PHOTO: GOBONNIES.COM
BY NATHAN SOLOMON, SPORTS EDITOR
NEWARK, N.J. — After trailing most of the first half, St. Bonaventure took a 39-36 lead off a thunderous Osun Osunniyi dunk and a pair of Jalen Adaway free throws.
Unfortunately for the Bonnies, that’d be the last time they took the lead. A 13-0 run for the Huskies over the next three minutes pushed the favorites ahead by 10, and they’d never lose control, winning 74-64.
“We had our chances,” coach Mark Schmidt said. “[UConn] made the plays when they needed to make the plays. Their length was a factor.”
The Bonnies (8-2) jumped out to a quick lead 16 seconds into the game after a Jalen Adaway jumper but fell behind the next nine minutes. Adaway connected on a 3-pointer about nine minutes later to give the Bonnies a brief 13-11 lead, but the Huskies (9-2) controlled the half.
St. Bonaventure trailed by as many as seven, but an 8-2 run to end the half cut the Bonnies’ deficit to just one at the break.
“We want to keep it in the halfcourt, and we had too many turnovers,” Schmidt said. “We did a much better job [in the second half].”
The Bonnies took early two second-half leads, the first coming three minutes in after a Jaren Holmes 3-pointer. He scored 19 points to lead all scorers and shot 6-of-14 with five assists but five turnovers.
“I’ll be better from this experience, and it’ll be better for my team,” Holmes said. “I felt that I did the best that I could, [but] I could’ve done much more, but this is a learning experience, and I’m very grateful to be able to showcase my versatility.
“I’m hungrier. We’re straight hungrier,” he said. “We’re looking forward to next Friday [against Virginia Tech].”
UConn lead by as many as 13 points, but with just over eight minutes remaining, St. Bonaventure had one final push. The Bonnies cut it down to five with four minutes left, but a Jalen Gaffney and-1 and a Tyler Polley 3-pointer in the final minutes sunk St. Bonaventure’s hopes.
“It was a good battle,” Schmidt said. “They got to the foul line more, but we had more points in the paint… from a physical standpoint, we didn’t get dominated, we [just] didn’t make some plays.”
For the first time this season, foul trouble affected the Bonnies as Dominick Welch fouled out and Holmes and Quadry Adams each had four. Osunniyi picked up two fouls in the first three minutes of the game and missed most of the first half. However, he never fouled in the second half and scored 10 points off 5-of-7 shooting.
“It’s just coming out and making the little plays,” Osunniyi said. “We had a chance, and just little plays like that, just [having] a couple rebounds would have [given] us a chance to win the game.”
St. Bonaventure kept UConn in check from the field, the winners shooting just 42%. Graduate guard RJ Cole led with 15 points but shot just 5-of-15.
“He’s a really good player,” Schmidt said. “You’ve just got to keep him in front, make it difficult for him, play the ball screens hard. He’s really good with the ball.”
The Bonnies shot just 39% from the field and 35% from downtown. They outrebounded UConn 40-37 and led in both second-chance points and points in the paint. UConn connected on `18 of its 24 free throws while the Bonnies made 11 of 13 attempts.
After a few days off for finals, St. Bonaventure plays Virginia Tech in the Basketball Hall of Fame Shootout on Friday in Charlotte. The Hokies are fresh off a victory over Cornell and play Dayton on Sunday at UD Arena.
When you play against a good team and good teams come together, it’s always going to come down to one or two or three plays,” Schmidt said. “Hopefully we can learn from that and we can make those plays next time.”
solomonj20@bonaventure.edu
