By Nick Konotopskyj
Sports Editor
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team was riding a five-game conference winning streak until Wednesday night when they fell short against the La Salle Explorers 71-64.
The Explorers led for much of the game thanks to a near triple double from junior guard Jordan Price who had 18 points, 10 rebounds and six assists. St. Bonaventure was led by Marcus Posley who had 21 points but took 17 shots.
The Bonnies shot just 37 percent from the floor while the Explorers did much of their damage from behind the 3-point line, making 11 on the night.
Coming into the game, St. Bonaventure was considered in the bubble conversation for a possible at-large berth into the NCAA tournament. After losing to a 5-18 La Salle team, that talk is going to start to simmer down.
On Saturday, the Bonnies defeated the George Washington Colonials in a sold out Reilly Center by a score of 64-57. In front of a raucous alumni weekend crowd, the Bonnies led the whole game and held GW to under 60 points, making it the first time St. Bonaventure held an A10 team under that mark for the season.
Adams led the team in scoring with 19 points while senior forward Dion Wright came off the bench to add in 12 points and six rebounds of his own. Denzel Gregg, who started in place of Wright, had 11 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.
It was a defensive struggle for both teams throughout, but Head Coach Mark Schmidt was proud of the way his team fought and competed on both ends of the court.
“We talked about being a junkyard dog mentality and being a blue-collar team,” Schmidt said. “We didn’t play perfect, but we played hard and when you play that hard it makes up for a lot of deficiencies.”
This team has been known for having one of the best offenses in the A10, but Schmidt talked about how it was the defense that led the Bonnies in this game.
“We made plays when we needed them offensively, but we won this game because we defended,” Schmidt said. “You win this league (A10) by playing defense, by being tough and physical.”
Redshirt freshman Jordan Tyson didn’t score against the Colonials, but he made his presence known on the defensive end and ended up limiting two of George Washington’s best players. He talked after the game about what he did to stop the front court of the Colonials.
“My mindset was just to play as hard as I could and front the post,” Tyson said. “Coach stressed in practice so much not to let the ball get inside so I denied the post as best as I could, boxing out, running the floor, doing everything that I could.”
St. Bonaventure will stay on the road when it travels to the 15th ranked Dayton Flyers Saturday at noon. The game will be on the NBC Sports network. The Bonnies will try and avenge an 85-79 loss to the Flyers from back on Jan. 19 in the Reilly Center.
