St. Bonaventure 81 Davidson 80 (OT): Numbers and Notes

Baseball is a game of inches. Those in attendance at a packed Reilly Center would certainly agree that Dr. Naismith’s game also falls under that category. St. Bonaventure defeated Davidson 81-80 in overtime. Saturday’s thriller before a Homecoming crowd saw the Bonnies improve to 16-9 (7-6) while Davidson is now 14-11 (4-8).  

Possessions: 70

Offensive efficiency: St. Bona 116, Davidson 114

Numbers: (Four Factors in bold)

Ball Control Index: (Assists  + steals/turnovers)

St. Bona 1.77

Davidson 1.43

Game of runs. Bonnies got out fast with a 10-0 run , building  a 23-13 advantage. Matt McKillop’s Wildcats came back with a 10-3 run of their own, forcing a tie at 34 as the first half ended.

Davidson ‘won’ those first four minutes after intermission, moving ahead by seven by the 15 minute mark. Mark Schmidt’s Bonnies responded and for a good portion of the second half the teams exchanged leads.  

  With four minutes left the Bonnies appeared ready to close out the contest as they held a seven point lead. The visiting wildcats weren’t finished and stormed back to force a tie with just over a minute remaining. Daryl Banks III appeared to have the game winner, but his three point attempt rimmed at the buzzer. “I thought it was going in,” Banks told gobonnies.com. “But this is up there for craziest games  I’ve been a part of.”

Overtime was back and forth. No surprise in a game that featured 10 ties and 16 lead changes. Mika Adams-Woods canned two from the charity stripe with 21 seconds remaining to give the Bonnies a three point lead, setting up the hectic ending.

Game of inches. Reed Bailey of Davidson attempted a potential game tying three. Bailey’s shot missed, the Wildcats grabbed the rebound and Connor Kochera buried what appeared to be a three to force another extra session. Following an official review, minutes in length that agonizingly felt like hours, it was “torture” per Schmidt, the officials’ decision deemed Kochera’s foot was on the line and it was a  two point field goal, allowing the Bonnies to hold on.

“We found a way,” Schmidt said. “Thank God that (three point line) was a little bit thicker. I think the Franciscans made that line a little bit wider….Usually when you miss a shot at the end of a game, it’s a downer. But our guys really responded. Our guys showed a lot of mental toughness.”

Kenpom.com MVP: Connor Kochera. The Davidson senior scored a game high 29 points. Kochera shot 4 of 7 from three, grabbed eight rebounds and didn’t have a turnover in 39 minutes of action. 

Grant Huffman scored 15 points and Bailey added 13 for Davidson. Bonnies had five in double digits: Charles Pride, Chad Venning and Assa Essamvous had 15 each while Adams-Woods added 14 and Banks 10. Noel Brown had another solid outing off the bench for Bona with eight points in 15 minutes.  

Notes:  Kochera and Bailey tied for game rebounding honors with eight. Banks paced the Bonnies in that department with six. 

Davidson  held a 30-26 rebounding edge. Points in the paint were tied at 32. Wildcats enjoyed a 17-2 edge in second chance points as several of Davidson’s 11 offensive boards resulted in made shots from downtown.

Huffman of Davidson handed out a game-high eight assists. Adams-Woods led the Bonnies with five. 

It was the Bonnies first overtime game this season.

Davidson leads the series 12-8, the Bonnies did snap a three game losing streak against the Wildcats. The two schools have been in some memorable and classic OT contests. Back in 2018 the Bonnies edged the Wildcats in three overtimes at Reilly Center. In 2016 Davidson came out on top in an A10 Tournament quarterfinal game at Barclays Center.  

Bonnies travel to the City of Brotherly Love for a Wednesday evening meeting with La Salle. Explorers upset UMass on Saturday. That snapped a five game losing streak for Fran Dunphy’s group which is 3-10 in A10 play. La Salle is 14th in A10 offensive efficiency with 101. The Explorers are third in turnover rate at 14%. Bonnies are 3rd in conference offensive efficiency at 111.

“We have to close possessions, do a better job of finishing. But we just made enough plays.” – Mark Schmidt