By SPENCER BATES
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team, simply, did not want to go home.
Having struggled mightily for the grand majority of the first half of its second-round Atlantic 10 Conference Tournament game against No. 9 seed Duquesne, something needed to change, and quickly for that matter.
The No. 8 seed Bonnies had a severe lack of fluidity on the offensive end in the first half, turning the ball over five times and shooting just 33.3% from the field as a team, a percentage that dipped as low as 29.6% at one point in the first 20 minutes.
But despite having been in a 9-point hole at halftime, a deficit that ballooned to as large as 13 points in the second half, Bona coach Mark Schmidt was able to rely on the mental fortitude of his players to will themselves back into a game that they eventually won 64-59, and extend their postseason by at least one more game. Specifically, it was the galvanizing from the team’s talisman, Melvin Council Jr. that spurred on the Bonnies.
“It is like Melvin said, we didn’t want to go home,” Schmidt said. “Our goal is to win this tournament and go to the NCAA tournament. That’s the goal. And, you know, we have tough minded kids, and they didn’t quit. They fought through the adversity that hit us, and we got hit a lot. But there’s a saying, ‘when a donkey and a jackass are on the ground, you kick them both. The thoroughbred gets up and sprints, the donkey says, ‘You know what?’ We had thoroughbreds today.”
St. Bonaventure guard Melvin Council Jr. (11) looks to feed center Noel Brown (24) in the low post. Council finished with a game-high 18 points for the Bonnies. (Taylor Komidar)
Immediately after going down by 13 points, Bona managed to flip a switch. Specifically, its defense became more effective, forcing Duquesne into 13 second-half turnovers, nine of which came via steals.
But while the high-level of pressure that Bona presented Duquesne with in the second half did start happening, seemingly, on the drop of a dime, one of the team’s co-captains, Council, noted that the plan was to do that all along, and he was unsure why they hadn’t executed on that aspect of the game plan until late.
“I know that in the second game, when we played those guys at home, we were pressuring the ball,” Council said. “I don’t know why we didn’t do that in the first half. So, in the second half, I just had to do it. I didn’t want to go home.”
And it was the extra possessions that came as a result of those turnovers and steals that allowed Bona to get a solid foothold in the game. And due to their efforts in lifting the team up when they needed it most, Schmidt poured on the praise for Council and Lajae Jones, who netted himself 18 points — a game-high tally that he shared with Council — and three steals.
“They out-rebounded us by 10, the difference was turnovers,” Schmidt said. “Points off turnovers we won 24-4, that’s where we won. Melvin really ignited us in the second half with three or four steals, and he … just willed us to win. That’s what your point guard needs to do. I’ve said it from the very beginning, Melvin has it. He’s competitive, he makes big shots, makes big plays. Lajae played extremely well, made some shots and we just found a way to win. It wasn’t pretty, but, as I told the guys in the locker room, it’s life. Life’s not going to be easy. You got to deal with adversity and you’re going to bounce back. And we certainly did that today.”
And bounce back they did, with a series of runs which, all together, culminated into a 13-1 run in the closing minutes, eight of which were scored by Council, who faced the ultimate pressure of sinking the game-sealing free throws.
A high-pressure moment, but one that his teammates knew he was capable of taking on.
“Jonah Hinton grabbed me and said, ‘Bring us home. You’re a dog, bring us home,’” Council said. “And I was just thinking about that at the free throw line, and I told Jonah, ‘I got it.’”
The Bonnies only managed to hold a lead for just over two minutes of the game, but that number was far from a concern for Schmidt, who noted he has been in the business long enough to know you can win with far less. Still, he credited the mentality of his players for not getting down on themselves, seeing out the contest and turning the result in their favor.
“I learned a long time ago you only have to lead for a second,” Schmidt said. “But it’s hard, mentally. You make a basket, they come down, and they make a basket. You’re trying to cut into the lead, so you need to show some mental toughness and I thought we did. … The good thing about us … we didn’t put our heads down, we kept on playing, and the bounce of the ball went our way.”
St. Bonaventure center Noel Brown (24) collects a rebound before going up for a second-chance score. Brown finished with nine points and eight rebounds against the Dukes. (Taylor Komidar)
With the win, Bona knocked out the reigning A10 champions and secured its spot in the quarterfinals where it will face another team that it saw twice in the regular season, VCU.
“We got lucky to beat him at home in the first Atlantic 10 game,” Schmit said. “I thought we played pretty well in the first half against them down there, and then they went on a run. They got the (conference) Player of the Year and athletes that when they shoot the ball well from 3, they’re almost unbeatable. So, we got a big challenge ahead of us.”
St. Bonaventure and VCU will tip-off at 11:30 a.m. on March 14 in the Capital One Arena.
