Photo: St. Bonaventure Athletics
BY JONNY WALKER, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
On a night when St. Bonaventure’s two preseason all-conference selections combined for 12 points on 5-15 shooting, the Bonnies still managed to escape with a 73-69 victory over visiting Longwood in Monday’s season opener.
Preseason first-team guard Daryl Banks III scored 4 points on 1-8 shooting, including 0-5 from three. Foul trouble — including three fouls in the game’s first eight minutes — limited preseason third-team forward Chad Venning to just 14 minutes.
“Those guys don’t have good nights, and we were able to beat a good team,” said Bona head coach Mark Schmidt. “You want those guys to play well, but when they don’t, you know, other guys can step up. And that’s a good sign.”
Stepping up to fill those all-conference-sized holes were two transfers making their Bonaventure debuts: graduate guard Charles Pride (Bryant) and redshirt junior center Noel Brown (George Washington).
Playing 37 minutes — 11 clear of his next-closest teammate — Pride had a team-high 21 points. He hit five of eight 3-point attempts, the last of which broke a 64-64 tie with 2:38 remaining.
Brown filled in at center for all 26 minutes of game time Venning spent on the bench. After the game, Schmidt commended Brown’s defensive impact, citing the 6-foot-11 center’s performance as a shining example of his team’s newfound depth.
“The better you play, the more you play,” said Schmidt of his players. “But we have this year — we have a little bit more depth. And hopefully we can use that to our advantage.”
As Schmidt hinted at before the season, nine players saw significant minutes. Bona’s offseason additions through the transfer portal, including Pride and Brown, bear much of the responsibility for that deepened rotation.
And, as evidenced by Pride playing all but three minutes Monday, a deeper pool of capable players should allow Schmidt to ride the hot hand — a luxury the 17th-year head coach wasn’t afforded last season.
In 2022-23, Banks had seven 20-plus point performances as Bona’s go-to scorer, and the team went 5-2 in those contests. However, when Banks scored single digits — as he did in Monday’s win — that record dropped to 3-5. No perimeter player proved they could pick up Banks’ slack like Pride did against Longwood.
In 2022-23, Venning averaged nearly 30 minutes per game, and the team relied on him as its only true big man. However, when Venning played 20 minutes or less — as he did in Monday’s win — Bona went 2-3. No interior player proved they could pick up Venning’s slack like Brown did against Longwood.
Saturday, the Bonnies will host a Canisius team largely similar to the one that defeated them early last season. Banks and Venning played a combined 60 minutes in that game, but coach Schmidt’s team floundered in overtime.
This year, however, it looks like Schmidt’s got backup.
walkerjc20@bonaventure.edu
