Number 400 was certainly one to remember. St. Bonaventure snapped a two game slide by defeating Dayton 75-53 at the Reilly Center. Tuesday’s game marked the 400th win in
Mark Schmidt’s coaching career. The Bonnies are now 16-6 (4-5) while Anthony Grant’s Flyers dropped to 14-7 (4-4). Numbers and notes…
Possessions: 57
Offensive Efficiency: St. Bona 132, Dayton 93
Four Factors:
eFG Pct.- St. Bona 62, Dayton 48
FT Rate- St. Bona 23, Dayton 14
OREB Pct.- St. Bona 28, Dayton 18
TO Rate- St. Bona 11, Dayton 12
Points of Emphasis:
Offensive efficiency. Not just the superlative 132, second only to the 139 the Bonnies rang up against Canisius, but how the offense ran. An absence of forced shots, an excellent 51% mark from the floor including 48% (12-25) from three and only six turnovers resulting in an outstanding turnover rate.
‘We had open looks, we didn’t force many threes,” Schmidt told gobonnies.com. “We have good shooters and they were able to knock down shots tonight. We were driving and kicking and getting open looks and able to knock them down.”
Responding and Dominating. Bona led by seven at intermission. Unlike the most recent outing against VCU, the Bonnies kept their foot on the gas following the break, using a 16-1 run to open a 26-point lead. The Flyers were never able to put together a serious run.
For the game the Bonnies limited the Flyers to a 40% shooting percentage, 35% in the second half. They won the rebound battle by a 36-27 margin. Led 28-26 in points in the paint. Had an 8-7 points off turnovers advantage plus a 12-0 edge in fast break points. A complete effort and response to the challenge of what could be considered a ‘must win’ game.
400. As previously noted, this was the 400th victory in Mark Schmidt’s outstanding career. It was win number 318 at Bonaventure as Schmidt also posted 82 wins at Robert Morris prior to arriving in Olean. As usual, the highly regarded and respected mentor kept it all in perspective.
“It’s all about the players,” he said. “The 400 wins it’s all about the players. I can put guys in situations, but they have to do the job. As I told the teams, it’s 400 wins but a lot of losses too. It’s a credit to the administration from when I first got here all the way through,to my assistants to the players.
Kenpom.com MVP: Lajae Jones. Bonaventure’s junior forward led all scorers with 23 points. Jones drained 6 of 10 from downtown while grabbing seven rebounds. He scored 12 of Bonaventure’s first 19 points and buried five three pointers before the opening 10 minutes had elapsed. Melvin Council was the Bonnies other double-figure scorer with 18 points. Council added a game-high seven assists.
Nate Santos led Dayton with 12 points and a team-high seven rebounds. Enoch Cheeks was Dayton’s other double-figure scorer with 10 points.
Notes. In a game with four ties and lead changes Bonaventure led for 35 minutes.
Jones’ six threes were a career high.
The Bonnies came into the contest averaging six three pointers per outing. They hit number seven at roughly 13 minutes into the game en route to a season-high total of 12.
Noel Brown pulled down a game-high nine boards for the Bonnies.
The 22-point margin of victory was Bona’s largest in the series with the Flyers who were held to their lowest single-game point total this season.
Bona’s Noah Bolanga came off the bench, scoring a career-high nine points in 16 minutes of playing time.
The loss snapped Dayton’s three game winning streak. Flyers head to St. Louis for a Friday evening matchup against a Billiken team coming off a big win over VCU.
The Bonnies host Fordham on Saturday afternoon in a Coaches vs. Cancer game. Fordham coach Keith Urogo will not be on the sidelines. Urgo will be serving the last game of a school self-imposed four-game suspension related to recruiting violations. Interim head coach Tray Woodall will be running the team. Woodall was a Bonaventure assistant prior to moving to Rose Hill. On a personal note, yours truly officiated several of his high games in high school (St. Anthony’s, NJ).
Woodall has the Rams on a two game win streak. They defeated Duquesne at Rose Hill Sunday then knocked off La Salle on the road on Wednesday. Interestingly, both those teams have victories over the Bonnies this season.
“Melvin (Council) has it, whatever that it is. He plays with that joy and that’s why he’s good. The Lord blessed him with gifts to play the game, but he plays with joy.” – Mark Schmidt