By Nick Konotopskyj
Assistant Sports Editor
It was a situation the Bonnies were used to all season: last possession, ball in the hands of Marcus Posley. He had delivered game-winning shots in back-to-back games earlier in the season, so it was no surprise that he got the ball with the Bonnies down two with 11 seconds remaining.
Unfortunately, that walk-off magic ran out last Friday as Posley lost the ball, resulting in a layup down on the other end. The Bonnies lost that Atlantic 10 quarterfinal matchup to the Dayton Flyers 75-71.
It was a heartbreaking way to end an up-and-down season for Coach Mark Schmidt’s squad. The Bonnies finished with an overall record of 18-13 (10-8 in the A-10). Those 10 conference wins ties for the second most in the program’s history.
St. Bonaventure started the Atlantic 10 tournament with a second round matchup with the Saint Joseph’s Hawks. The Bonnies were able to pull out a 60-49 victory after trailing by five at the half. It was the third time in as many games that the Bonnies defeated the Hawks this season.
Losing on the last possession against a team as talented as Dayton is nothing to be upset about. In a fast-paced game, the Bonnies showed they can stay with one of the best teams in the conference.
It was one of, if not the, best shooting performances of the season as forward Dion Wright came up with a career-high 24 points on 10-11 shooting, setting an A-10 tournament record (4-5 from three). The junior was a mere 1 of 9 from beyond the arc previously in the season, then came out and lit a spark to keep the Bonnies in the game. Posley also added 26 points to lead the team.
In the Dayton game, the rest of the team only combined to score 23 points, showing the team’s lack of depth. Without freshman point guard Jaylen Adams, the Bonnies struggled to hang onto the ball. Having 16 turnovers compared to the Flyers 8 makes it hard to beat a team of that caliber.
Looking back on the season as a whole, there were some incredible highs but also the lowest of lows. The only reason Bonaventure wasn’t considered for an NIT berth is because of two horrible losses to teams outside of the top 300 in the University of Maryland Eastern Shore and Delaware. At the time, Delaware didn’t even have a win.
That followed with an up-and-down A-10 conference slate that put the Bonnies as the number-seven seed heading into the conference tournament in Brooklyn. Without a doubt, the two biggest and most exciting games came in the same week.
A road win against the Davidson Wildcats came in exhilarating fashion with a Marcus Posley buzzer beater. Then, that weekend, students packed the Reilly to watch a matchup with a ranked team in Virginia Commonwealth University. Deja Vu, as Posley beat the buzzer yet again to send the crowd into a frenzy.
Finally, the Bonnies capped the season with a valiant run in the A-10 tournament without their starting point guard.
It was an exciting season for Bonaventure basketball, and a lot of credit certainly goes to Schmidt. This might be one of the best seasons the Boston College alum has had in his tenure at SBU. Having to replace three starters from last year’s roster, it was unclear as to how this team would look coming into the 2014-15 season.
Junior transfer Marcus Posley adjusted quite comfortably, leading the team in scoring, while freshman Jaylen Adams established himself as one of the best point guards in the conference in his young career.
Senior center Youssou Ndoye and senior small forward Andell Cumberbatch provided consistency throughout the season and displayed senior leadership to the rest of the team. Finally, Dion Wright and Denzel Gregg gave the team a little bit of everything whether it was rebounding, defense, scoring and shooting (Wright can apparently shoot threes).
Schmidt, just like he seems to do every year, molded this team to peak for the A-10 tournament. With a team that relied so heavily on its starters, you have the feeling if one of the starters got injured, it would take away any chance of making a conference title run like in 2012.
Still, the Bonnies found a way to tread water for the remainder of the season and give the fans something to cheer for.
