By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — After a fruitful start to its 2024-25 season, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team has faced one test after another in the Atlantic 10.
And after a 3-3 start to conference play, a major blow to the roster’s depth only compounds the difficulty on its next challenge: a date with league leaders and national defensive powerhouse George Mason.
The Bonnies were handed their fourth loss of the season, and third in-conference, last time out against a red-hot Duquesne team that has found itself in a groove under first-year head coach Dru Joyce III. The 18-point loss was their heaviest of the season. All others they have suffered have come by, at most, two possessions.
But the scoreline did not provide the only loss on the night for Bona. It suffered a prolonged loss after Chance Moore, the team’s second-highest scorer at the time of writing, picked up a foot injury after 12 minutes of game time. And while speaking to the media ahead of the George Mason clash, coach Mark Schmidt was clear that Moore will be absent from the lineup.
Moore, who has featured in every game up until this point for the Bonnies, averaged 14.1 points and 7.3 rebounds prior to his injury. And as for what the team’s mentality has to be in the direct aftermath of losing him, Schmidt laid it out plain and simple:
“Next guy up,” Schmidt said. “That’s an opportunity for somebody else to come in there and play for us.”
Moore, who’s injury has not come with a timetable for return, joins Dasonte Bowen and Jaxon Edwards on the injured list for the Bonnies. In his absence, there is set to be increased usage in players like Duane Thompson, Noah Bolanga and Miles Rose. All three, Schmidt noted, got some experience as the team tried to find a solution mid-game against Duquesne. However, the trio combined for just 10 points against the Dukes. Now, ahead of the team’s first full game without Moore this season, Schmidt hopes the “next men up” will be able to find their legs in familiar settings.
“It’s hard, you never want to lose two of your starters but that’s basketball, injuries are part of the game,” Schmidt said. “It gives another guy an opportunity to come in and play. Hopefully the Duquesne game got their feet wet a little bit. I thought Duane did decently, the other two guys struggled a little bit. Hopefully now, playing at home, they’re a little bit more comfortable.”
It will be a trial by fire for the Bona bench as George Mason comes to town sporting the 12th-best scoring defense in the country. And according to Schmidt, what makes its defense so cumbersome is simply the quality in its ranks.
“They got really good players and they got really good length,” Schmidt said. “They’re athletic and they play hard. If you put those combinations together, you got a really good defensive team.”
And while the Patriots’ defense may be the best, statistically, in the A10 as of writing, their offense ranks near the bottom of the league. It is in this way the Bonnies and their opponents find themselves similar.
Bona’s defense is currently top-three in the conference with its offense ranking one spot below George Mason, statistically.
Darius Maddox, Jalen Haynes and Brayden O’Connor lead the Patriots’ offense, providing 14.3, 12.4 and 10.3 points respectively. However, they are not the only ones that can supply a punch to opposition defenses.
George Mason has seen nine different players feature in at least 17 of its games this season and of those who don’t average double figures, just one averages below five points per game. Its depth has given the team a huge boost as of late, accounting for 18 points per game since conference play started and 26 points per game in their last three games.
Meanwhile, Bona’s bench, now set for a bigger role, has provided 5.6 points per game in-conference.
“You got to stop the ‘knowns’ but there’s not really one ‘known’ (on George Mason),” Schmidt said. “Their big guy inside is good and they got good guards. One of the reasons why they’re successful is they got a number of guys that can score. So, you can’t really hone in on one guy. You got to really try to stop their entire team.”
As for the Bonnies that will look to dismantle George Mason’s league-leading defensive unit, Melvin Council Jr. and Noel Brown will have even more responsibility put on them in the scoring department with Moore out. Jonah Hinton, who struggled last time out against Duquesne’s physicality, will be handed some of those expectations as well.
Hinton had finished five of his last six games with double figures in the scoring department, but the Dukes held him without a point for the first time since in a Bona uniform.
“You have to make adjustments,” Schmidt said of what Hinton needs to take away from his struggles against Duquesne. “You got to take the ball to the basket, you got to curl off your down screens, you got to be more physical. You can’t let them knock you off your spots. This is a great lesson for him and hopefully he’s learned. This is his first year playing Division One basketball, he’s learning, and hopefully he gets better at being able to play against physical guys.”
Council, Brown, Hinton and the “next-man-up” Bonnies will look to get back to winning ways against the Patriots on Jan. 21 at the Reilly Center. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
