Photo: GoBonnies
BY WILL POLADIAN, SPORTS EDITOR
In a sea of white, the Reilly Center brought the white noise to capture a victory over Dayton, 68-59, on Saturday night.
The Flyers started out hot with a 5-0 run to start the game.
Guard Kyrell Luc then answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Bonnies the lead.
Bonaventure scored only one point during a six-minute Dayton run, being outscored 10-1.
In the last five minutes of the half, St. Bonaventure went on an 11-3 run, capped off by a forward Chad Venning layup to close out the half.
“The Reilly Center is amazing,” Venning said. “It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen, and, in that capacity, you feed off the energy.”
Eight of the 11 points came from Venning, who ended the half with 13 points.
He led the Bonnies in scoring with 17 points on 8-of-9 from the floor and eight rebounds.
The second half started similarly to the first, with Dayton going on an 8-2 run.
A forward Yann Farell buzzer-beating 3-pointer ended the Flyers run while sparking a Bonaventure run.
“I thought we competed, head coach Mrak Schmidt said. “Those guys are more athletic, and they’re a little bit bigger than us, but I thought we competed and they didn’t dominate, dominate us.”
The Bonnies extended the lead by going on a 12-3 run, capped off by a forward Barry Evans steal and layup to put St. Bonaventure back up by 10.
A Dayton head coach Anthony Grant technical foul sent guard Daryl Banks III to the free throw line, where he knocked down a pair of shots giving Banks his first points of the night.
“He doesn’t let his shooting affect other parts of his game, head coach Mark Schmidt said. “It gives guys confidence. He’s a really good player and we need him playing the way he’s capable of playing.”
He ended the contest with 12 points on 2-of-10 shooting while going 7-of-8 from the free throw line with five assists and five rebounds.
With 7:34 left to go, guard Moses Flowers nailed a 3-pointer to give the Bonnies a 13-point advantage.
“We were all just locked in,” Flowers said. We had a team meeting right before the VCU game and we just talked about everything and what we felt we needed to do and ever since that meeting, everything has been rolling.”
With 3:11 left, Banks missed a 3-pointer, grabbed his own rebound and laid it up to close the door on the Flyers night.
Dayton tried to comeback late, but the Bonnies defense was able to pull out the nine-point victory.
“We had a great crowd,” Mark Schmidt said. “The crowd really, really supported us and without them, we probably wouldn’t be sitting here as victors.”
This marks the first win over Dayton since 2016, snapping a seven-game losing streak to the Flyers.
The Bonnies stand tied for fourth in the conference with Dayton heading into the last stretch of conference play.
St. Bonaventure looks to continue its three-game winning streak when La Salle comes into town on Wednesday. Tip-off is slated for 7:00 p.m. and can be seen on ESPN+.
“The model is to stay connected, Venning said. “Even on and off the court. We try to stay connected as much as possible.”
poladiwj20@bonaventure.edu
