By SPENCER BATES
DAYTON, OH — With under a minute left in the first half, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team found itself in a 13-point hole.
After an early back-and-forth saw the scores level at 22-22, Dayton engaged on a 19-6 run, establishing a firm control of an affair between two Atlantic 10 teams longing for a win.
For Bona, it was in search of what would be a significant road win after giving up yet another contest in the dying moments last time out against George Mason.
For Dayton, it was hoping to snap a four game losing streak that saw them fall out of the top four in the conference standings.
Entering the second half, the Flyers would have felt good about their chances of seeing their dreams come to fruition. However, a second-half surge from the Bonnies catapulted them right back into contention and put the hosts’ dreams on pause.
Bona went on a 14-0 run of their own and even managed to take a lead at 48-47 for the first time in the game since it was 13-12 early in the first half.
But the comeback meant that Bona put itself right in the midst of yet another late-game battle, something they do not have the best track record in, losing five of their seven A10 losses in the final few minutes of the game.
Unfortunately for the Bonnies, the trend continued. After an 8-2 burst saw them take a 68-65 lead with under three minutes to go, two free throws were the only points they could muster over the final 2:50. Meanwhile, the Flyers took their opportunity, got to the free throw line and closed out the game with a 7-2 run, swiping a 72-70 victory right out of the hands of Bonnies.
“We played hard, we came back from a (13 point) deficit,” Bona head coach Mark Schmidt said. “I thought we made some plays, but at the end, we fouled too many times. They outscored us by 14 from the foul line. We had a shot at the end, a good shot, but we just couldn’t keep the ball in front of us, especially in the last three or four minutes. But the guys are playing hard. It’s just that every time we make a mistake, it just seems like we pay. They got to the foul line more times because we were fouling. We just got to do a better job having more discipline in those critical situations.”
The free throw disparity between the sides was a major factor in the game. Bona went 14-of-17 from the line on the night while Dayton went 28-of-33 at the stripe — 15 of which were shot by Jordan Derkack, who finished with 18 points.
But despite how many free throws Derkack took, it was Javon Bennett who snapped out of his cold streak and led the Flyers with a game-high 20 points. Amael L’Etang chipped in 16 points in the win as well.
For Bona, every single starter finished the game with double figures in the score column. Darryl ‘Buddy’ Simmons II led the way with 17 points. Frank Mitchell recorded a 16-point, 12-rebound double-double, Dasonte Bowen — who thrived while scoring in transition — scored 14, Cayden Charles netted 13 and Daniel Egbuniwe scored 10 points and grabbed nine rebounds. The Bonnies got no points on 0-for-4 shooting from its bench, which tallied just a combined 15 minutes on the floor.
For St. Bonaventure, it will have to look to its next game, an away fixture at Fordham, for its next chance to get back to winning ways. It will be the first reverse fixture of the season for the Bonnies, who fell 81-77 to the Rams on Jan. 10 in the Reilly Center.
