In front of a raucous, sold out crowd the Bonnies made it three in a row. St. Bonaventure defeated Dayton 68-59 at the Reilly Center on Saturday evening. The win improved the Bonnies to 13-11 (7-4) while Dayton fell to 15-9 (7-4). Numbers and notes…
Possessions: 61. Slower paced grind it out affair. Just at the range of both teams. Dayton averages 65 possessions in A10 play, Bona 66.
Offensive efficiency: St. Bona 111, Dayton 97. Excellent on both ends. Dayton entered the game with a conference leading 111 OE. The Bonnies were tenth at 101. The final efficiency for the night says it all about the Bona offensive and defensive effort .
Four Factors:
eFG pct: St. Bona 53, Dayton 43. Bona shot 44% from the field, 9 of 24 for 38% from three. Dayton shot 39% and was 4 for 20 (20%) from three.
FT Rate: St. Bona 37, Dayton 30. This is an area Bona has shown improvement over recent weeks. Getting to the line more and keeping opponents off it as well.
OREB pct: Dayton 36, St. Bona 30. Dayton held a slight 35-31 advantage in rebounds.
TO Rate: St. Bona 13, Dayton 16. Bona committed only 8 turnovers to 10 by the Flyers. Bona enjoyed a 12-4 edge in points off turnovers.
Airing it out. One of the main reasons for the quick turnaround and current three game win streak, took place off the floor. “We had a team meeting before the VCU game and we talked about everything we felt we needed to do,” Moses Flowers told gobonnies.com. “Ever since that meeting we’ve been locked in…We’ve had each other’s back on offense and defense and stayed connected.”
Kenpom.com MVP: Chad Venning. The 6’10” Bona big man scored a team high 17 points, 8 rebounds. Bonnies had five in double figures with Flowers and Kyrell Luc scoring 13 while Daryl Banks III and Yann Farell added 12 and 11 respectively.
DaRon Holmes of Dayton paced all scorers with 21 points. Toumani Camara added 12 while pulling down a game-high 17 (7 offensive) rebounds.
Bona faithful God love ‘em. If Kenpom.com had three stars of the game similar to the NHL, the Bonaventure fans would have been star number two right behind Chad Venning. “We had a great crowd,” Schmidt said, “and without them we probably don’t end up the victors.” Fans do not put the ball in the basket nor initiate defensive stops. Players however can play off the enthusiasm they provide. “The Reilly Center is like nothing I’ve ever seen,” Venning remarked, “with that crowd you feed off of it.”
Bonnies answered. Dayton got out to an early seven point lead. Bonnies responded with a 14-3 run en route to a seven point lead of their own at the half. Flyers ‘won’ the first four minutes of the second half closing to within one. Again, Bona answered with another spurt of their own to push the margin back to double figures. Bonnies led by as many as 16 before Anthony Grant’s Flyers made another run. Dayton was able to get within three possessions, 60-51, with just under five minutes left. Banks ended the rally with the dagger, a three pointer as the shot clock was set to expire on the ensuing possession.
Notable and next. Dayton led 32-18 in points in the paint. Flyers also had the upper hand, though slightly, 13-10 in second chance points. This win snapped a seven game Bona losing streak against the Flyers. It was the longest active losing streak for the Bonnies against any A10 opponent. Bona’s last win over Dayton came in February of 2016.
Bonnies entertain La Salle at the Reilly Center on Wednesday. Explorers are coached by Fran Dunphy, in his first year at his alma mater. Schmidt and Dunphy met on opposite sidelines numerous times when the latter was directing the Temple Owls during their A10 days. Explorers are coming off a 73-65 victory at Saint Joseph’s on Sunday and are on a two game win streak.
“It took us a couple of minutes to get used to their speed , but I thought our guys really started defending the last 10 minutes of the first half and started executing really well.” – Mark Schmidt
