By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — In the end it was never in doubt.
Despite it being its fourth game in just eight days, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team took, and subsequently, never relinquished control against Div. II Bloomsburg en route to an 83-43 victory at home.
But this game was never about the score. Sure, it was still a test — Bona had just returned from a challenging road trip in which it finished 2-1, and if the team chose not to show up, a Bloomsburg team that had won its last two games by a combined 75 points would snap at the opportunity. Fortunately for head coach Mark Schmidt, that was not the case.
His team understood the assignment in front of them: control and improve.
The Thanksgiving break excursion was beneficial for the Bonnies, not just because it added more tallies in the win column, but also because it brought to the surface the aspects of their game that need improvement. Believe it or not, Atlantic 10 Conference play is less than a month away and now is the time for them to batten down the hatches.
Their most reliable shooter found himself in the midst of a cold streak, the defense was solid — but far from pristine and those coming off the bench made impacts, but were still far from perfect. These were all the issues needing to be addressed against the Huskies, and the tinkering began on the first play of the game.
Darryl ‘Buddy’ Simmons II had been Bona’s sharpshooter over the early stretch of the season. In a direct contrast to last season when it did not have the outside threat to keep defenses honest, Simmons has been that guy. But against East Carolina and Florida Atlantic, he shot a combined 2-for-15, getting in foul trouble in the latter affair being the cherry on top.
Determined to snap that cold streak, the first play of the game saw the Bonnies find Simmons in the corner for a 3, which he promptly knocked down. Buddy played 22 minutes against Bloomsburg and wound up as the game’s leading scorer with 19 points on a stellar 7-for-13 shooting.
“(It’s just about) having faith and having the confidence, and glory to God for everything that he’s done for me, man,” Simmons said. “I’ve just been just locking in and staying confident with my shots. Basketball is a game of runs, you’re gonna make and miss shots, but you just always got to be confident in yourself and trust the work. You always got to stay level-headed through the basketball season, because there’s always going to be highs and lows.”
St. Bonaventure’s Darryl ‘Buddy’ Simmons II (8) puts up a 3-pointer against Bloomsburg. Simmons finished with a game-high 19 points against Bloomsburg. (Derek Gumtow)
Defensively, a lot of the focus was on Joe Grahovac. A recipient of a fair amount of praise from Schmidt, Grahovac spent more time on the floor than any other player in the game as he continues to try and navigate the system.
“I’m really just trying to work on defensive reads and rebounding and ball-screen defense,” Grahovac said. “It’s a learning process. I’m here to get better, here to learn.”
Schmidt, once again, praised his big man — who finished with a season-high 15 points and nine rebounds — as he looked to really find a rhythm the more minutes he had.
“I thought Joe rebounded the ball better, which was one of the things that he needed to get better at, and he still needs to improve,” Schmidt said. “Both him and Frank, they (combined for) 10 offensive rebounds. Joe’s getting more comfortable. It’s a process, but hopefully today gives him a little bit more confidence.”
Getting the bench more minutes was another box that was checked off. Amar’e Marshall, who was injured for this matchup, Daniel Egbuniwe and the European trifecta of Achille Lonati, Ilia Ermakov and Andrew Osasuyi have all had their “moments in the sun” as Schmidt likes to say. Against Bloomsburg, it was of great importance to see what they could do together with extended minutes.
“They made some shots and made some plays, but we weren’t playing the Los Angeles Lakers,” Schmidt said. “In a game like this those guys need to gain some more confidence. In a game like this, they’re able to play through some mistakes. Achille played really well down at Florida Atlantic, and it carried over. We got to get Ilia going a little bit more. And Andrew’s raw, but can do some natural stuff. … So hopefully a game like this, even though it’s not against the competition that we’re about to see, it still gives them some opportunity to play through mistakes, and gain some confidence.”
St. Bonaventure’s Daniel Egbuniwe (3) rises up for a dunk against Bloomsburg. (Derek Gumtow)
So, just like that, the Bonnies had shored up some of its biggest concerns. However, as much as a blowout game can benefit a team, Schmidt knows that sometimes too much of a good thing could cause irreparable harm.
For an example, he pointed to the opening minutes of the second half, a stretch of time Bloomsburg won 11-10.
“The first four minutes of the second half we came out lethargic, came out like the game was over,” Schmidt said. “You want to play every second of every minute as hard and as well as you can. The barometer is not who you’re playing, it’s how you play. … And as I just told the team, you respect an opponent by giving them your best. And I thought we came out, I don’t know if cocky is the right word or lethargic or whatever.”
Simmons had the answer.
“Lackadasical,” Simmons interjected.
“Yeah, lackadaisical, Buddy’s word,” Schmidt said. “And you can’t do that when you’re playing a team of our caliber. In the Atlantic 10, or on Saturday against UB, if we come out like that in the second half, we’re going to be in trouble.”
And after all the construction and growth this team has seen over the course of the season, seeing one game cause their mentality slip would be devastating.
St. Bonaventure will hope to see the work it put in against Bloomsburg pay off in its next game, on the road at Buffalo, a team still yet to taste defeat on the season at 8-0. That game is set for Dec. 6 at 2 p.m.
