Billikens stun Bonnies, ending quest for consecutive NCAA bids

By: Anthony Goss

St. Bonaventure senior point guard Kyle Lofton played 39 minutes and 59 seconds in Friday’s Atlantic 10 quarterfinal game against Saint Louis without attempting a single free throw. The Bonnies trailed Saint Louis, 57-56, when freshman Billikens guard Jordan Nesbitt fouled Lofton, sending him to the foul line to either win the game or force overtime.

The first shot went in and out. The second danced around the rim and bounced out. Lofton chased after his miss, but his rebound attempt failed to go in.

The memorable sequence ends the campaign for the former A-10 champions. Saint Louis defeated the Bonnies, avenging three straight defeats dating back to last year’s A-10 Tournament.

“He epitomizes everything we want in a player,” Bona’s head coach Mark Schmidt said of Lofton. “We wouldn’t have been the fourth seed without him.”

The game began with a made jumper from Lofton. The Bonnies then proceeded six minutes without another score.

“We knew it was going to be like this. In tournament games, you don’t get the opportunity to shoot here, so it’s gonna be more a defensive-oriented game,” Schmidt said.

The two conference powerhouses battled through the first half. Saint Louis used an 8-2 run to take a 26-20 lead, capped off by a pair of free throws from junior forward Francis Okoro. Okoro finished with 14 points all in the first half.

The Saint Louis front court prevented easy inside looks for the Bonnies and disrupted the rhythm of senior forward Osun Osunniyi.

“They pushed me out of position and kept me out of my comfort zone,” Osunniyi said.

A layup from senior guard Dominick Welch pulled the Bonnies within four, and they trailed, 26-22, at halftime.

Saint Louis extended their lead to six to start the second half, but Lofton led an 8-0 run to give the Bonnies the lead. The Billikens battled back to take a 47-37 lead thanks to the hot shooting of freshman guard Gibson Jimerson. Jimerson led all scorers with 20 points and shot 6-9 from three.

The Bonnies trailed by 10 with 10:57 left. A pair of threes from senior forward Jalen Adaway pulled the Bonnies closer, but they still trailed, 52-48, with less than four minutes remaining.

The Bonnies made runs late but seemingly played from behind for most of the second half.

“It wasn’t great execution. It was great defense. We’re not surprised,” Schmidt said.

Osunniyi made a layup with 1:24 remaining to put the Bonnies up 56-55. A series of missed shots and rebounds by both teams led to the Billikens controlling the ball with 17 seconds left. Jimerson hit the game-winning jump shot out of an inbounds play.

“It sucks for us to not win,” Osunniyi said. “It just didn’t go our way today.”

Senior guard Jaren Holmes missed a floater with four seconds remaining. Lofton secured an offensive rebound, but his two missed free throws ended the game and almost certainly dashed the Bonnies’ hopes of returning to March Madness.

Adaway led the Bonnies’ scoring with 18 points, and Welch added 14 as well with a 6-11 shooting night. Lofton scored 10 points with four assists and two steals.

“The countless hours we’ve spent together on and off the court…it’s been amazing,” Adaway said. “It’s just been amazing to actually spend time with these great people and all these experiences and memories we will have.”

Schmidt had only high praise for all five of his seniors despite the loss.

“I’m proud of these guys and what they represent to their families, to our program,” Schmidt said. “All those five starters, they’re in the gym all the time. They’re gym rats and that’s one of the reasons why we’ve had the success we’ve had.”

Adaway, Holmes lead as Bonnies pull away from Loyola

photo courtesy of gobonnies.com

By: Anthony Goss

Through nine games, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team has shown a consistent storyline when it takes the court: a sluggish first half followed by a dominant second half.

Wednesday night’s matchup with Loyola Maryland at the Reilly Center proved no different. The Bonnies trailed by three after a lackluster first half but adjusted and blitzed the Greyhounds in the second half.

The Bonnies improved to 8-1, standing alone atop the Atlantic 10. Despite the win, the team showed displeasure with it’s performance.

“When we play without energy we’re just an average team. We gotta bring it all the time,” head coach Mark Schmidt said. “It’s great that we’re 8-1, but we gotta get better. The schedule’s gonna get more difficult.”

The Bonnies started hot from beyond the three-point arc. The first five makes for the Bonnies came from distance. However, the defense remained an issue throughout the first half. The Greyhounds made eight threes in the first half and shot 56% from the field in the first half, grabbing a 41-38 lead at halftime.

