BY TOM SEIPP, MANAGING EDITOR.
Following the St. Bonaventure Bonnies loss against Dayton Monday, a sluggish opening round appearance was feared.
However, they showed up and dominated in the quarterfinal.
St. Bonaventure held the top seed in the conference tournament for the first time in school history and took down No. 9 Duquesne Duke, 75-59, in the quarterfinal round.
“I thought we got off to a really good start. Duquesne is a very physical team… Give Duquesne credit, they fought back, we knew they would,” St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. “We didn’t come here to go 1-0, we came here to go 2-0 and we’re halfway there.”
The Bonnies got going early at the Siegel Center, as they used an early 14-2 run to build a double-digit lead 14 minutes in, with 12 of those early points coming from Dominick Welch.
St. Bonaventure catapulted thanks to three separate 7-0 runs in the first 20 minutes, extending to their largest lead of 21 at the halftime break.
In the early moments of the second half, Duquesne came out inspired, applying a full-court pressure. The Dukes’s defense helped them with the comeback, cutting the St. Bonaventure led to eight. But, a scrummage under the Duquesne basket – which led to an Alpha Okoli ejection – motivated the Bonnies, who then went on a 18-3 run following the two Duquesne free throws.
“It’s a game of runs,” said Welch, who finished with 18 points.
“We were dealing with some adversity, we weren’t playing very well. But, we fought back and gained some confidence to get the game back under control,” Schmidt said.
All five St. Bonaventure starters scored double digits; Jaren Holmes was the only one from the group to play under 38 minutes (31 minutes).
Ossuniyi loaded up the scorebook, as he finished 18 points, 14 rebounds and six assists.
“I’m a willing passer. Always have been, always will be,” said the 6-foot-10 center on his six assists. “So if a defense comes and double-teams me, I have no issue passing it out to my guys on the perimeter because I know they’re going to knock down shots.”
The Bonnies won the rebound battle 40-36, they’re now 10-0 when they out rebound their opponent. St. Bonaventure also controlled the inside offensively, outscoring Duquesne by 20 in the paint.
“We thought the team that could control the paint was the team that was going to win,” Schmidt said.
Osunniyi believes the regular season finale loss to Dayton was a blessing in disguise.
“In a way the loss helped us. It allowed us to refocus ourselves, it allowed us to get ready,” he said. “It’s playoff time, now. We didn’t want to lose, but in a way you can look at it as a positive.”
Under Schmidt, the Bonnies are now 12-9 in the Atlantic 10 Tournament, winning three of their last four games.
The Bonnies are set to move into the Atlantic 10 semifinals Saturday at 6 p.m. at the Siegel Center. They’ll match up with the winner of the UMass/St. Louis game.
