By SPENCER BATES
CLEVELAND, OH — Prior to his team’s game against Ohio University in the Cleveland Hoops Showdown, Mark Schmidt laid out what would be the keys to victory.
Of them, were a full-team defensive effort on the Bobcats’ big three of Jackson Paveletzke, Aidan Hadaway and Javan Simmons and consistency on the offensive end — especially after seeing the damage a poor start can do in their eventual win over Colgate.
Unfortunately for Schmidt, those were the critical areas in which his St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team struggled as they fell 88-83 in overtime for its second loss of the year.
“We didn’t play the way we were capable of playing,” Schmidt said. “Give (Ohio) credit, they came at us. We had a hard time keeping them in front, we turned the ball over too many times in the first half, … they got to the paint too much, and we had a hard time with those three guys. We didn’t do a very good job, especially on (Paveletzke). … It was just disappointing how we played.”
Schmidt knew that controlling the paint was going to be of the utmost importance. Paveletzke is a guard that likes to get inside whenever he can and Simmons and Hadaway thrive while backing down their defender.
Bona did end up winning the paint points category by a 40-34 margin, but it was the 56 combined points from Paveletzke (25), Simmons (17) and Hadaway (14) that condemned them.
“We didn’t have consistency in our execution,” Schmidt said. “We didn’t have consistency in how we were guarding them.
Paveletzke, specifically, was a man on a mission in the dying moments of the game for the Bobcats. At one point, he scored 20 of 22 points, 19 of which came consecutively. Simmons was also clutch down the stretch, scoring 13 second-half points.
“Give (Paveletzke) credit and give (Simmons credit),” Schmidt said. “(Paveletzke) made some tough shots inside. He made some shots where he spun and some fall-aways, which are hard to contest. They got too deep and that was the key.”
And as the game inched closer and closer to its inevitable conclusion, fouls and points at the free throw line came evermore into focus. As previously mentioned, the Bonnies won points in the paint. They also won points off turnovers (14-12), second-chance points (16-12), fast-break points (6-5) and bench points (18-12). But despite all those wins within the game, it was the six point difference at the free throw line that Schmidt pointed to that made a big difference.
“Points off turnovers, we won. In the paint, we won. Second chance points, we won. Fast break points, we won. The bench, we won,” Schmidt said. “Where did we lose? The foul line. We fouled them. (They went) 17-for-19. We were 11-for-13. That was the difference.”
But it wasn’t the fouls in and of themselves that were the biggest concern. It was how those fouls came to be — lapses on the defensive end.
“It was our inability to keep them in front, that was the difference,” Schmidt said. “We had some stupid fouls, but so did they. It was more of our execution. I just thought they executed a little bit better, and they got the ball to the paint.”
Speaking of the paint, that is where Bona’s best player on the night lived. Once again, Frank Mitchell put on a show, recording his sixth consecutive double-double with a game-high 27 points and 14 rebounds.
“He defended, he rebounded the ball and 27 and 14, that’s what we expect,” Schmidt said. “He makes his mistakes, but he plays hard. And that’s the bottom line. That’s what we want.”
Mitchell was aided in the score column by a second consecutive 15-point outing from Dasonte Bowen, who dished out five assists as well, and a 12-point contribution from Daniel Egbuniwe.
All that being said, the Bonnies, despite their shortfalls, had a chance to win the game with two shots at the free throw line with just six seconds left in regulation. Bowen split the pair, tying the game and Paveletzke missed — a rare occurrence — the last-ditch heave at the buzzer.
The effort and overall execution of the game plan was just all-around better in the second half from the Bonnies. Ultimately, it was enough to force an extra period, not enough to get the result over the line.
“I thought our guys, in the second half, battled,” Schmidt said. “We got down, we came back and we were a foul shot away from winning the game. Not that (missing that free throw) lost us the game. But we didn’t play our A-game. Give (Ohio) credit. We got to go back and work. This wasn’t going to be the last game we lost.”
St. Bonaventure will look to get back to winning ways in its next game, a home affair against Le Moyne on Dec. 20 set for a 1 p.m. tip-off.