“That’s not how we play defense,” senior guard Jaren Holmes said. “In order for us to get back to the top of where we need to be and to be that top tier team, we’re gonna have to defend much better.”

The Bonnies asserted themselves in the second half. Though the Greyhounds hung around, three Jaren Holmes free throws off a foul on a three-point attempt put the Bonnies in the lead the rest of the game.

With Lofton out for the second consecutive game, Holmes shined as a facilitator and helped the scoring attack as well, producing a final stat line of 22 points and nine assists.

“When your leader is out, other guys have to step up,” Schmidt said. “Jaren has done a tremendous job of playing out of position.”

Holmes noted his teammates’ role in his success in a different position.

“I’m thankful for the guys though, they trust me,” Holmes said. “I’m just trying to make them better because when they’re better, we’re better.”

Senior guard Jalen Adaway added 22 points himself, building off a strong performance against Buffalo on Saturday. Adaway found his spots with ease and Loyola had no answer for his 9-14 shooting.

“I think my teammates give me the ball in the right position and I just try to do what I can to contribute to our team’s success,” Adaway said.

Redshirt freshman guard Quadry Adams gave the Bonnies a boost filling in for Lofton once again. Adams finished with 12 points on 6-7 shooting. Adams brought energy defensively that led to several fast-break chances and found gaps in the Loyola defense in the halfcourt.

“A game like this should give him confidence,” Schmidt said. “He needs to know what his strength is and I think he’s figuring that out.”

The Bonnies pulled away for a 84-71 win. Despite the win, team sensed the need to improve as the season continues.

“I have so much faith and trust in this team, that I know we’re gonna get better, and this is just the beginning of a long road,” Holmes said.

The Bonnies turn now to a much anticipated game on Saturday. They head to Newark to face No. 15 UConn in the Never Forget Tribute Classic

“We’re a long way from a finished product,” Schmidt said. “We gotta continue to work.”

Last-second Adaway three lifts Bonnies over Buffalo

image courtesy gobonnies.com

By: Anthony Goss

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team faced questions about its play this week.

The Bonnies had produced two underwhelming post-Charleston Classic performances and had learned senior point guard Kyle Lofton would miss the next several weeks with an ankle sprain.

The Bonnies provided an emphatic response with an intense win, 68-65, against the University of Buffalo at the Reilly Center Saturday afternoon.

“We just really rallied together and gave it our all and knew we could win this game,” senior guard Jalen Adaway said. “It’s just a matter of how tough are we willing to be.”

The teams traded buckets in the first half. UB led 27-23 with 4:28 left in the half before a Jalen Adaway three sparked a 12-2 Bonnies run, giving them a 35-29 lead at halftime.

“I thought our guys came out and played really aggressive, played downhill,” Bona’s head coach Mark Schmidt said.

The Bonnies remained in control after halftime. Seniors Jalen Adaway and Osun Osunniyi led the Bonnies’ scoring attack, while fellow senior Jaren Holmes impressed while facilitating the offense.

“I thought Jaren was tremendous playing out of position,” Schmidt said. “He’s a warrior.”

The lead grew to as many as 11, but Buffalo continued to hang around thanks to the play of senior forward Jeenathan Williams. The Bonnies forced six turnovers from the senior, but Williams continued to find baskets and smoothly finish at the rim.

Buffalo took a timeout after senior guard Dominick Welch gave the Bonnies a 63-52 lead with 3:05 remaining. But the Bulls made a final push, tying the game at 65 with 29 seconds left, setting up St. Bonaventure to take the last shot.

With the clock winding down, Holmes drove left, drawing two Buffalo defenders. Holmes passed the ball back out to Adaway who drained the game-winning three pointer with one second left, giving the Bonnies a 68-65 win and sending the Reilly Center into pandemonium.

“He’s always in the gym. He deserved to hit that shot,” Schmidt said. “When you put all that work in, you wanna have that shot.

“It’s priceless,” Adaway said. “I’m still trying to gather my thoughts and how happy I am and how big of a moment it really was.”

The win moved the Bonnies to 7-1 on the season. Despite missing on-court leadership from Lofton, the Bonnies showed an abundance of another attribute: toughness.

“We found a way to win. It’s a game of toughness,” Schmidt said. “Everything is skill and athleticism but when it comes down to it it’s a game of toughness and I thought we made those tough plays when we needed to.”

