St. Bonaventure finished the game and regular season on a positive note. The Bonnies exited Belk Arena with a hard fought 64-61 victory on Saturday afternoon. The win, featuring eight ties and lead changes, improved the Bonaventure record to 21-10 (9-9). The host Wildcats dropped to 16-15 (6-12). Numbers and notes…
Possessions: 66
Offensive Efficiency: St. Bona 97, Davidson 92
Four Factors:
eFG Pct.- Davidson 50, St. Bona 47
FT Rate- St. Bona 27, Davidson 19
OREB Pct.- St. Bona 24, Davidson 7
TO Rate- St. Bona 14, Davidson 18
Points of Emphasis:
Shooting. The two teams finished with identical 43% field goal percentages. The Wildcats had the lead in eFG percentage by virtue of a slight edge in three point shooting. Coach Matt McKillop’s club shot 7 of 26 (27%) from three while Bona checked in at 5 for 24 (21%).
Down the stretch. At the break the score was knotted at 34. In the second half the Bonnies were able to build a 10-point lead with just under 12 minutes to play. The lead was still eight with just over four minutes remaining. At that point the Bona offense began to get conservative going deep into the shot clock and coming up empty. Three pointers by Connor Kochera and Bobby Durkin cut the lead to two with just over a minute left. Melvin Council hit one of two three throws with seven seconds left to extend the lead to three. On the final possession, Durkin’s long distance attempt missed with Lajae Jones grabbing the rebound to end the game.
“We gutted it out,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt told gobonnies.com. “We made that run in the second half and had some opportunities to expand the lead. When we went small with Duane (Thompson) and Lajae at the five, we held in there. That was the difference in the game.”
A10 Tournament. An eighth seed, Bonnies will face Duquesne in the A10 Tournament second round. The game is an 11:30 a.m. start at Washington’s Capital One Arena. Duquesne defeated the Bonnies in last year’s A10 semifinal at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center. The Dukes went on to capture the A10 title. Duquesne, which lost at Saint Louis in overtime on Saturday, has dropped their last two outings. Bonnies enter the tournament having won four of their last five.
“Momentum is important, but when the ball goes up Thursday against whoever we play it doesn’t matter,” Schmidt said. “In tournament play you have to win that first game. Once you win that first game you can get it rolling. And move on.”
Kenpom.com MVP: Connor Kochera. The Davidson senior celebrated Senior Day with a game-high 25 points. Kochera shot 10 of 13 from the floor, including 8 of 9 from inside the arc. Reed Bailey added 15 for the Wildcats.
Bonnies placed three in double-figures with Noel Brown leading the way with 16 points. Melvin Council scored 15 and Jonah Hinton 11.
The Bona Belt was awarded to Brown. Saddled by foul trouble in the first half, he scored all of his 16 points in the second stanza. Beside his low post scoring presence Brown was effective on the defensive end. He did a good job on Davidson’s 6’10” Reed Bailey. The Davidson big man, a 19 ppg scorer, finished with 15 points on 6 of 15 shooting. Brown defended Bailey especially well in the stretch as the Bonnies were maintaining their lead.
“Noel did a good job of scoring inside to start the second half,” Schmidt praised. “We have to get the ball inside to find success and we did that today.”
Notes. Bonnies held a 36-28 advantage on the boards, 8-2 on the offensive end. Bona’s Lajae Jones was the game-high rebounder with 12 (six offensive). It was a new Division I career high for Jones.
Bonnies led 34-32 in points in the paint, second chance points 4-0 and points off turnovers 15-11.
Council has now scored double-figures in 22 consecutive games which includes every A10 contest.
Chance Moore finished with nine points while Noah Bolanga added seven coming off the bench.
The victory was Bona’s third all-time at Belk Arena where their overall record is 3-6.
“We got 21 wins and we’re proud of our guys. Now it’s on to the second season.” – Mark Schmidt
