- By Jonathan Sawyer
Sports Associate Editor
PITTSBURGH – A second chance for the St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball team (20-12) fell short to the Rhode Island Rams (22-9), 74-63 in the quarterfinal round of the A10 Tournament.
“I give all the credit to Rhode Island, I think they did a really good job both offensively and defensively,” Bonnie’s head coach Mark Schmidt said. “They are more physical than us and we had a hard time scoring the ball.”
Rams head coach Dan Hurley said he was thrilled about the win, but credited Bonaventure.
“For a team like Bonaventure, with those two tremendous guards and Denzel Gregg, who developed into a tremendous forward and as incredibly of a coached team as you can play,” he said.
The Rams started the game hot, knocking down two straight threes and jumping out to an early 12-4 lead.
The Bonnies would fight back to bring the game within four points throughout the whole first half.
The Rams missed 10 free throws in the first half, going 6-16 at the line. The Bonnies would go into halftime down 32-26.
Coming out of the half, Hurley said he could anticipate the run.
“We knew they were going to come out and surge a little bit because I think they felt fortunate to be only down six,” he said. “But we are a resilient team, we have dealt with a lot of stuff the whole year. I was pretty comfortable we would respond.”
Coming out of the half, the Bonnies would surge to take their first lead of the game at 35-34, but the lead would only last 19 seconds as junior guard E.C. Matthews would knock down a three ball that would put the Rams up 37-35. That was the last time the Bonnies led in the game.
The Rams would continue to lay it on the Bonnies, opening up a double-digit lead for the rest of the game.
The difference in the game was the Rams size against the Bonnies, which senior forward Denzel Gregg eluded to.
“They are good players. We struggled with that all year, the bigger big, and it showed tonight,” he said.
Matthews said it was simple, to win more plays than the Bonnies.
“We emphasized made more winning plays than them and we got the results we wanted,” he said. “It’s the same with any other team, we are not really focused on them, it’s more about us and the mindset we have.”
Senior forward Hassan Martin talked about the play of the big men down low.
“Just be real physical down low, use our depth to an advantage and just really rebounding and defend like we have been doing these past games,” he said.
The Rams didn’t come out and surprise the Bonnies with anything new from the previous time they played.
“It’s most of the same,” junior guard Jaylen Adams said. “They were just more physical than us, something that we’ve got to work on in the summer. I think we turned the ball over too much and I think we’ve got to get better from here.”
Junior guard Idris Taqqee and Gregg dropped 12 points and combined for 12 rebounds.
Junior guard Matt Mobley didn’t hit a field goal, which left most of the scoring up to Adams, but he doesn’t feel any pressure.
“It’s something that as a leader, I’m willing to shoulder,” Adams said. “Today they weren’t falling and they beat us up and they got one today.”
As many different schemes and plays as Schmidt tried to throw at the Rams, they didn’t seem to be fooled.
“We tried to trick them,” he said. “They are just more physical than us. They are men inside and we had young guys trying to battle and they fought, but they were just out-matched.”
The Bonnies season, for now, has come to an end. They await Selection Sunday to see if they get a birth into the NIT Tournament.
Schmidt thinks his team is good enough to be invited to the NIT.
“We came in fifth in the Atlantic 10,” he said. “We’ve had some good wins, great crowds and I think we are deserving of that.”
sawyerjp15@bonaventure.edu