Bona’s reserves had arguably their most impactful game of the season. Quadry Adams took the Lofton’s spot in the starting lineup, finishing with only six points but adding a perimeter defensive presence necessary in Lofton’s absence.

Redshirt sophomore Linton Brown had 10 points (all in the first half) and shot 2-4 from three. Abdoul Karim Coulibaly provided a paint presence when senior big Osun Osunniyi sat due to foul trouble.

“It’s just them being positive when they’re on the floor and I thought all three of those guys did a really good job tonight,” Schmidt said.

After defeating Buffalo, the Bonnies face Loyola (MD) on Wednesday before a road matchup with UConn on Dec. 11.

“We all have to get better. We’re not a finished product by any means,” Schmidt said. “We have a lot more game in us.”

MBB: Bona begins to shape ’22 roster

photo courtesy of gobonnies.sbu.edu

By Anthony Goss

ST. BONAVENTURE, NY — After one of its best seasons in program history, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team has had an eventful offseason.

Though the Bonnies have kept their starting five intact, their entire bench production from last season has entered the transfer portal. This leaves SBU with several open scholarship spots for next season.

Luckily for Bona, head coach Mark Schmidt and his staff have already begun to fill some of the gaps that resulted from the transfer portal.

Barring any unforeseen events, Bona will maintain its starting five of Kyle Lofton, Dominick Welch, Jaren Holmes, Jalen Adaway and Osun Osunniyi. This core of seniors-to-be has seen favor in the eyes of many notable analysts, which project the Bonnies as a top-20 team to start next season.

Led by this group, the 2021-22 team will likely begin the fall as the favorite to repeat as A-10 champions.

One of the big issues for the reigning A-10 champs in their 2020-21 campaign was depth.

Early-season departures from forward Justin Winston and guard Anthony Roberts forced the Bonnies into a rotation that consisted of only six to seven players depending on the night. Alejandro Vasquez and Jalen Shaw headlined the bench rotation for Bona, but were used sparingly.

Vasquez provided immediate shooting and scoring off the bench. He averaged 4.4 points per game and shot 34.8% from 3-point range. Against Duquesne, Vasquez shined with an 11-point effort at the Reilly Center and shot 2-of-4 from beyond the arc.

Shaw came in relief of Osunniyi when the starting center was in foul trouble, or if head coach Mark Schmidt needed to buy time for Osunniyi to rest.

Eddie Creal and Alpha Okoli have also entered the portal. Both had trouble finding time on the floor since Schmidt started four guards and Vasquez was the first option of the bench. Creal spent only one year with the team, while Okoli has been at Bona for three seasons.

The first addition to the team came with the commitment of Quadry Adams.

With lofty expectations for next year’s squad, the team needs to fill the spots left vacant by the players who are now in the portal. In filling these spots thus far, the staff has not only tried to create a sound rotation for next year, but also seems to be piecing together the future of the program.

Adams, a sophomore transfer from Wake Forest, only averaged eight minutes per game last season in nine games played. At St. Thomas Aquinas High School, Adams had a stellar career and his senior stat line consisted of 18.5 points-per-game, 3.2 assists-per-game, and 2.7 steals-per-game.

Adams will look to make an impact off the bench this season, and could start after the seniors depart from the program.

Abdoul Karim Coulibaly started 20 of 22 games last year at Pittsburgh. Coulibaly will provide depth in the frontcourt, something Bona desperately needs.

Coulibaly will have three years of eligibility if he chooses. Like Adams, Coulibaly could see a much bigger responsibility in the years to come.

Bona will have plenty of guards next year, but perhaps none taller than Justin Ndjock-Tadjore.

The 6-7 guard hails from Quebec and has four years of eligibility. Ndjock-Tadjore is athletic and extremely long. He can shoot from outside, but also get by his man and use his size to finish over defenders in the paint.

Finally, the Bonnies added 6-9 center Oluwasegun Durosinmi from Harcum College.

His 7’2 wingspan makes him a ferocious shot blocker, evidenced by the four blocks per-game average at Harcum. If Durosinmi finds his way into the rotation, the Bonnies will be able to hold an extreme length advantage inside every time they take the floor.

Another commit with four years of eligibility, Durosinmi looks like the perfect replacement for Osunniyi.

Schmidt will likely maintain his traditional ways of keeping a short rotation, but regardless, the Bonnies will have a strong supporting cast to compete for minutes to help the starters. Over 90% of the Bonnies scoring and minutes came from the starters.

