The season final at the Reilly Center was anything but ordinary or boring. St. Bonaventure edged UMass 73-72 on Wednesday evening. The win improved the Bonnies record to 20-10 (8-9). Frank Martin’s Minutemen dropped to 12-18 (7-10). Numbers and notes…
Possessions: 74
Offensive Efficiency: St. Bona 99, Umass 97
Four Factors:
eFG Pct.- St. Bona 45, UMass 43
FT Rate- St. Bona 30, UMass 24
OREB Pct.- UMass 37, St. Bona 32
TO Rate- St. Bona 16, UMass 22
Points of Emphasis:
White knuckler. In the words of late legend Al McGuire. The final tally of eight lead changes and 13 ties tells you a great deal. UMass led 39-38 at intermission and began to pull away early in the final stanza. A 12-2 Bona run gave the hosts a 63-57 lead with just under 10 minutes to play. UMass responded and two Daniel Hankins-Sanford free throws cut the Bona lead to one with 69 seconds remaining. The one point difference stood as Rashool Diggins, who had four three pointers on the afternoon, had a chance to give the Minutemen a victory. Diggins’ attempt from beyond the arc was off the mark, allowing the Bonnies to hold on.
Once again, the ‘half empty’ opinion can question beating a sub .500 team at home by one. The ‘half full’ point of view can credit the Bonnies for securing the necessary stops in the final minute. When they needed it most.
“I thought we did a good job the last possession, making it really difficult on Diggins” Bona coach Mark Schmidt told gobonnies.com.
Milestone. The win was number 20 for the Brown and White. It was the seventh 20-win season in Mark Schmidt;s tenure and the 19th time in program history.
It’s a good victory,” Schmidt commented. “That’s the benchmark for a season, to get 20 wins, but we want more. We have to go to Davidson and play a really good Davidson team down there then go to D.C.”
Duane Thompson. The 6’8” Redshirt Freshman posted a team best +10 plus/minus for his 15 minutes in a reserve role Thompson scored eight points with four rebounds earning the Bonnies Player of the Game WWE legacy belt for his effort.
“I thought Duane was the MVP of the game,” Schmidt said. “He hasn’t played a lot and we have some injuries and we put Duane in there at the five. For him to come in, and not have played a ton during the year…it was big for us. He got the belt.”
Kenpom.com MVP: Melvin Council. The Bonaventure senior guard had a good all around game. Council scored 14 points, pulled down six rebounds, had four steals, five assists and one turnover in 36 minutes.
Joining Council in double-figures were Lajae Jones, Bona’s leader, with 15, Noel Brown 14 and Jonah Hinton adding 13. UMass was led by Daniel Hankins-Sanford of UMass led all scorers with 22 points. Rashool Diggins added 18 and Jaylen Curry finished with 16.
Notes. This was the 79th meeting between the Bonnies and Minutemen. It’s probably the last in the near future as UMass moves to the Mid-American Conference next season. The Bonnies have played only four opponents more times- Niagara, Canisius, Duquesne and Saint Joseph’s.
UMass shot 39%, including 32% from three. Bonnies checked in at 42% and 16% (4 of 25) from downtown. Three of those three pointers were by Hinton, all coming in the final 12 minutes stretch.
Bonnies were outrebounded 42-39. Hankins-Sanford grabbed a game-high 11 boards for UMass. Moore and Jones paced the Bonnies with six each. Bonnies did however lead 15-13 in second chance points. The biggest of those was courtesy of a Lajae Jones putback late in the contest.
Schmidt has often said the Bonnies are not an elite three point shooting team. The emphasis, rather, is producing points in the patient. Mission accomplished as Bona held a 44-30 advantage in that department.
Despite not being a natural lead guard, Council is sixth in the A10 with 4.1 assists per game.
Thompson should get more minutes at Davidson. He filled in for Xander Wedlow, out for the season with a knee injury, and as noted turned in an excellent performance.
UMass has now dropped five of their last six. The Minutemen host Loyola Chicago on Saturday to wrap up their portion of the A10 regular season.
Bonnies wind up the regular season with a visit to Davidson on Saturday. The Wildcats are 6-11 in A10 play having lost their last three contests.
“Our goal is to get some momentum going into D.C. and win the tournament. That’s the only way we’re going to get into the NCAA Tournament, and that’s the goal when we started this thing.” – Mark Schmidt
