By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — It’s blue collar, it’s old school, but as the old adage goes: if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
St. Bonaventure men’s basketball head coach Mark Schmidt has held firm to his formula that great defense leads to great offense and that is the way to go when looking for sustainable success. Even in the modern era of college basketball, where the jump shot and deep ball reigns supreme, Schmidt doesn’t budge.
Fortunately, he has himself a group of players that have fully embraced being workhorses. Hard-working guys who are unselfish, resilient, adaptable and never drop their effort levels.
That is exactly what led to the Bonnies moving to 2-0 on the season, capturing an 89-70 win over its longest rival Canisius in front of a raucous Reilly Center.
“It was a great game, great fans, great students,” Schmidt said. “I didn’t see an empty seat in the student section, which is great. We need their support throughout the year and hopefully this is just the beginning.”
It took some time for Bona to open up the game, with Canisius showing that it had a significant interest in the affair. Bryan Ndjonga powered the Golden Griffins with nine first half points, which would double by the end of the second half, and three rebounds. But it was not just Ndjonga, he was merely the head of the spear. Behind him, the visitors put together an incredibly efficient first half of action, shooting nearly 54% from the field.
Fortunately for the Bonnies, their ability to shoot was on full display early as well. With eight first-half 3s, they shot their way past the Griffs, with 13 second-chance points and 10 fast break points helping them establish their 50-35 lead at the break.
Prior to the game, Schmidt said that he wanted his team to “attack and not get attacked,” and while he was happy with most of what he saw, there is still plenty of work to be done.
“We’re not getting hurt by getting posted up, we’re getting hurt off the bounce,” Schmidt said. “We got to be able to guard our yard, we got to get into the gaps better and rotate better. And that’s just practice, it’s toughness, it’s a will to do that. Defense has to be the staple. Offense is fickle, you never know what’s going to happen. … So, you can’t rely on jump shooting to win. You got to win the paint, got to win the backboard. You win on the defensive end. It’s an area that we got to improve on.”
St. Bonaventure’s Frank Mitchell (00) rises up for the slam. Mitchell led the Bonnies with a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double in their win over Canisius. (Derek Gumtow)
In the first half, it was the 3-ball that spurred on the Bonnies. But come the second half, that well had seemingly dried up as they saw just one shot from beyond the arc fall over the course of the second 20 minutes.
This is where the adaptability of the squad comes into play.
Bona did not see their shots start to miss and panic. They resorted to getting buckets the old fashioned way and put on a display of dominant basketball from inside the arc.
When all was said and done, the Bonnies won the paint by a 44-26 margin, second-chance points 22-6, fast-break points 16-1 and bench points 31-21.
“We struggled shooting the ball in the second half, we made one (3-pointer),” Schmidt said. “But the strength of our team so far has been the backboard. … The other thing that we tried to work on, that we didn’t do a great job of doing against Bradley, was pushing the ball. … We did a better job in transition tonight.”
Leading the charge in the battle of the boards was former Golden Griffin Frank Mitchell, who recorded a 20-point, 11-rebound double-double, with eight of his boards coming on the offensive end.
“It’s effort, playing hard is a skill,” Schmidt said. “We got guys that are relentless to the backboard, Frank being the best of them all.”
Of course there was a bit more fire burning in the engine of Mitchell going against his former squad, but according to him it truly didn’t phase him. He approached the game like he will approach each and every game he has left. Tonight, it just so happened he was the go-to guy.
“I try to approach every game like it’s my last,” Mitchell said. “I don’t think it has anything to do with my opponent. … it’s just another game. Obviously, as a former Griff, it feels good to beat them. … But it’s just a game. My team believed in me, my coaches believed in me, and they gave me the keys.”
St. Bonaventure’s Joe Grahovac (32) puts up a shot against Canisius. Grahovac finished with 12 points in the Bonnies’ win over the Golden Griffins. (Derek Gumtow)
Behind Mitchell, five other Bonnies all reached double-figures on the scoring front. Achille Lonati finished with 13 points, Joe Grahovac, Darryl ‘Buddy’ Simmons II and Cayden Charles each racked up 12 and Andrew Osasuyi recorded 10 to go along with seven rebounds.
“The other thing that was good was that we shared the ball,” Schmidt said. “We had a couple plays where we should have made an extra pass, but for the most part, we went from a good shot to a great shot. We didn’t get caught up in the score, we were unselfish.”
Mitchell said that is because in this team, there are no personal goals. From the veterans to the freshmen, the sole focus of this team is to win.
“There’s no agendas here,” Mitchell said. “No one comes in here and says, ‘I need to do this, I need to do that.’ Everyone comes in here … thinking about winning. The bar is set to win, not to score. That’s why we’re able to do what we do.”
And what they did was show out for the home fans, and for Grahovac, the environment was a spectacle.
“That was the largest crowd I’ve ever seen,” Grahovac said. “The fans went crazy. The students went crazy. I thought I would be thinking about the fans more during the game, and I didn’t. … It was really fun, shoutout to everybody who came out.”
St. Bonaventure has now dismissed one rival, but another challenge is not far ahead as Siena will make the trek to the Reilly Center on Nov. 12 at 7 p.m. with the Franciscan Cup up for grabs.