Next season, Schmidt should have a more balanced team and a deeper team that should garner some national attention.

MBB: Historic Bona season ends at hands of LSU

photo courtesy of 2021 NCAA photos

By Jeff Uveino

BLOOMINGTON, IN — The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team’s offense had been fickle since November.

Mark Schmidt’s team hadn’t counted on its offense to win games on its way to the NCAA Tournament, instead relying on a top-ten defense.

While 3-point shooting came and went, defending, rebounding and taking care of the basketball were constants. Against LSU on Saturday, however, the Bonnies were bested at two of their strengths.

No. 9 SBU (16-5) never found its way back from a first-half deficit and lost to No. 8 LSU (19-9), 76-61, in the first round of the NCAA tournament at Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall.

It started with poor first-half shooting. The Bonnies labored to a 22% mark from the field in the first half, paired with an 0-of-10 3-point shooting performance.

By halftime, Bona trailed by nine points. SBU’s defense held its weight throughout the first stanza, holding the Tigers to 31 points on 36% shooting and a 3-of-14 mark from 3-point range.

“I thought we were getting some good looks in the first half, and we were missing some shots,” said Schmidt, SBU’s head coach. “As I said, offense is fickle. But I thought we were getting some decent looks.”

As the Bonnies started to find offensive rhythm in the second half, LSU did the same. Junior forward Darius Days began the half with a 3-pointer for the Tigers, and from there, Bona failed to muster a comeback. Despite repeatedly counter-punching LSU’s eighth-ranked offense, the Bonnies never cut the lead to less than nine.

LSU’s rebounding on both ends of the floor helped the Tigers keep their distance. The Tigers finished the game with a 49-30 rebounding advantage, 14 of which came on the offensive glass.

While LSU only scored two more points in the paint than the Bonnies, the Tigers enjoyed an 18-8 advantage in second-chance points.

“That’s one of our strengths,” Schmidt said of rebounding. “We got out-rebounded by 19; second-chance points by 10. So that was a big difference.”

Freshman guard Cam Thomas scored a game-high 27 points for the Tigers. Thomas heated up in the second half after a 1-of-8 first half from the field and got to the free-throw line 13 times, making 11 of his attempts.

“(Thomas) is a great player,” Bona junior guard Jaren Holmes said. “It was a very tough assignment. One of the things was trying to keep him off the foul line. I don’t know how many foul shots he got… but we did the best we could.”

Holmes, who scored a team-high 18 points for the Bonnies, said that his team “did what we were supposed to do,” but poor shooting limited its opportunity for offensive success.

“That’s basketball,” Holmes said. “Sometimes it just doesn’t fall. Those are shots we want. Those are shots we normally hit.”

Days and sophomore guard Aundre Hyatt each scored 13 points for LSU, while sophomore forward Trendon Watford added 11 points.

“You get down, and I thought the key going into the game was we gotta control tempo,” Schmidt said. “If you look at the score, we held them below their average, and I thought we did a decent job on everybody but Thomas. They hurt us on the backboard. But when you get down, you’ve got to push the ball and you’ve got to play a little bit quicker, and that’s to their advantage.”

Of Schmidt’s three evergreen keys to victory, protecting the basketball was the one category in which Bona succeeded. SBU only turned the ball over four times while forcing nine turnovers. The nine that they caused, however, only resulted in five points.

Junior forward/center Osun Osunniyi scored 15 points and pulled down nine rebounds for the Bonnies. Osunniyi, the Atlantic 10 defensive player of the year, looked confident while protecting the rim in the first half. As the Tigers got hot in the second half, however, they drew Osunniyi from under the basket and began to find more success scoring in the paint.

“They’re a good team, athletic team,” Schmidt said. “Like I said, I thought we got some good looks. We missed some shots early. But they’re a good team, you know, and they were disciplined, they were focused, and when they play like that, they’re hard to beat.”

Junior forward Jalen Adaway scored 11 points for the Bonnies in his return to his native state to Indiana, while junior guard Kyle Lofton scored 10 points and dished out five assists. Lofton struggled from the field in the first half, shooting 1-of-10, before finishing at 3-of-18.

Bona junior guard Dominick Welch, one of the team’s best defenders, missed time in the first half after turning an ankle during a scramble for a loose ball. Welch returned to the game late in the first half and played the rest of the way, but the pain from his foot was visible the rest of the way.

