By HUNTER O. LYLE
BUFFALO, NY – Walking off the court of the Reilly Center on Monday, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team’s locker room was full of disappointment. The little things had piled up and a winnable game had gotten away.
“They were upset when we lost on Monday,” said MacDonald, whose team dropped their season-opening matchup to Youngstown State 79-71. “Wednesday we watched film and they were really mad after it because they knew they didn’t play to their capabilities and that’s all they want to do.”
However, the quickest way to push the loss from their mind was to get back to work and learn from their mistakes. Heading out on the road for their second contest of the newly christened season, the Bonnies did just that, bursting into the win column with a dominant 88-49 win over Canisius.
The work toward the inaugural victory started early and by correcting the mistakes of the past.
Coming off a game where they were out-hustled and out-muscled under the boards, St. Bonaventure owned the glass through the opening half. With nine of the ten players who received minutes in the opening period pulling down a rebound, the Bonnies refused to give up a board for over six minutes – grabbing nine in that same window – and ultimately came away with a 27-13 advantage in the category at halftime.
“I thought our effort was big. A lot of times, rebounding comes down to the 50-50 balls,” said MacDonald, “and I thought tonight we got a lot of them.”
Their successful effort and momentum bled in virtually every other facet of the game, both offensively and defensively. On the attack, the Bonnies’ feasted down low, collecting 30 of their 43 first-half points from within the painted area, production led by Benjamin Bill’s eight early points and four rebounds and Ari Fulton’s seven and five.
Defensively St. Bonaventure held the Golden Griffins to their lowest scoring half in 25 years. With Bonnie defenders hounding ball handlers and five of them coming away with steals, Canisius struggled to initiate their offense, instead suffering nine turnovers through the first 20 minutes. When able, or forced, to get a shot off, air-tight closeouts gave way to an abysmal 18.5 percent (5-for-27) from the floor and 18.2 percent (2-7) from 3-point range.
“I thought our guard play, from Taj Au-Duke and Ryan Heath, was tremendous,” said MacDonald, whose team led by 29 at halftime. “Our guard play was really good and our bigs had to switch sometimes but they did a really good job of keeping people in front of them.”
The Bonnies kept the good times rolling at the start of the second half. Led by Fulton, who scored five of St. Bonaventure’s opening ten points, the Bonnies continued to roll over Canisius, maintaining an iron grip on the boards and connecting on a flurry of 3-pointers through the opening minutes.
Seeing the lead balloon to 35 mid-way through the period, St. Bonaventure finally opened up their bench, eventually seeing 14 players take to the court as they cruised to their first win of the season.
“We talk a lot about how life is 10 percent what happens and 90 percent how you react to it and I thought we reacted really well to getting beat on Monday night. You could see it right from the jump ball and you could see it from how we warmed up,” said MacDonald, who notched his first win as a head coach at St. Bonaventure. “I’m really happy for those guys because I knew they were better than that and they knew they were better than that. It was a great first win, but we have plenty more to do.”
In his best performance as a Bonnie so far, Fulton led the way with a team-high 18 points, shooting 6-for-10 from the field and 2-for-3 from long range, also recording eight rebounds, a steal and an assist.
“Ari plays with a ton of energy. I think he was really disappointed with how he played on Monday, but he took a deep breath, relaxed and moved on to the next one,” said MacDonald. “I think this is what we’ll see from Ari. He’s able to score close to the basket, he’s able to rebound and I think that’s the big thing. And I think going forward that’s what we’ll need.”
Three of Fulton’s teammates also reached double-digit scoring numbers, starting with Philipkoski’s 16 points and four assists and followed by Bill and Akbar Waheed III, who both scored 10 and combined for 12 rebounds.
Up next, St. Bonaventure opens up a three-game homestand, starting with Cornell on Wednesday at 7 p.m. Then they will take on Lafayette on Saturday at 4 p.m. and Buffalo the following Thursday at 7 p.m.
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