La Salle 72 St. Bonaventure 59: Numbers and Notes

It was an opportunity lost. Coming off two consecutive victories St. Bonaventure hoped to utilize that momentum to continue their winning ways. A victory would get them closer to fourth in the A10 and the coveted double bye at the conference tournament. It was not to be as the host Explorers led virtually the entire game en route to a 72-59 triumph at Tom Gola Arena on Wednesday. The Bonnies fell to 16-10 (7-7), while La Salle, on a two game win streak, is now 13-14 (4-10).

Possessions: 63

Offensive efficiency: La Salle 114, St. Bona 94

The pace was more of a deliberate one with 63 possessions. When promted to run, the Explorers did with a 16-5 advantage in fast break points. 

The previous 10 games the Bonnies averaged 110 offensive efficiency and 105 on the defensive side. Obviously, they were subpar in both areas. 

Numbers : (Four Factors in Bold)

Ball Control index:

La Salle 3.00

St. Bona 1.80

The eye test and numbers both told the story. In a game where they spent most of the minutes ahead, La Salle used a 9-2 run to build a 36-28 halftime lead. Chad Venning was an inside force keeping the Bonnies competitive early in the final stanza. Getting his fourth foul with approximately eight minutes left allowed Fran Dunphy’s Explorers to go on a 14-3 run that extended their lead to 20. That basically sealed the verdict. 

Familiar story. In the first half La Salle got out  hot shooting a 50% (7 of 14) mark from beyond the arc. They hit four of those prior to the first media timeout. On the night they shot 10 of 24 for 42%. 

In the rebounding department the Bonnies were beaten on the boards by a 30-24 count, grabbing just three on the offensive boards. Venning (four total) had two of the three.

Too many times, the Bonnies have allowed teams to build an early lead by virtue of their three point shooting. And too many times Mark Schmidt’s group struggled and was inexplicably beaten on the boards. It happened again and this time there was no comeback.   

Kenpom.com MVP: Daeshon Shepherd. The La Salle junior led all scorers with a career-high 23 points. The 6’6” swingman shot 4 of 8 from three while tying teammate Khalil Brantley for rebounding honors with seven.

Jhamir Brickus added 15 points for La Salle while Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi had 10. Brantley also had a game-high seven assists. Bonnies were led by Venning with 22 points while Moses Flowers was the only other double figure scorer for Bona with 14. Mika Adams-Woods paced the Bonnies in rebounding with six and assists with five. 

Notes: Bonnies, third in the conference in three point shooting at 38%,  hit 6 of 17 (35%) from downtown. Flowers and Daryl Banks III had two three pointers each. 

La Salle came into the contest on the heels of a big win over UMass the previous Saturday. Before that the Explorers had dropped five straight. 

Explorers entered the game with a 1-5 conference record at Tom Gola Arena.

Bonnies travel to UMass for a Saturday afternoon meeting with Frank Martin’s Minutemen. UMass is on a roll having won three of their last four. The lone setback was, as previously mentioned, at La Salle. Minutemen are coming off an impressive 22 point home win over VCU on Tuesday.

UMass is second in the conference with a 111 offensive efficiency. They pose an extremely tough test as they lead the A10 with an  offensive rebounding percentage of 37%.