“Yeah, it hurt,” Schmidt said. “(Welch) played like at 50%. Give (Welch) credit. He’s a really tough kid and he was hurting, as you saw. Went back in to get re-taped and he was a shell of himself.”

While Bona’s season ended between the walls of the historic Assembly Hall, Indiana University’s cathedral of basketball in which the Hoosiers have played for 50 years, the program can find solace in knowing that it doesn’t graduate a single senior.

Still, Holmes said, the pain that comes with the end of this group’s NCAA Tournament run will sting long beyond the bus ride home to Western New York.

“Every guy in that locker room is a competitor, and I know one thing about a competitor is he wants to be the best and continue to be the best, and right now today we weren’t the best,” Holmes said. “That’s a problem for us. That’s going to be in our heads for a long time. But it’s just going to make us better, and it’s going to just make us keep fighting and working hard and coming closer together.”

LSU advances to the tournament’s second round, in which it will face top-seeded Michigan. From there, three more wins secure the East region title and a spot in the Final Four.

Disappointment will accompany Schmidt’s group on its way home. However, after a season in which the Bonnies won the A-10 regular-season title and A-10 tournament for the first time in the same year, the 14th-year coach knows that he has as much to be proud of as ever.

“It’s good that they’re disappointed,” Schmidt said. “I’m disappointed. You put so much into it. If you’re not disappointed, there’s something wrong. So we’ll get the 24-hour rule and we’ll realize, as I told the team in the locker room, we did some amazing things.”

NCAA PREVIEW: Bona defense faces biggest test of season in LSU

photo courtesy of Atlantic 10 conference

By Jeff Uveino

BLOOMINGTON, IN — Offense comes and goes. Defense is the staple.

That’s been the identity of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team this season. While the Bonnies and head coach Mark Schmidt haven’t produced flashy offensive numbers, they’ve allowed 60.4 points per game en route to a 16-4 record.

That number makes the Bonnies the fifth-best scoring defense in the country. On Saturday against LSU, they’ll need it.

After receiving a No. 9 seed in the NCAA tournament, SBU drew eighth-seeded LSU (18-9) in the tournament’s first round. The Tigers, which are coming off of a one-point loss to Alabama in the Southeastern Conference (SEC) title game, boast the nation’s eighth-best scoring offense.

The Bonnies have frustrated, bullied and stymied many of the Atlantic 10’s best offense players this season. Head coach Will Wade’s Tigers, and their multiple NBA prospects, however, will be Schmidt and SBU’s biggest test to date.

“If the (scoring) is in the 80s on Saturday, we’re probably not going to win,” Schmidt said. “We’ve got to somehow control the tempo and keep those guys out of the paint.”

LSU scores 82.1 points per game and features three players that each average over 15. Freshman guard Cameron Thomas, a projected first-round NBA Draft pick, averages a team-best 22.6 points per game. He leads a potent group of guards that spread the ball in Wade’s “five-out” offense, giving all five players on the floor the ability to shoot the 3-point shot.

“It’s almost like an NBA-type of style of play,” Schmidt said. “(We will) try to get back in transition and force them into the five-on-five game as much as we can. You can’t be one-on-one. If they isolate us, they’re probably better than us one-on-one.”

Joining Thomas in LSU’s backcourt is Javonte Smart, a junior that averages 15.9 points per game and shoots the 3-ball at a team-best 42% clip. Darius Days, a 6-7 junior forward, shoots nearly 40% from distance and averages 11.7 points per game.

If that weren’t enough, sophomore forward Trendon Watford averages 16.7 points per game. The Tigers’ desire to spread the ball out and run isolated offensive plays hinders their ability to feature a true under-the-basket presence, but Watford’s skill set allows him to play that role when needed.

“Keeping the ball above the foul line, being able to guard your yard, keeping the guys in front of you, is going to be very important,” Schmidt said. “They play a five-out offense, a lot of dribble-drives and isolations, so it’s really important for us to be able to guard them one-on-one. But, at the same time, get guys in the gaps and really try to force contested jump-shots.”

Slowing down LSU’s offense will be a team effort for Bona, which has only allowed more than 70 points twice this season. One of those instances came in SBU’s season opener against Akron, while the other came against A-10 foe La Salle. Both were double-digit Bona victories.

“We’ve got to play great team defense, and we need to rebound the basketball and keep them to one shot,” Schmidt said. “It’s the Southeast Conference. They’ve got SEC athletes, high-major guys, but it’s a challenge that we’re looking forward to.”

