By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — The first time the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team faced off against Saint Joseph’s this season, the first inklings of a trend were forming.
After having been up by four points with just over two minutes to play in their Jan. 14 affair, the Bonnies conceded an 8-0 run that saw them go winless in their first four Atlantic 10 games of a season for the first time in 19 years.
In round two, a similar tale — one of late-game struggles — was spun.
“There’s been eight or nine games where we’ve had the lead, and then we just can’t make plays. The other team’s making plays, and we break down,” Bona head coach Mark Schmidt said. “I don’t know if it’s discipline, but it just seems like every time we break down, they make the shot. Sometimes they’ll miss, but it just seems like every time we make a mistake, they make us pay.”
The Hawks had established a nine point lead a handful of times throughout the Feb. 18 matchup, but following each instance the Bonnies were able to conjure up a response. None more important than the 14-2 run they had late in the second half that put them back in front after having lost the narrow advantage they had at the start of the second 20 minutes.
“The last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes in the second half are critical, and we didn’t come out in the second half that well,” Schmidt said. “I think they made eight or nine shots. But I thought we gathered ourselves, we took the lead, we just couldn’t make enough plays to overcome some of our deficiencies.”
The roof was about to pop off the Reilly Center as the home crowd could taste victory. But immediately after that scoring run by the hosts, late blunders, the exact same ones that sank them in the first go-around with St. Joe’s, resurfaced as they made just one field goal in the final 5.5 minutes.
In that time, the Hawks put together a 13-5 run to hand the Bonnies a 71-65 loss. It was St. Joe’s first win in the Reilly Center since March 1, 2014.
And in the words of Mark Schmidt, the quick descent to defeat was less so curated by the Hawks. It was their own miscues that opened the door for the guests to take advantage.
“When we make a run, we got to stay in that run,” Schmidt said. “If a team’s going to beat you, you got to make them beat you. We had mistakes where, in essence, we beat ourselves in those situations. … we lose the momentum, and it’s not like we’re losing the momentum because the other team’s making plays, we’re making mistakes and that’s allowing them to make plays. Not all the time, but that’s something that’s creeped up a lot.”
All but one of St. Joe’s points were scored by a starter. Derek Simpson and Austin Williford, notably, led the charge, scoring 23 and 14 points, respectively, and combining for 8-for-16 from 3-point range. Every starter for the Hawks finished with double figures as Justice Ajogbor, Jaiden Glover-Toscano and Dasear Haskins netted 12, 11 and 10 points apiece.
For Bona, it was Darryl ‘Buddy’ Simmons II that led scoring with 18 points. Dasonte Bowen and Frank Mitchell were the only other Bonnies to hit double figures. Bowen netted 13 points while Mitchell tallied a 12-point, 12-rebound double-double.
However, while he didn’t hit double-figures, perhaps the biggest impact on the game was left by Andrew Osasuyi. The Italian freshman has grown exponentially in his first season of Div. I basketball and against the Hawks, he tallied eight blocks, just one shy of tying the program record for blocks in a game — currently held by Andrew Nicholson.
St. Bonaventure’s Andrew Osasuyi (33) rises up for a block against Saint Joseph’s. Osasuyi tallied eight blocks for the Bonnies in their loss to the Hawks. (Derek Gumtow)
“Working every day in the gym has helped me,” Osasuyi said. “It’s difficult to come here and adapt to the game, but I feel like staying in the gym has helped me a lot. That’s what’s going to make me get better.”
The transition from the professional style in Europe to the American style is something Schmidt has noted is difficult for some guys to make. Fortunately for Osasuyi, he has had, statistically, one of the best big men in all of college basketball as a mentor.
Mitchell has developed a close relationship this season with Osasuyi and has praised his teammate, noting that, for him, “the sky’s the limit.”
“He has a great impact on me,” Osasuyi said of Mitchell. “We’ve been going at each other in practice and he has made me a way better player. I look up to him. He’s trying to make me better.”
Of course, there is still more to be desired from Osasuyi. Up next for him, in the eyes of Schmidt, is gaining some size and strength and developing an offensive presence, he scored eight points against St. Joe’s.
“When I went and saw him play, you could tell the potential that he has,” Schmidt said. “He’s just not physically strong enough to hold his position and block shots on his guy. But he has tremendous talent. Right now, it’s not that he’s half a player, but he’s a defensive player, and hopefully, as we go forward, he gets stronger and his offense comes along.”
Osasuyi was the silver lining in the loss for St. Bonaventure as it fell to 3-10 in A10 play behind consecutive home losses. It will look to get back on track on the road against Richmond on Feb. 21 at 6 p.m.
