By SPENCER BATES
RICHMOND, VA — Despite a number of costly turnovers, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team held a halftime advantage over Atlantic 10 leaders VCU thanks to a solid defensive effort.
But those turnovers kept coming in the second half, and so too did the Rams offense, which, once it solved the puzzle, slammed its foot on the gas en route to handing the Bonnies a 75-61 loss.
VCU managed to erase the 10-point advantage Bona had in the early minutes of the second half with a 12-0 scoring run that eventually extended into a 23-5 run that took just over seven minutes of game time.
And it just continued to snowball for the Bonnies.
They finished with 16 turnovers — which led to 17 points against them — to the Rams’ six. They also allowed an offense that shot just over 31% from the field and 27.3% from deep to shoot 61.5% in both areas in the second half.
“We turned the ball over too many times in the second half,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt said. “We did a really good job in the first half, defensively. The game plan was working, we got up by 10 in the second half, and then they went after us. The whole key here is you know they’re going to make a run. You got to answer it. And we turned the ball over too many times. A team shoots 61% (from the field) and 61% from 3s in the second half and they score 50 points, you’re not going to beat anybody.”
St. Bonaventure guard Jonah Hinton (8) hoists up an uncontested 3-pointer. (St. Bonaventure Athletics)
But even after conceding a 23-5 run, the hosts only led by five points and in the immediate aftermath, Bona still had a chance. It had the deficit at just three points before the VCU offense once again found a groove and closed out the game with a 14-6 run, which had Schmidt yearning for the defense his team had going in the first half.
“We had our chances even though we weren’t defending great,” Schmidt said. “But they made some big shots and the crowd gets into it. It’s a tough place to play. But, I thought, in the first half, if we can bottle that, we have a chance. We couldn’t have played better defensively. We made some shots, we out-rebounded them by 17 at halftime. But in the second half, they turned the tables on us, and we just couldn’t recover.”
Going into the game, Schmidt knew that getting VCU in the half court and slowing down its offense was going to be key. So, just a five-point deficit in fast break points at halftime was a positive sign. However, as the Bonnies’ turnovers started to pile up, so too did the fast break points they gave up. The Rams ended up winning the category by a 22-5 margin.
“You can’t give them fast break points,” Schmidt said. “You got to keep it in the half court if you’re going to have a chance. And, you know, we had some soft turnovers and, a good team with all the athletes that they have, they make you pay for it.”
Bona did have some flurries of success before things started to go downhill. Notably, while Melvin Council Jr. was held without a single point in the first half, Jonah Hinton recorded nine points and Noel Brown, Lajae Jones and Chance Moore tallied eight apiece, accounting for all 33 points in the first 20 minutes. In fact, all 61 points the Bonnies did score were courtesy of those listed in the starting five.
Council did eventually find some success shooting the ball and finished with 10 points. He and Moore, who scored a game-high 21 points to go along with eight rebounds in his return from injury, scored all but five second-half points for Bona.
St. Bonaventure guard Chance Moore (0) brings the ball up the court against VCU. (St. Bonaventure Athletics)
But despite their individual successes, a tale of two halves in the Siegel Center concluded with a loss for the Bonnies, the fifth in their last six games. Their next chance to get back to winning ways will fortunately come on home soil, but unfortunately will be against no easier opponent as they will welcome in Dayton who currently sits fifth in the A10 standings.
“In the Atlantic 10 every game, no matter who you’re going against, is going to be a difficult game,” Schmidt said. “So, we’ll go back and watch tape and try to get better.”
St. Bonaventure and Dayton will tip-off in the Reilly Center on Jan. 28 at 8 p.m.
