By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — While the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team may have suffered its heaviest defeat of the season last time out, its outlook remains positive ahead of its clash with George Washington.
After grabbing a win over Dayton and Fordham in its last two-game homestand of the Atlantic 10 regular season, Bona had seemingly corrected the ship, seeing as though it had won just one of the six games that came prior. However, it was unable to carry that momentum into the Windy City, suffering a 77-53 loss to Loyola Chicago.
“Winning on the road is difficult,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt said. “We played well at times, we had it down to a six-point game in the second half, and they made a run. Ball security was an issue, but you got to protect your home court and you try to steal some on the road. We lost the other night, and that’s just one game. Now, we got to bounce back. That’s what good teams do.”
Ultimately, the loss did not do all that much to the team’s morale or relative perspective on the remainder of the campaign. Currently, the Bonnies find themselves in the thick of the ‘messy middle’ of the pack and are one of 10 teams that are separated in the standings by two or less games.
“There’s a ton of teams that are one game away from fourth place, maybe two games,” Schmidt said. “So, yeah, we got a lot to play for. We’re 17-7, it’s not like we’re 7-17. We’re 5-6 in the league, we have seven more games, and we’re going to try to win them all. And you can’t win them all until you win the first one. So that’s our goal.”
Against the Ramblers, Bona’s offense struggled. The outside-in approach that worked so well against Fordham for the likes of Noel Brown and Xander Wedlow was shut down completely thanks to the defensive presence of Miles Rubin and the length of guards Des Watson and Sheldon Edwards Jr.
But while the game plan didn’t end up working against Loyola Chicago, it has far from shaken Schmidt from the dedication he and his team have to playing the way they know best.
“We just got to play our game,” Schmidt said. “We got to take care of the basketball, we got to play downhill, we got to get the ball inside. We got to be able to keep them in front, we can’t turn the ball over and (give up) breakouts, two-on-one’s. We got to try to keep it in the half court, like we always do, it’s no different. This time of year, we’ve already played 24 games. So there’s not a lot of surprises from what we’re going to do and what the opposition is going to do. We just try to do it as well as we can, and if we do, then we have a chance to win.”
Brown failed to convert a field goal against the Ramblers, but also struggling on offense was Lajae Jones who only scored two points. However, it was revealed Jones was dealing with flu-like symptoms and that he was not 100% in Chicago. Schmidt noted that he is feeling better and should be back in the lineup against George Washington.
And when it comes to the Revolutionaries, Jones will be among the key players Bona will need to slow down the sixth-best statistical scoring offense in the A10, which has amped up the number of 3-pointers it has been taking as of late.
The Revs are led on the scoring front by guard Gerald Drumgoole Jr. who averages 13 points per game. But a good amount of scoring comes from their big men Rafael Castro and Darren Buchanan Jr. who provide 12.5 and 12.2 points apiece and 9.2 and 6.6 rebounds per game respectively.
“Castro has 80 offensive rebounds, he’s in his top 10 in the country in offensive rebounding, so we got to keep him off the backboard,” Schmidt said. “Buchanan is a power 4-man. He doesn’t shoot the ball from beyond the arc, but he’s a driver. He backs guys in, plays like the NBA. … He’s strong, he’s physical, he’s got good skill. They present a lot of problems.”
But, much like its mentality heading into the home stretch of the regular season, Schmidt’s defensive scheme will not change.
“It’s the same old, same old,” Schmidt said. “We gotta get back in defense so they don’t get numbers and we gotta keep the ball in front of us so they can’t drive and kick, just like every team in our league. Everybody has really good players, as we do. You just got to keep teams in front. … At times we do it, at times we don’t and we got to get better at that.”
Schmidt and Co. will look to bounce back on Feb. 9 at 12 p.m. against George Washington in one of its three final home games of the regular season.
