By Jonathan Sawyer
Sports Associate Editor
PITTSBURGH- The St. Bonaventure Bonnies men’s basketball team routed the Massachusetts Minutemen in the second round of the A10 Tournament for the third time this season.
“Its tough to beat any team three times, but they kind of know what we do, we know what they do, so it comes down to who’s tougher,” Adams said.
Both teams went back and forth to start the game, until the Bonnies went on a 10-0 run to jump out to a five-point lead, 23-18.
The Bonnies continued to lay on the baskets as the five-point lead quickly turned into 18 points, as they went up 44-26 at halftime.
Sophomore guard Nelson Kaputo entered the game with six minutes left to go in the first half and from there, the Bonnies went on a 19-8 run to end the half. The lineup complemented the junior guards, Matt Mobley and Jaylen Adams.
“Nelson did a really good job of not only hitting that three, but he did a nice job of controlling the ball and making some good decisions.” Schmidt said.
Adams said having Kaputo come in the game and be effective helped take the pressure off him and Mobley.
“Nelly gave us another ball handler, he’s able to stick shots and he took some of the pressure to handle the ball off of us,” he said.
Coming out of the half the Bonnies continued to pour on the scoring, extending their lead to 25 with 10 minutes left to go in the first half.
The Minutemen would show some life by knocking the deficit down to 16 or 17 but could not stop the Bonnies offense.
Mobley said he knew what they were going to throw at them from the previous two meetings.
“We knew they were going triangle-two, so there was going to be other people open and they knocked down shots early, so it forced them to get out of it,” he said.
Schmidt said the keys to the game was the third, fourth and fifth guys on the team.
“When we get that third and fourth guy scoring the basketball good things can happen,” he said. “I thought David coming in shooting the ball well and Josh, that gives us two more guys that they have to guard.”
Senior forward David Andoh came off the bench and ignited the Bonnies 10-0 run in the first half by drilling a fade-away hook shot and a knock down jump shot from the left elbow.
Freshman forward Josh Ayeni scored 10 points for the Bonnies.
“The more guys we can get involved in our offense scoring the basketball, the better it is,” Schmidt said. “That third guy is really important, but once we get that fourth guy and then Nelson comes off the bench and hits that big three.”
Mobley has struggled of late shooting the ball, only knocking down one field goal against the Minutemen last Saturday, but he said he just wanted be aggressive early.
“I wanted to come out early and knock down a few shots to get me going, it helped us and gave us a little momentum,” he said.
Up next for the Bonnies is the Rhode Island Rams Friday at 2:30 p.m. Mobley believed the team needs to stay aggressive against the Rams.
“We have to take care of the ball, first game they beat us up on the boards,” he said. “We have to continue to be aggressive and knock down shots.”
Adams said he has a few ways for the Bonnies to be good against the Rams.
“A team like Rhode Island is really physical,” he said. “We have to rebound, make shots, and hit free throws and we will be good.”
Struggling to score the ball is one thing, but being able to not allow the opponent to score is another matter.
“We understand that the most important thing is to defend, shots aren’t always going to fall, but if they aren’t falling for us they can’t fall for the other team,” Adams said.
Schmidt said it all comes down to how they defend.
“Our defense was really our catalyst today and it has been for a few games and it needs to be if it we are going to beat a team as good as Rhode Island,” he said.
Schmidt said they have to play better basketball overall in order to match-up with the Rams.
“Physically we have to play better, match them more on the back board and take care of the basketball,” he said. “They are a polar opposite then what you saw today with UMass, they are going to be out in the passing lanes and being aggressive.”
The Rams defeated the Bonnies 71-59 back on Jan. 28.
sawyerjp15@bonaventure.edu
