It was a ‘Rose Thrill’ for Bonaventure. The Bonnies made it eight in a row. Saturday’s 86-66 victory over Fordham at Rose Hill Gymnasium increased the record to 14-1 (2-0). Keith Urgo’s Rams dropped to 8-7 (0-2).
Possessions: 66
Offensive Efficiency: St. Bona 130, Fordham 100
Four Factors:
eFG Pct. – St. Bona 60, Fordham 53
FT Rate- St. Bona 31, Fordham 16
OREB Pct.- St. Bona 31, Fordham 22
TO Rate- St. Bona 14, Fordham 20
Kenpom.com MVP: Melvin Council. Once again it was a game-high scoring effort with 24 points for Bonaventure’s standout guard. Council added eight assists (another game-high) while shooting 11 of 18 (61%) from the floor.
Fordham has seen Council before. Last season he scored 21 points for Wagner in an overtime loss to the Rams at Rose Hill.
Three Key Points of Emphasis:
A sweep of the Four Factors virtually guarantees a win. Arguably the most important factor was the turnover rate. It was below the 20% cutoff and in raw numbers the Bonnies had only nine miscues.
“One of our concerns coming into the game is that they (Fordham) create chaos,” Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt told gobonnies.com. “Fordham pressures and for us to only have eight turnovers, we had a ninth running out the clock at the end, that was huge.”
Bonnies, as has been the case in many situations this season, responded to the opposition’s runs. An early lead in the first half was cut to one thanks to an 8-0 run by the host Rams. The Bonnies answered with a 10-0 run of their own to take a 13 point lead into intermission. Another 8-0 Fordham run cut a 17 point second half deficit to nine. Again, the Bonnies used an 11-0 spurt to increase the lead to 20 with just under 10 minutes to play.
Balance was noticeable with four Bona players in double figures. Council, as noted, led the way with 24 points. Jonah Hinton scored a career high of 17 points while grabbing seven rebounds. Lajae Jones posted his first career double-double with a 16 point, 10 rebound outing. Noel Brown, despite battling foul trouble, added 14 points. When Noel and Chance Moore were hit with early foul trouble, Xander Wedlow and Noah Bolanga answered the call providing quality minutes.
There’s no place like home. Such was the famous line in the conclusion of ‘The Wizard of Oz’. It’s also a mantra for college coaches, players and fans. Home means familiarity and being energized by a raucous fan base. In 2024 A-10 teams were victorious in 58.5% of their conference home games. This season, the sample is small. Yet the hosts have emerged victorious 71.6% of the time.
For the record, the Bonnies were the visitors at venerable Rose Hill Gymnasium. Given the support of the legions of Bonaventure faithful in attendance, the home crowd was frequently drowned out on the decibel level. That fact did not go unnoticed as Bonnie players and coaches saluted the Brown and White followers moments after the final buzzer.
“Half the arena was Bonaventure,” Schmidt said. “We had a great crowd. Give our alums a ton of credit; it felt like Reilly Center in there.”
Notes: Council was chosen Atlantic Ten Men’s Basketball Player of the Week. Council averaged 22 points and six assists per game in Bonaventure’s victories over VCU and Fordham.
Bonnies shot 53%, limiting Fordham to a 44% mark. Three point shooting for Bona was 47% (9 of 19). Still, Mark Schmidt’s group ruled the paint by a 40-26 margin.
Bonnies won the battle of the boards 34-27. Jones’ 10 boards led the way while Fordham’s leader was Romad Dean with six.
For the third time in the last four seasons Bona has started A-10 play with a 2-0 record.
Fordham had three double figure scorers. Jackie Johnson paced the Rams with 21 points. Japhet Medor both added 13.
The Rams visit VCU on Wednesday.
Next up for the Bonnies, a trip to the ‘Gateway to the West’, St. Louis. It will be a battle of A-10 unbeatens on Wednesday as Josh Schertz’s Saint Louis Billikens host the Bonnies.
“I thought we played well in stretches, unfortunately they are a fast team, Council is really talented and when he gets out in transition he’s electric…My hat’s off to coach Schmidt. He’s my A-10 coach of the year at this point. He’s brought in a whole new group and got them to play so well together.” – Fordham coach Keith Urgo
“We kept the ball in front of us better than we did against VCU and we rebounded the ball. They’re a team that’s top-20 in the open court in the country so we did a really good job.” – Mark Schmidt
Posted In: General Discussion