The home portion of the schedule opened in decidedly convincing fashion. St. Bonaventure defeated Canisius 89-70 at the Reilly Center. Saturday’s game saw the Bonnies improve to 2-0 while Canisius is now 1-2. Numbers and notes…
Possessions: 64. More of a grind it out variety. Definitely a different and faster tempo than what the Bonnies saw against Bradley.
Offensive Efficiency: St. Bona 139, Canisius 109. Outstanding offensive metric by Mark Schmidt’s Bonnies. The defense? Not as outstanding as you aspire to limit the opposition to under 100 efficiency.
Four Factors:
| eFG Pct. | FT Rate | OREB Pct. | TO Rate | |
| St. Bona | 55 | 27 | 57 | 13 |
| Canisius | 57 | 33 | 24 | 17 |
Hot shooting. Both teams got out of the gate fast thanks to some sharp perimeter shooting. Canisius enjoyed an early five point lead before the Bonnies found the range, building a 30-26 lead with eight minutes remaining in the half. Good ball movement and the inability of the Griffs to effectively close out allowed Bona to can six threes in those opening 12 minutes.
On the opposite end Canisius ran some ball screen action that allowed some open looks from deep. The visitors hit three three pointers during that same 12 minute time frame.
Kenpom.com MVP: Frank Mitchell. The Bonaventure senior forward scored 20 points while grabbing 11 rebounds. Mitchell played two years with Canisius prior to playing at Minnesota last season. His performance was not necessarily revenge motivated but it was satisfying just the same.
“I approach every game as if it’s my last,” Mitchell told Tapinto Greater Olean. “(My approach) doesn’t have anything to do with my opponent..but as a former Griff it does feel good to beat them.”
Rebounding. The Bonnies knocked down nine three pointers. Rest assured this was a game decided a lot closer to the basket. Bona out rebounded the Griffs by a 42-22 margin. They owned the offensive glass by an outstanding 20-7 margin. Little surprise that the hosts also had an impressive 44-26 advantage in points in the paint.
“I think (on the blocks) is where we won our first two games,” Schmidt said. “It’s old school but you have to win in the paint. If you win in the paint you have a chance to win and we did that.”
Bona owns an impressive 35 offensive rebounds in its first two contests.
Spreading the wealth. The Bonnies had six players in double figures. Beside Mitchell with 20, Achille Lonati had 13, Cayden Charles, Buddy Simmons and Joe Grahovac had 12 each and Andrew Osasuyi added 10.
Bonnies assisted on 18 of their 33 field goals with Simmons leading the way with four.
Dasonte Bowen added a career best seven rebounds. Amar’e Marshall scored his first points in a Bona uniform with eight points, four rebounds and three assists.
Notes: Bonnies led by 15, 50-35 at intermission. The closest Canisius would get was getting the deficit to 11 points in the first six minutes following the break.
Canisius coach Jim Christian is in his first season at the MAAC school. A veteran on the sidelines with a number of stops along the way, Christian was most recently at Kent State.
Leading the way for the Griffs Bryan Njonga with 18 points. Javante Edwards added 14 and Chris Kumu added 12.
Canisius shot 49%, including 42% from downtown. Bona checked in at 49% as well with 35% beyond the arc.
Bona will host Siena on Wednesday in the Brother Ed Coughlin Franciscan Cup. Canisius entertains Mercyhurst on the same night.
