By SPENCER BATES
SAINT LOUIS, MO. — The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team saw its eight-game win streak and unbeaten start to play in the Atlantic 10 snapped at the hands of Saint Louis, despite a late run that put the game in contention.
With just over 4.5 minutes left to play and down by 16 points, the Bonnies looked to be staring down a hefty defeat early in their A10 campaign. However, much to the delight of coach Mark Schmidt, they found a way to claw back, putting together a 16-4 run that had the game within four points with just over 20 seconds left.
Unfortunately, some untimely fouls and some drained free throws from SLU put the comeback attempt on ice as Bona fell 73-68.
Ahead of the game, Schmidt acknowledged that a team’s best players are going to get their points, defeating teams is about making those points as hard as possible to come by. The Billikens’ trio of Robbie Avila, Gibson Jimerson and Isaiah Swope — who entered the affair as the only trio in the entirety of Div. I men’s college basketball to average over 18 points per game apiece — were those stars that Bona was trying to keep quiet.
Unfortunately, some lulls and lapses on defense gave those players some better looks than Schmidt would have liked, and they made the Bonnies pay.
Jimerson, specifically, had an extraordinary night scoring the ball. He recorded a game-high 28 points, 18 of which came from beyond the arc, where he shot over 50%.
Swope and Avila both finished below their season averages for points per contest, but still played a big role in the scoring, notching 16 and 14 respectively.
“We let Jimerson get off early, and you can’t let shooters get off,” Schmidt said. “We broke down three times in the first three or four minutes of the game and that was the difference. You can talk about the lows and all that, but when you give a shooter open shots and he makes a couple, then the basket gets bigger.”
The Bonnies won the points-in-the-paint category by 22, won the battle for second-chance points by 12 and kept the turnovers even. But it was how well the Billikens shot the deep ball that had them, metaphorically, off-balance.
“We felt like we were always on our heels,” Schmidt said. “(But) we didn’t give up. I told the team in the locker room, we were down by 10, for lesser teams, lesser players, lesser character guys that could have gone from 10 to 20. We fought back and we made it a one possession game. … We had our chances, but give (Saint Louis) credit. They are a good team, they run good stuff. They got us on some plays that they run. But ,overall, effort was decent. We just didn’t play well enough to beat a good team on the road.”
St. Bonaventure guard Lajae Jones (10) looks to get around Saint Louis’ Gibson Jimerson (24) for a layup. (St. Bonaventure Athletics)
However, it was not just SLU’s effectiveness from deep that had the Bonnies looking for answers. The different defensive styles the hosts ran troubled them and despite the high post having been available for the taking, they were unable to generate any offense from that spot.
“We were missing the high post,” Schmidt said. “I don’t know why, but the high post was wide open. We tried to put Melvin (Council Jr.) in there, he’s the best passer, and we just didn’t get some shots. One time we had Noel (Brown) inside. That’s something we got to continue to work on, but we got to get the ball to the high post.”
Offensively, Chance Moore got himself back amongst the points after two single-digit outings for the team’s leading scorer, recording a 23-point, 10-rebound double double. Around him, Brown, Lajae Jones and Council scored 16, 14 and 10 points respectively.
It has been quite some time since Bona has had to consider how to respond after a loss this season, the last time having been after its loss to Utah State back on Nov. 28, 2024. The team ultimately responded with a win over the University of Northern Iowa then. But this loss comes in-conference.
Still, the message, according to Schmidt, was a simple one.
“You got to play 30 seconds for 40 minutes,” Schmidt said. “We fought back, and now we hit some adversity. Now we have a loss, and now we’re going to try to get another winning streak going. We knew we weren’t going to go undefeated. There was going to be some adversity. We were going to lose a game. Now, we have to bounce back and that’s going to be the challenge.”
“To really compete for an Atlantic 10 title, you got to protect your home court and steal some on the road. We stole one on the two-game road trip and now we got to go home and try to play well to protect our home court.”
St. Bonaventure will look to respond with a win in its next game, a home affair against LaSalle, on Jan. 11. Tip-off for that game is set for 12 p.m.