Osun Osunniyi, the A-10 defensive player of the year, has anchored SBU’s defense all season. The junior forward/center has seemed to continually improve on the defensive end as the season has gone on, however, culminating with a 13-block A-10 tournament that contributed to him being named Most Outstanding Player.

While Schmidt will rely on his guards to limit the Tigers on the perimeter, Osunniyi’s rim-protecting capability will be key.

“Where we’re at, a lot has to do with (Osunniyi) on the defensive end blocking shots,” Schmidt said. “That’s going to be a critical thing against LSU, but at the same time, LSU is going to try to pull him away from the basket.”

Another point of concern for Bona fans is LSU’s size, as Thomas’ 6-4 frame is the smallest in the Tigers’ starting lineup. Schmidt, however, feels that the Bonnies have enough size to match-up.

“It’s not like we’re going in there with 5-8 guards going up against 6-4; we match up in terms of size,” Schmidt said. “That’s not a concern; it’s the athleticism. Like I said, they’ve got two first-round picks.”

Bona junior guard Kyle Lofton pointed to LSU’s size, length and speed as points of interest in Bona’s defensive planning. A key to SBU’s defensive success has been limiting opposing star players, or as Schmidt and his players say, the “knowns.” LSU features more “knowns” than the Bonnies are used to seeing in the A-10.

“Usually, it’s one known or two knowns, but I feel like they have four knowns,” Lofton said. “It’s a good test for us to see where we’re at, and we’ve just got to be ready to come out and play.”

While Bona prides itself on winning games on the defensive end, Lofton was quick to mention the team’s offensive potential. The Bonnies score an average of 70.5 points per game, with each starter averaging in double digits.

“Obviously, the goal is to keep it a low-scoring game and grind it out on defense, but I feel like we have five players that can have a big game on any given night,” Lofton said. “The scoring, sometimes it’s not there, but I feel like in moments like this, good players shine, and we have good players.”

Bona’s starters have taken turns filling the offensive spotlight this season.

Lofton did so in the team’s A-10 championship victory over VCU with a game-high 23 points. Before that, juniors Jalen Adaway and Jaren Holmes combined for 32 points in SBU’s semifinal win over Saint Louis, and Osunniyi and junior guard Dominick Welch each scored 18 points against Duquesne in the quarterfinals.

Lofton leads the unselfish group with 14.6 points per game. Schmidt said that it could be Osunniyi, however, that keys his offense against the Tigers.

“We’ll try to go inside with (Osunniyi) and try to get him going to the basket on some screen-and-rolls and stuff. But like I said, when (Osunniyi) is scoring the ball inside for us, we’re a better team.

Schmidt added that the Bonnies would likely run their offense from the inside-out, whether it be via the pass or the dribble.

“When we’re open, we’ve got to make some (3-pointers),” Schmidt said. “There are a lot of things that are going to be important. Transition defense, rebounding the ball, keeping them to one shot, staying out of foul trouble.”

Regardless of what Schmidt and his assistants draw up to defend and attack LSU, Lofton said that the players’ mindset ahead of the game remains the same that it’s been all season: trust the coaches’ game-plan.

“That’s why we have great coaches,” Lofton said. “The coaches will handle that well, and we’ve just got to follow the game-plan and come ready to play.”

The Bonnies and Tigers are scheduled to tip-off from Indiana University’s Simon Skjodt Assembly Hall at 1:45 p.m. on Saturday, and the game will be broadcasted nationally on TNT. The Tigers were 1.5-point favorites as of Friday.

“Like I said, good players live up to these moments,” Lofton said. “You don’t shy away from these moments, and they have a lot of great players, so you know a lot of people will be watching this game. I just want to get St. Bonaventure’s name even more on the map.”

MBB: Bonnies win A-10 championship; punch ticket to NCAA tournament

photo by Megan Lee/The Commonwealth Times

By Jeff Uveino

DAYTON, OH — If there was a checklist for winning an Atlantic 10 championship game, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team had checked all but one box two years ago.

That final box, as junior guard Dominick Welch had said the week before this year’s final, was finishing.

SBU had came within eight minutes of an A-10 championship against Saint Louis two years ago, but fell short in the game’s final minutes. Welch, Osun Osunniyi and Kyle Lofton, who each started that game as freshmen, made sure the same thing didn’t happen on Sunday.

