For St. Bonaventure it wasn’t easy, but it was special. The Bonnies improved to 10-1 by virtue of a 74-70 victory over Providence. Saturday’s Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase at Mohegan Sun saw the Friars of the Big East Conference drop to 7-5.
Possessions: 62
Offensive Efficiency: St. Bona 119, Providence 113
Four Factors:
eFG Pct. – St. Bona 45, Providence 45
FT Rate- St. Bona 47 Providence 43
OREB Pct.- St. Bona 49, Providence 39
TO Rate- St. Bona 11, Providence 15
Points of Emphasis:
The A10. Providence has now dropped all three of its games against Atlantic 10 competition. Providence was defeated by Davidson in The Battle 4 Atlantis in November. One week prior to meeting the Bonnies, Providence suffered a close loss at in-state rival Rhode Island.
“We have a good team and we play in a great league,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt told Gobonnies.com. “Providence is a tremendous team and there are three Atlantic 10 teams that have beaten them. The A-10 doesn’t have to take a back seat to anyone in this country.”
Interestingly Kim English, the Friars mentor was head coach at A-10 member George Mason, prior to his move to New England.
An inside job. “In games of this magnitude against an opponent of this caliber, you have to land the first punch,” Schmidt said. “You have to attack; set the tone. I thought our guys did that, attacking the paint, going to the glass.”
Bonnies held a sizable 38-18 edge in points in the paint. In addition they won the rebounding battle by a 41-34 count. In the offensive rebounding department they posted a superlative 49%, against a team holding the opposition to 27% in that category.
Kenpom.com MVP. Melvin Council. The 6’4” Bonaventure senior also was awarded the Basketball Hall of Fame Showcase MVP award plus the WWE title strip as Bonaventure’s choice for player of the game. Council scored a game-high 24 points while handing out three assists and posting another game-high with three steals. Council also responded on several occasions to stop a Providence rally.
Resilient. This has been a fairly common theme to date and it’s a positive quality one would want their team to possess. Once again the Bonnies were resilient in victory. The stat sheet says Providence led for only 1:07 of game action. Providence, however, came back from deficits as large as 13 points to get the contest to one possession. Each time the Bonnies answered, especially at ‘crunch time’. Again, an admirable trait for the Brown and White noticed several times already this season.
Another one bites the dust. The win saw the Bonnies improve to 12-8 against Power 5 and Big East opposition since 2017-18. This was the Bonnies second win over a Big East team during that juncture. The prior victory was over Marquette in the championship game of the 2021 Charleston Classic. Of further note, none of those games was staged in the friendly confines of the Reilly Center.
Notes: Bonnies had four players in double figures scoring. Beside Council, Noel Brown scored 16 adding eight boards, Lajae Jones 15 (8 of 8 from the charity stripe) and Chance Moore 10 and 12 rebounds.
Bonnies shot 42% from the floor. Friars checked in at 36% but were 33% on 10 of 32 (7 of 17 the second half) from three.
Starting point guard Dasonte Brown was out with an injury. Sophomore Jonah Hinton filled in for Bonaventure scoring seven points while handing out four assists in his first Division I start.
Providence was paced by Wesley Cardet with 13 while Jayden Pierre added 12 and Corey Floyd 10.
Chance Moore paced all rebounders with a dozen, half of which were on the offensive end. Providence was led by Oswin Ehrunmwunse with eight (five offensive).
Friars were without outstanding senior forward Bryce Hopkins. He suffered a season ending ACL injury last January and to date this season has appeared in only three games. Hopkins sat out Saturday’s game with knee pain.
Next up for the Bonnies is a trip to Albany on Tuesday for the Br. Ed Coughlin Franciscan Cup battle against Siena. The Saints suffered through a 4-28 campaign last season. Under new coach and former Syracuse standout Gerry McNamara they are currently 5-5.
“They made a run, their crowd got into it, and I thought our guys really handled it well…It was a really great effort against a really good team.” – Mark Schmidt
Posted In: General Discussion