Six straight to start the season as St. Bonaventure defeated Bryant of the America East, 85-70. Sunday’s game at Reilly Center saw the Bonnies improve to 6-0 while Bryant is now 3-3. Numbers and notes…
Possessions: 70
Offensive efficiency: St. Bona 121, Bryant 100
Four Factors:
eFG Pct.- St. Bona 63, Bryant 47
FT Rate- St. Bona 28, Bryant 22
OREB Pct.- Bryant 38, St. Bona 23
TO Rate- St. Bona 19, Bryant 19
Inside/out: Coach Mark Schmidt’s objective is to initiate the offense by getting inside and attacking the basket. Bonnies did that with 29 of the 43 attempts inside the arc coming ‘at the rim’. The two point field goal percentage was 56% with a 55% mark (16 of 29) at the rim.
With the inside game established, Bona was able to get good looks en route to a 57% mark (8 of 14) from downtown. “Eight-for-14 and shooting 57%,” Schmidt told gobonnies.com, ”I’d take that for the rest of the year…There aren’t enough games to look at and say if we’re going to be a good or bad three-point shooting team.”
Former Bonnie Barry Evans scored 14 points. The Bryant junior forward also pulled down six boards. Let’s say the RC crowd greeted Evans, who wound up getting a technical foul, with less than a warm reception. Always admired Evans’ game and thought he would spend his four years in brown and white. Unfortunately, such is life in these NIL and transfer portal days.
Kenpom.com MVP: Noel Brown. The 6’11” Bonaventure senior who has been coming on as of late. Brown scored a game and career high 22 points (9 of 11 shooting). He also tied Earl Timberlake and Kvonn Cramer of Bryant for rebounding honors with seven.
“He’s playing well,” Schmidt said, “Noel has to do that physical stuff. He was never the go-to-guy at GW and he was never the go-to-guy last year, but he’s learning that role and he’s embracing it and getting better.”
Balance and resilience. Bonnies spread the wealth with four players in double figures. Besides Brown, Melvin Council scored 18, Lajae Jones 13 and Chance Moore 12.
A 20 point lead late in the first half was reduced to six as Bryant closed the first half on a 15-3 run. After the break Bona responded with a 12-2 run of their own to open the second half. Despite the visitors narrowing the deficit to single digits in the latter stages of the game, the Bonnies had the answers to stop the bleeding and eventually closed it out.
Yesterday’s rebounding performance is something to be addressed the next practice. Bonnies were outrebounded 34-29. Bryant had 14 offensive rebounds, leading to a 20-6 advantage in second chance points. Despite that disparity, Bona did own a 46-38 edge in points in the paint. On the season the Bonnies are +7 in the rebounding department.
Notes: Bulldogs were led in the scoring department by Earl Timberlake with 17 points.
Bonnies shot 56% from the floor while limiting Bryant to a 41% mark. Bryant shot 48% the first half but were limited to 33% the final twenty minutes.
The 6-0 start is the Bonnies best since the 1973-74 season.
Council connected on his first six shots. The initial miss came with just over a minute left in the half. On the afternoon the 6’4” senior shot eight of 14.
Next up for the Bonnies is the NIT Season Tip-Off where the Bonnies will face Utah State, Thanksgiving Day in Orlando. North Texas and Northern Iowa round out the field. “This will be a great opportunity,” Schmidt said, “ for our team to play some high quality opponents.”
Bryant moves on to face Tennessee State in the Coke Classic in Chattanooga on Tuesday.
Bryant is coached by Phil Martelli jr. The younger Martelli is quite familiar with Reilly Center having served as an assistant at Niagara from 2006 through 2011.
Mark Schmidt’s son Nick is an assistant on Martelli’s staff.
“We have to continue to improve. We can’t be satisfied with 6-0. We’ve got a long way to go.” -Mark Schmidt
