By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — When a team has a player ranked in the top 15 for offensive rebounds per game nationally, the battle of the boards will likely tell the tale of the game.
And in the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team’s 62-52 loss to George Washington, which entered the Reilly Center with Rafael Castro — statistically the 13th best offensive rebounder in the nation — that was exactly the case.
The Bonnies were decimated in the rebounding category 39-24 on the day, with the Revolutionaries grabbing 13 offensive rebounds and scoring 11 second-chance points compared to the five their hosts managed.
And while Bona coach Mark Schmidt may have been relatively happy with the numbers his team held GW to defensively, he was blunt about the poor effort on the boards and the lack of fluidity from the offense.
“From a defensive standpoint, we got our numbers,” Schmidt said. “We held them under six 3s, we turned them over 20 times, we had 13 steals. But, really, the game came down to two things: We couldn’t rebound the ball … and, offensively, we couldn’t get the ball inside. We didn’t really do a good job when they were down in ball screens. We were getting the ball to the nail. But then, really, nothing happened from that standpoint.”
St. Bonaventure center Noel Brown (24) attempts a shot while being closed down by a George Washington defender. (Hunter O. Lyle)
The big man, Castro, finished the game with a 15-point 10-rebound double-double on 7-for-10 shooting. But he had help on the glass in the form of eight and seven-rebound outputs from Darren Buchanan Jr. and Trey Autry, each reeling in three on the offensive side.
“I thought George Washington was more physical,” Schmidt said. “We did some positive things, but, from a 40-minute standpoint, we didn’t do it. They got into us defensively, and that’s the game plan. We don’t have the biggest guys, so teams are getting into us and knocking us off our spot, and that’s causing some problems.”
In response to losing the rebounding battle, Schmidt noted that he needs to see an increased level of dedication on the glass. As he admitted earlier in the season, without a number of reliable players that can go up and get a board, it will need to be a full-team effort. If not, those second-chance opportunities will continue to haunt them as the remainder of the season unfolds.
“That needs to be fixed,” Schmidt said. “We’ve got to play harder and we got to be more active. Getting more opportunities is critical. They got more opportunities than us, and on 70% of second (chance) shots, you either get fouled or you make them. You can’t give up 13 offensive rebounds and get out-rebounded by 15 if you want to win in this league.”
And the struggle on the defensive side of things only compounded the issues Bona had on offense.
The Rev’s (42.3 FG%) didn’t massively out-shoot the Bonnies, who finished 37.5% from the field and 38.6% from range as a team, but there were a number of offensive possessions for the hosts that lacked an edge. A number of decisions made on set plays led to a hefty amount of confusion and, as the time started to wind down, desperation — seen in the form of the four 3-point attempts from center Noel Brown, who had attempted just five deep balls all season long prior to the GW game.
“It was a little bit out of character,” Schmidt said. “I think he got frustrated a little bit, he had the ball at the nail, wide open, and we couldn’t make plays from there. The decisions that we were making from that point need to improve, because once you get to the nail, you got numbers, and now you got to decide, do I take it to the basket, or do I play a game on the back side and we struggled in that today.”
St. Bonaventure guard Noah Bolanga (23) attempts a deep 3-pointer. Bolanga started 4-for-4 from 3 against George Washington. (Hunter O. Lyle)
Ultimately, Brown was able to rack up team-highs with 15 points and eight rebounds due to how much Bona went his way. But also finding a relative amount of success on offense was Melvin Council Jr., who netted 11 on the afternoon, and Noah Bolanga, who scored 14 points and nearly sent the Reilly Center into rapture as he started the game 4-for-4 from deep after struggling mightily for a majority of the season leading up to those big buckets.
“Noah kept us in the first half,” Schmidt said of the first-year Frenchman. “He’s still learning defensive stuff, but from the first half, he had 12 of the 24 points. We wouldn’t have been in the game without his offense in the first half.”
Meanwhile, the Rev’s, especially late on, found themselves able to move the ball with ease which led to emphatic dunks that silenced the student section and got their bench on their feet.
“Part of it was they were getting the ball to the nail and then they were making passes from the nail,” Schmidt said. “They make that pass, they make one more, and they get you in the scramble. That was a part of it. Give them credit, they played better than we did today, especially in the second half.”
Bona will now look to prevent the start of another Atlantic 10 losing streak next time out against Rhode Island, away from home, on Feb. 12 at 7 p.m.