The top-seeded Bonnies (16-4) built a first-half lead and didn’t give it up on their way to beating No. 2 VCU (19-7), 74-65, at UD Arena.

After sitting with four fouls for five minutes of the second half, Welch provided the dagger.

With 1:16 left in the game, the Bonnies leading by eight and the shot clock winding down, Welch pivoted away from a defender and nailed a 3-pointer.

The Bona lead became 12 points. The pro-Bona crowd that made the 400-mile trip to Dayton broke into a frenzy. And, moments later, SBU head coach Mark Schmidt raised his hands above his head as he embraced his staff, overcome with emotion.

For the second time in program history, the Bonnies won the Atlantic 10 tournament. They’ll represent the Atlantic 10 as the league’s automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.

“Two years ago, four of our guys couldn’t finish,” Schmidt said. “We didn’t finish that game and we lost, and a lot of times you don’t get a second chance in life. We got a second chance, and those guys finished.”

Welch finished with 13 points while Lofton scored 23 points and handed out six assists. Perhaps the player of the game, however, and the most valuable player of the tournament, was Osun Osunniyi.

The junior forward/center finished with 14 points, 12 rebounds and three blocks. Like his teammates that experienced 2019’s A-10 final, the 55-53 loss had been stuck in his head ever since.

“Yeah, it was on our mind,” Osunniyi said. “We were one shot away from where we are right now. That’s been on my mind, (Lofton’s) mind. The guys who came in our class that are juniors now, that’s been on our mind since day one and it was on our mind when we faced Saint Louis in the semifinals.”

Osunniyi’s presence under the rim throughout the tournament, despite not having its own column on the stat sheet, was paramount to the success of SBU’s defense.

“We didn’t change what got us (here),” Schmidt said. “We defended, we rebounded and we took care of the basketball. Against VCU, a talented team that is so well coached, if you don’t take care of the basketball… when they get numbers, it’s lethal.”

Defense, as Schmidt has said for weeks, continues to be Bona’s staple. SBU’s efforts to limit VCU leading scorer and A-10 player of the year Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland were largely successful despite Hyland’s team-high 21 points.

Hyland sat for over 10 minutes in the first half after picking up three early fouls. The sophomore guard scored all of his points in the second half, many of which came after the Bonnies had built a double-digit lead.

“The goal was to deny him the ball as much as we could,” Schmidt said. “He’s just a talented guy. One thing we didn’t do, and especially in the second half, was we fouled him too many times.”

Hyland was 4-of-11 from the field, most of his points coming from an 11-of-12 free-throw shooting performance.

“When you lose your best player, the team’s not going to be as good,” Schmidt said. “You knew that he was going to come back and be aggressive in the second half, but I thought our guys did a really good job making it hard for him.”

Hyland’s efforts brought his team within seven points midway through the second half, but Bona prevented the Rams from coming all the way back. Vince Williams Jr. tallied 12 points and nine rebounds for the Rams while Josh Banks scored 10 points.

Jaren Holmes scored nine points and pulled down seven rebounds for Bona while Jalen Adaway scored 10 points. Osunniyi, Lofton and Adaway were each included on the all-tournament team.

“It’s a special group,” Schmidt said. “Not that the other groups aren’t special, but in the moment now, I hold these guys close to my heart. They endured a lot of things this year and were able to come through.”

SBU’s second NCAA tournament in four years marks the third time that the Bonnies will go “dancing” under Schmidt. They first did it in 2012 after winning the A-10 tournament as the No. 4 seed, then received an at-large bid in 2018.

Bona received a No. 9 seed in this year’s tournament, and will play No. 8 LSU on Saturday in Indianapolis in the tournament’s first round. For Lofton, Osunniyi and many more, playing in the NCAA tournament will fulfill a childhood dream.

“Going to Indianapolis for the NCAA tournament is like a dream come true,” Lofton said. “Since kids, we’ve been working for that, and to finally live the dream is amazing.”

For Schmidt, the chance to take basketball-crazed St. Bonaventure back to the NCAA tournament is priceless. Schmidt has rebuilt the program over his 14 years as head coach, and now continues to oversee one of the most successful periods in the program’s history.

“The smiles on our guys’ faces: that’s what you coach for,” Schmidt said. “Those are the memories that will last a lifetime. You see those big smiles, and how proud and satisfied the players are. For them, this is a dream come true. When you’re playing in the backyard or down at the playground, this is what you dream of.”

