Photo: GoBonnies.com
BY NATHAN SOLOMON, SPORTS EDITOR
St. Bonaventure led by 16 points at the half but fended off a late Saint Louis rally, defeating the Billikens 83-79 for their second victory over the team in four days.
“To be up 16 against a team with that talent says a lot about our guys,” coach Mark Schmidt said. “We knew they were going to come back. They are well-coached — they’ve got players.”
The Bonnies (15-7, 7-4 A-10) fell behind 4-2 the Billikens (17-8, 8-4) before a Kyle Lofton injury timeout 82 seconds into the game. Quadry Adams replaced him for two minutes where he recorded a dunk and an assist before Lofton’s eventual return.
St. Bonaventure opened a nine-point lead just eight and a half minutes into the game before an 11-3 Saint Louis run cut the Bonnies’ lead down to one. But, with seven minutes left in the first half, St. Bonaventure exploded on a 13-0 run to help build a 48-32 lead at the half.
“From an offensive standpoint, I don’t think we could have played better,” Schmidt said. “[We had] 22 points off of turnovers and they only [had] one. That’s how we won out there.
“From an effort standpoint, I thought it was really good.”
Osun Osunniyi, who scored 12 points on Friday, had 17 off 7-of-8 shooting at the break. He finished with 21 points, three rebounds and three blocks.
“We’re just taking it one game at a time,” Osunniyi said. “We understand that we can play well when we are locked in and it showed in the first half.”
Saint Louis shot 52% in the first half and their hot shooting continued. They connected on eight of their first 11 shots out of the break to six just five minutes into the second half.
But, the Bonnies slowly edged away, leading by 15 with 7:28 left before another Billiken run. Saint Louis cut the lead down to seven with 3:26 left and consecutive 3-pointers from Fred Thatch Jr. and DeAndre Jones sandwiched around a Jalen Adaway layup made it a one-possession game with under two minutes to play.
Jaren Holmes, who finished with 18 points, split two free throws with 38 seconds left before a Jones 3-pointer missed. Osunniyi was charged with a foul on the rebound and Thatch Jr. connected on two free throws to cut the lead to two.
Holmes was again fouled, where he split the two free throws. Jordan Nesbitt missed a game-tying 3-pointer with six seconds left and Adaway iced the game with a free throw for a four-point St. Bonaventure victory.
In addition to Osunniyi’s 21 pointes, Dominick Welch scored 19 points and made three 3-pointers. He’s shot 36% from deep over his last seven games.
“Confidence was low early in the season. I was missing a lot of shots,” Welch said. “I’ve just stayed in the gym with [coaches] and working on my jumper.”
Adaway chipped in 17 points and six rebounds for the Bonnies. Lofton scored just four but had eight assists.
As a team, the Bonnies shot 54% from the field and made four 3-pointers. They made just nine of 16 free-throw attempts.
“We were sharing the ball, cutting — just good spacing,” Schmidt said. “We got a little stagnant in the second half, but being up 16, sometimes that happens.”
Saint Louis made 56% of its shots and outrebounded the Bonnies 30-24. Nesbitt led the team with 18 and Thatch Jr. and Gibson Jimerson each had 17.
St. Bonaventure has its shortest turnaround of the season ahead, hosting Massachusetts on Wednesday. Saint Louis returns home to host La Salle on Wednesday.
“We’re feeling good winning three games,” Osunniyi said. “But, we’ve got to work every single day. We’ll rest up tonight, watch film tomorrow and get ready for UMass.”
solomonj20@bonaventure.edu
