bona faithful. If this group stays together something special may be brewing in Olean.
Sounds familiar. Bonnies went through two scoring droughts in the first twenty minutes allowing Davidson to lead 31-26 at the break. The second half, Davidson’s pace and tempo permitted the Wildcats to maintain a lead. Bona cut the deficit to two possessions in the last eight minutes. At that juncture, Davidson answered, punching their ticket to the next round.
“We got close, but couldn’t make that big shot or a big stop,” St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt told gobonnies.com. “We got off to a bad start in the second half and that was critical. From there we were playing from behind. Give Davidson all the credit.”
All season there were scoring droughts surfacing all too often when the Bonnies were ready to make a run. Chalk it up to a number of things. Rebounding, or lack of it, foul trouble, turnovers and simply cold shooting. All those factors contributed. The Bonnies were a young group this season. Expect them to learn from these situations with this year’s ‘experience as the best teacher’.
Kenpom.com MVP: Desmond Watson, Davidson. The 6’5” guard scored a game-high 17 points, grabbing six rebounds. Foster Loyer added 14 and Sam Mennenga 12. Chad Venning paced Bona with 16. Moses Flowers and Kyrell Luc had 10 each. Daryl Banks III narrowly missed double figures scoring nine. Banks III added five boards and five assists.
Next. The off season, a very important time. The coaching axiom says ‘championships are won in the Summer’. The work done into those off season months is essential for individual and team improvement.
“Our players realize now what it takes in the Atlantic Ten,” Schmidt said. “They’ve seen it. In essence we were all freshmen. Now that they see what it takes they need to go back and work on the things that they learned.”