MBB: Bonnies hold off Duquesne in Atlantic 10 quarterfinals

photo by Megan Lee/The Commonwealth Times

By Jeff Uveino

RICHMOND, VA — The last time Dominick Welch, Osun Osunniyi and Kyle Lofton had played in the Atlantic 10 tournament, they fell eight minutes short of a conference championship.

That was in 2019, when the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team lost a second-half lead to Saint Louis, abruptly ending the Bonnies’ run at the NCAA tournament. Two years later, the top-seeded Bonnies (14-4) avoided a second-half comeback by No. 9 Duquesne (9-9) and beat the Dukes, 75-59, in Friday’s A-10 quarterfinals at the Siegel Center.

Welch scored a game-high 18 points for the Bonnies while pulling down nine rebounds. The junior guard shot 7-of-15 from the floor and 4-of-10 from 3-point range.

SBU dominated the Dukes on both ends of the floor in the first half, taking a 40-19 lead into halftime. Duquesne cut into that lead in the second half, going on a 12-0 run in less than two minutes of game time. Emotion filled the arena during DU’s comeback, culminating in a bench-clearing scuffle at mid-court that resulted in an “administrative technical,” as it was called by the public address announcer, being called on the Bonnies.

“I thought we lost some focus,” Bona head coach Mark Schmidt said of the Duquesne comeback. “We got lackadaisical, loose with the ball. Duquesne upped their pressure a little bit, we didn’t handle it that well.”

Jaren Holmes ended the run by hitting a floater, which he followed with a dunk after a Duquesne turnover. After a media timeout with 12 minutes remaining, the Bonnies regained control of the game and didn’t give it back.

“Sitting in the timeout, letting the guys know, we’re still up by 10, so we were still in decent shape but we needed to make a run,” Schmidt said. “I thought our guys refocused and they got some stops, got some buckets and that was the game.”

Holmes, a junior guard, scored 14 points for the Bonnies, while Osunniyi stuffed the stat sheet with 18 points, 14 rebounds, six assists and three blocks. During the Dukes’ comeback, Osunniyi said that Schmidt told his team to keep its composure.

“We knew that they were going to make a run, they’re a good team,” Osunniyi said. “So, while they were figuring everything out, (Schmidt) just told us to relax, play loose, play to win and we got our composure back and played our game.”

Bona made a conscious effort to get the ball to Osunniyi in the post, which the junior forward/center said shrinks opposing defenses.

“It’s easier for my teammates to make shots when the ball is coming inside out, so you want to go inside early,” Osunniyi said. “Because if I’m being a presence inside, it kind of shrinks the defense to come help me more.”

He was equally impactful on the defensive end of the floor, where he battled with Duquesne senior center Michael Hughes for much of the game.

“I thought (Osunniyi) was terrific offensively, but more important, defensively,” Schmidt said. “Blocking shots. That was a huge key.”

Hughes led Duquesne with 15 points and eight rebounds, while Tavian Dunn-Martin and Tyson Acuff each scored 12 points. Bona held Marcus Weathers, Duquesne’s leading scorer that had averaged over 16 points per game going into Friday’s contest, to three points.

This was Bona’s third victory over the Dukes this season, as SBU has held Duquesne to an average of 57 points per game.

“We got some stuff off of our defense, got some stuff in the open court,” Schmidt said. “I thought against Dayton (on Monday), we were sluggish with the ball, the ball was sticking… we moved the ball from side-to-side a little bit better today in the first half.”

Junior forward Jalen Adaway scored 12 points for SBU, while Lofton scored 11 points and handed out five assists. The Bonnies shot 49% from the field while holding Duquesne to 34% shooting from the field and 25% from 3-point range.

With the win, the Bonnies advance to Saturday’s semifinals, where they’ll play No. 4 Saint Louis in a rematch of the fateful 2019 A-10 championship game. While much speculation exists over their NCAA tournament chances, Friday’s win moved the Bonnies a step closer to a berth.

“Our guys have done a really good job of being able to turn the page,” Schmidt said. “The task at hand today was to leave 1-0.”

Despite the hype surrounding a potential NCAA appearance in Indianapolis in two weeks, Schmidt said that the team still has business to take care of in Richmond.

“We didn’t come (to Richmond) to go 1-0, we came here to go 2-0, and now we’re halfway there,” Schmidt said. “Now we’ve got to go back, get some rest and hopefully we can play better (Saturday).”