By Taylor Nigrelli
Sports Assignment Editor
The Bonnies (11-12, 4-6) displayed an impressive amount of resiliency this week overcoming the elements and double-digit leads to defeat URI (7-16, 2-8) and push La Salle (17-6, 7-3) into overtime.
The Brown and White plunged into the heart of winter storm Nemo when they traveled to Newport, R.I. to take on the Rams. The team was without power or heat at their hotel for nearly an entire day before the game.
Despite getting guard Matthew Wright back from a foot injury, the Bonnies suffered through a slow start and trailed 53-46 with less than five minutes remaining in the game. The Bonnies pulled through late to earn a 67-61 on the strength of late baskets by seniors Eric Mosley and Demitrius Conger and sophomore Youssou Ndoye. Mosley scored a career-high 21 points and hit 8-17 shots, including five three-pointers.
The Bonnies followed up the close call against the Rams with a match-up against one of the Atlantic 10 elite. The Explorers, who have already defeated VCU and Butler, got off to a hot start against the Bonnies. They hit 7-14 from three-point range in the first half and led by as much as 16 at one point.
“It was a slow start,” Coach Mark Schmidt said. “They shot very well in the first half, especially the first 10 minutes. We played a little zone and they hit two or three three-pointers on our zone.”
The Bonnies came out firing in the second half, embarking on a 21-4 run that culminated in an Eric Mosley three-pointer to take the lead 43-42.
“We dealt with adversity, we overcame it,” Schmidt said. “We had a shot and we didn’t quit.”
The Bonnies outscored La Salle 34-23 in the second half, out-shot the Explorers 50 percent to 28.6 percent and held them to one three-pointer on eight attempts.
“That last 30 minutes was some of the best defense we’ve played all season,” Schmidt said. “Give La Salle credit, they made the plays when they needed to. They didn’t hit their shots in the second half. We probably had something to do with that; we contested them a little bit better, we kept them in front of us for the most part. Our defensive intensity increased.”
La Salle head coach John Giannini also noticed the difference in the Bonnies’ play in the second half.
“I don’t know if either team did anything different in the second half but sometimes you play better than at other points,” Giannini said. “You don’t play the same every play, no player does. All I know is in that second half, everything we got was hard.”
The Bonnies erased another deficit, this one of seven points with 5:49 remaining, to tie the game at 61 with just 24 seconds to go. Mosley hit a jumper to send the game to overtime but wasn’t able up to conjure up the same magic once in overtime. With the Bonnies trailing 68-65 in the waning seconds of the overtime period, Mosley was fouled while attempting a three-pointer. With a chance to tie the game, Mosley missed two of his three free throws.
Moments later, a late heave from Conger fell short and La Salle was victorious by a score of 69-66. Despite the nature of the loss, Schmidt denied it was worse than any other.
“Losing is tough every time,” Schmidt said. “I’d feel the same if this was Arkansas State. A loss is a loss.”
The Explorers are now three games and eight spots ahead of the Bonnies in A-10 standings. Yet Gianninni marks this as one of the toughest wins he’s earned as a coach.
“(The game) was incredible,” Giannini said. “I coached my 700th game this year and this was as mentally tough a win and as resilient a win as I’ve had.”
The Bonnies will look to stay in A-10 contention this week when they travel to Richmond tomorrow and host UMass Wednesday.
