By John Pullano, Managing Editor
The Rhode Island Rams and the St. Bonaventure Bonnies took center stage Saturday night in front of a sellout crowd at the Reilly Center.
The Bonnies opened the game with a barrage of three pointers, lighting up the Atlantic 10’s best defense that has only allowed 60.3 points per game. The Bonnies’ 40 first-half points was the most the Rams had given up in the first half of a game all season.
However, any plans of a celebration for the Bonnies were quickly canceled by Daron “Fatts” Russell’s electric shooting performance. Russell tallied 29 points on 8 of 14 shooting from the floor and 4 of 9 shooting from three in route to an 81-75 Rams victory.
The Rams opened the second half on a 10-0 run while playing stingy defense and never looked back.
For Russell, he came into this game having experienced a ruckus Reilly Center crowd before. Having shot 2 for 7 for only four points in the teams last trip to the Reilly Center in 2018, Russell came into this year’s game prepared.
“My freshman year we came in here undefeated in conference play and they came with their crowd and it was a crazy environment,” said Russell. “So, I came into this game knowing what kind of environment it was going to be and I didn’t say anything the whole game until the end when we were up on the scoreboard and knew we were going to win.”
Despite St. Bonaventure being without center Osun Osunniyi for the third consecutive game, Rhode Island head coach David Cox credited Russell’s performance as a reason for the team’s victory among other things.
“We were very efficient all night offensively,” said Cox. “[Osunniyi] was not necessarily the emphasis this guy [Russell] caught fire and I didn’t post Fatts and he made a real difference. Cyril [Langevine] was outstanding throughout the night and I thought our guys crashed the class really well.”
In the game, the Bonnies allowed 14 offensive rebounds and failed to convert their free throws in crucial, late-game situations, shooting 33% from the line in the final nine minutes.
In a six point loss and without Osunniyi, Bonnies’ head coach Mark Schmidt did not believe his team should be discouraged by the loss, but was disappointed with his team’s effort level at times.
“I thought it was an inspired effort by our guys,” said Schmidt. “We played hard not all the time and that is what we have got to get to. The game was decided the first four minutes of the second half. We came out a little bit lethargic and they came after us.”
Not all is lost for the Bonnies, who scored well above their season average of 67.6 points per game and shot 41.2 percent from three. Schmidt said he believed the loss to Rhode Island was a game the team can learn from.
“Sometimes we broke down,” said Schmidt. “But I think for the most part it was there we just need to execute better and I think with a young team, the more they are put in these different situations hopefully they can grow and learn from them.”
Overall, it came down to the team’s ability to make shot in the last four minutes.
As Schmidt put it, “We missed shots, they made shots.”
The Bonnies followed up their home performance wednesday with a 62-55 overtime victory over the Fordham Rams. Sophomore guard Dominick Welch tallied 22 points to go along with a career-high 14 rebounds to power the Bonnies. The win against the Rams broke the Bonnies’ three-game skid.
The Bonnies will be back at home for a 4 p.m. matchup with the George Mason Patriots on Saturday.
pullanjj18@bonaventure.edu
