By Jeff Fasoldt @jeff_fasoldt
Here are some quick-hitters from St. Bonaventure’s 86-45 exhibition victory over D-II Mansfield.
Dominate D: The Bonnies started out in a man-to-man full-court press to start the game and it was enough to suffocate the Mansfield offense and accumulate key turnovers. The Mountaineers had a lot of trouble hanging on to the ball as they committed an astounding 28 turnovers. And, give your Bonnies credit, they had 14 steals.
Dion gets buckets: Dion Wright was a force at the 4-spot for the Bonnies. He went 10 for 12 from the field for 20 points and also had six rebounds for the brown and white. Marcus Posley was second for the Bonnies in points as he went 4-9 from the field for 14.
Everybody gets a slice: Head coach Mark Schmidt used all of his scholarship players in this exhibition and 10 of the 12 players that saw court time recorded at least one field goal.
There’s always a second chance: While the Bonnies shot well from the field, close to 50-percent, they capitalized heavily off of second-chance points off of 17 rebounds on the offensive glass.
Idris for 3: Idris Taqqee, a fresh recruit for the Bonnies from Cushing Academy, was nothing but impressive in his debut. Last season Bonaventure had it’s struggles from three-point land and they desperately need someone to fill in this season as there key shooter. Taqqee went 2-4 from beyond the arc, hitting two of Bonaventure’s three field goals. Marcus Posley had two, and Jaylen Adams had the other one.
Have to take whats free: In what was a blowout victory for the Bonnies, there was one weak spot. The Bonnies were only 9 for 19 from the line, a mere 49-percent. Last season, missed free-throws seemed to hurt the Bonnies down the stretch in the middle of the season. One exhibition game is not enough to judge how good the Bonnies will be from the line this year but hopefullytheyt will be better than last year.
Key quotes:
“I thought the performance was a good one. I thought we got what we wanted out of the game.” – Bonnies head coach, Mark Schmidt
“The competition’s going to get better.” “I thought our guys played well and hopefully it gives them some confidence going into Dartmouth.” – Schmidt
“We’ll be more athletic than some teams (like Mansfield) but there will definitely be teams that are more athletic than us.” – Schmidt
“The big question for our team is our backcourt, losing to key guys last year, we’ll see who steps up” -Schmidt
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