By SPENCER BATES
ST. BONAVENTURE — There was simply no stopping the Spiders.
A team chock-full of experience, veteran leadership and offensive firepower, Richmond managed to put it all together as it handed the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team an 89-80 loss.
The Spiders had not won at the Reilly Center since 2015, having played six games at the RC over that span. They snapped that streak in a resounding way too, shooting over 52% from the field for the game — and over 61% in the second half — as the Bonnies just did not have an answer for what was being thrown at them.
“Give credit to Richmond, they came in and we had a hard time with their guards, keeping them in front,” Bona head coach Mark Schmidt said. “They all played well, Johnston, Lopez, Tyne, we just had a hard time trying to get them out of their rhythm. It seemed like they could take us any time they wanted to. … They made the shots when they needed to. They got to the foul line. … We just got to defend better. You can’t allow a team to shoot 62% (from the field), 43% from 3s in the second half and expect to win. It’s something that we need to get better at.”
Bona led for just 40 seconds of the affair as Richmond set the tone from the start. Will Johnston led the Spiders with a game-high 24 points — all of which came in the second half. Alongside him, Maine transfer AJ Lopez went 6-for-8 from the field and netted 19 points, freshman Aiden Argabright scored 10 off the bench and Mikkel Tyne chipped in 10. The center duo of Mike Walz (10 rebounds and three assists) and Jonathan Beagle (four rebounds, two assists and a steal) didn’t necessarily do a ton on the scoring front but ran the offense exactly how one would expect a tandem with a combined six years in a system would.
That experience led to a level of fluidity that allowed the Spiders to hit from anywhere.
“They shot the ball well, we knew coming in they were averaging nine and a half (from 3) and we did a decent job, (keeping them to) 8-for-19. We just couldn’t keep them in front of us,” Schmidt said. “We don’t have a great shot blocker in the back. They did a good job getting to the rim and making some pull-ups. They run good stuff, and they’re a difficult team to guard, especially when they can go off the bounce like they did.”
St. Bonaventure’s Daniel Egbuniwe (3) rises up for a poster dunk on Richmond’s Mike Walz (21). Egbuniwe scored 13 points in his first start of the season for the Bonnies. (Derek Gumtow)
What only aided Richmond was its depth. The Spiders entered the game ranked seventh in the entire nation in bench points, averaging 39.20 per game. This was a problem for the Bonnies as their depth was dealt two massive blows in the days leading up to the affair. Ilia Ermakov and Amar’e Marshall, two players that have made big impacts off the bench, both picked up injuries that will keep them out for a number of weeks at a minimum.
So, a shallow Bona team was forced to try and keep up with a carousel of energized Richmond players. And while defensively it was a struggle, on the offensive end they had a decent amount of success. All five starters for the Bonnies tallied double figures with Darryl ‘Buddy’ Simmons II leading the pack with 18. Dasonte Bowen scored 15 points, marking his sixth consecutive game in double figures. Frank Mitchell had a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double against Richmond’s strong center partnership. Daniel Egbuniwe, who has been a spark off the bench as of late, was rewarded with his first start of the season. A promotion he took advantage of, scoring 13 points. Cayden Charles rounded out the starting five with 11 points.
Therefore, Schmidt was not upset with the offensive production of his team, as they hit their target number. It was just that on the other end they were getting torn up by Richmond’s speedy guards.
“You’re not going to win any games when you give up 89 points,” Schmidt said. “We score 80, which is what you need to score. But you just can’t give up that many. We gave up 28 fast break points and that’s what they’re good at, they really push the ball. Part of that fast break was them beating us off the bounce, and we’ve got to do a better job.”
St. Bonaventure’s Frank Mitchell (00) dives for a loose ball. Mitchell recorded a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double for the Bonnies in their loss. (Derek Gumtow)
With the loss, St. Bonaventure moved to 0-2 in Atlantic 10 play this season and 11-4 overall. Schmidt and Co. will look to get back to winning ways in their next game, a Jan. 10 affair against Fordham set to tip-off at 12 p.m.
