This one was so close. St. Bonaventure was on the verge of a signature win. It was not to be. In the end, Dayton rallied to close out a 76-71 victory. Friday’s nationally televised game at UD Arena saw the Bonnies fall to 13-8 (4-5). The Flyers are now 18-3 (8-1).
Possessions: 62
Offensive efficiency: Dayton 123, St. Bona 115
Four Factors:
| St. Bona | Dayton | |
| eFG Pct. | 50 | 51 |
| FT Rate | 12 | 56 |
| OREB Pct. | 35 | 31 |
| TO Rate | 11 | 10 |
The factor that literally jumps off the page and grabs you is free throw rate. Bonnies shot 5 for 8 (63%) from the line. Anthony Grant’s Flyers were 23 of 29 (79%). DaRon Holmes, Dayton’s outstanding center, had more than twice as many attempts from the charity stripe as the entire Bona team. Holmes went 13 for 17, scoring over one third of his 34 points from the line.
There are no moral victories. Bonnies gave the nationally ranked hosts all they could handle, After falling behind by nine by the second media time out, they regrouped and took a 30-28 halftime lead by virtue of a Mika Adams-Woods bucket. “We came out a little tentative,” coach Mark Schmidt told gobonnies.com. “That’s something you can’t do against a team like this in their building.”
The second half saw the Bonnies come out strong, building a seven point lead. Dayton answered with a 9-0 run to regain the lead. The margin was 10 before the Bonnies fought back. It was a one possession game with under a minute to play when DaRon Holmes sealed the verdict from the charity stripe. No moral victories but it was a much better showing, especially in the energy and effort areas, than recent road outings against George Mason and Duquesne. “The effort was there and our guys showed character and fought,” Schmidt added. “But we didn’t come here to give a good effort, we came to win.”
Kenpom.com MVP: Dayton’s DaRon Holmes. The 6’10” junior scored a game high 34 points. Holmes added seven rebounds and four blocks against only one turnover. “We had trouble guarding Holmes,” Schmidt said. “We thought about going zone but didn’t because they have such good outside shooters.”
Mika Adams-Woods led the Bonnies with 17 points. Charles Pride and Chad Venning were Bona’s other double figure scorers with 11. Pride was active on the boards grabbing a game-high 11 rebounds.
Dayton’s Enoch Cheeks was the Flyers’ only other double digit scorer, beside Holmes, scorer with 13. Holmes and Nate Santos shared team rebounding honors with seven each.
Once again Bona’s Barry Evans did so many things, immeasurable in the box score. For the contributions that can get counted, the sophomore forward scored eight points and grabbed five boards in 19 minutes.
Notes: Dayton led 42-30 in points in the paint.
Bonnies had a 35-15 advantage in bench points.
Rebounding was even at 36. Bonnies did win the battle of the offensive boards 14-10.
Game was tied five times and there were six lead changes.
Venning and Noel Brown fouled out for the Bonnies. Assa Essasmvous and Daryl BanksIII were whistled for four personals. No one on the Flyers had more than three.
Bonnies shot 42% from the floor, 10 of 30 (33%) from three. Dayton checked in at 48% shooting, 3 of 15 (20%) beyond the arc.
Dayton’s lone A10 loss was to Richmond.
Bonnies return for two home dates at Reilly Center. Next is a meeting with UMass on wednesday. Frank Martin’s Minutemen, heading into Saturday’s schedule, had won two of three with an A10 record of 4-4. UMass features 6’10” senior Josh Cohen, the A10’s seventh leading scorer at 16.9 ppg. Minutemen are second in conference in offensive efficiency at 112 per contest On the defensive side, their 105 efficiency places them eighth. Where do the Bonnies rank? Currently they are 4th in offensive efficiency (109) and seventh in defense (103).
“This is a great place to play and we played hard. We had it to one possession the final minute but they made the plays, we didn’t.” – Mark Schmidt
