By Jeff Fasoldt @Jeff_Fasoldt
Adams absence a factor: Bonnies freshman point guard, Jay Adams, missed his second straight game after recently having surgery to mend his broken right-hand ring finger. It’s safe to say Adams was the Bonnies backbone and floor general in every game that he’s played this year. Missing him hurt the Bonnies chances tonight not only because he is such a capable young player, but because they lacked a serious threat from beyond the arc. Marcus Posley is normally as big a threat as anybody, but even he had an off game tonight.
Second-half Magic for Anthony: There’s a reason why Kendall Anthony is one of the most feared point guards in the A-10. He is undersized but has a quick first step and enough speed to drive to the hoop before big-men can swat him from behind. While only scoring two points in the first half, he turned it on after coming out of the locker room and gathered eight more points to help lead his team to a victory on the road.
Too many turnovers: Richmond came into the game as one of the top teams in the A-10 at protecting the ball, and they held onto that reputation in this game only turning the ball over 11 times. However, things did not go so well for the Bonnies with 19 turnovers on the game—including seven by their starting guards, Marcus Posley and Iakeem Alston.
Caught in the web: Richmond is known for their matchup zone, which confuses opposing offenses and takes advantage of other teams being more athletic then they are. Lets face it, the Bonnies were much larger than Richmond from the guard spot to the forward spot—but the zone takes away the Bonnies big men just enough so that the guards have to jack up three’s.
Winning the ‘three’: When a team plays a zone against you, you must win the three point battle. The brown and white failed to do this tonight, going just 3-13 from beyond the arc. Like you would expect, the Spiders shot 44 percent from three on the night—going 8-18. T.J. Cline, despite being one of the tallest players on Richmond’s team, was leader for the Bonnies from outside going 4-8.
Posley just a little late: Marcus Posley is the most talked about player on this Bonnies team largely in part of his ability to hit big time shots in big games and take over offensively. However, it would be nice for Mark Schmidt if he could’ve gotten going a little earlier in this one. Posley did not score in the first-half. The second half went a little better as he had nine points, but only managed one three pointer on eight attempts.
Chris Mooney:
“Ndoye has improved as much as any player that I’ve seen in my coaching career.”
“Our guys did a great job tonight of giving him (Ndoye) uncomfortable touches.”
“Our defense was able to play tighter when it was a half-court game without Jay Adams in for Bonaventure.”
Mark Schmidt:
“For the first eight minutes of the second-half we played terrific, but after Coach Mooney called a time-out everything changed.”
“We missed so many easy baskets and layups. When you’re struggling from the free-throw line you have to have those.”
“(Posley) just has to keep working at it, shooting in the gym. It’s just like when you’re in a hitting slump in baseball so you go to the batting cage.”
intrepidsbu.com 