BY ANDREW HALE, MANAGING EDITOR
The No. 7 St. Bonaventure Bonnies basketball team defeated the No. 10 La Salle Explorers in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Championships.
In the first matchup between La Salle and Bonaventure in January, the Explorers won 72-59. La Salle had won the previous two meetings before Wednesday’s tournament game.
Bonaventure controlled the boards early grabbing 10 rebounds – six offensive – in the first six minutes of the game.
Both teams struggled offensively from the field as the Bonnies shot 5-15 and the Explorers shot 5-13 during the first ten minutes of the opening half.
Brooklyn native, Chad Venning began the game 1-3 from the field and was subbed out for fellow Bonnies redshirt junior center Noel Brown.
Venning finished the half only playing eight minutes, going 2-6 from the field with four points.
Following the sluggish start, the Bonnies took a 20-13 lead after a three from sophomore forward Assa Essamvous with eight minutes left in the first half.
La Salle kept the score close, shooting 4-8 from three. Junior guard Daeshon Shepherd was perfect from the field shooting 3-3 while finishing with a team-high nine points in the first half.
The Bonnies ended the half shooting 5-5 from the field including a buzzer-beating hook from Brown, giving Bonaventure a lead 42-34.
“I thought Noel was the difference in the first half,” said coach Mark Schmidt. “He did a great job inside, scoring.”
Brown played 12 minutes and finished the half with nine points and three rebounds.
“My team has helped me out a ton,” said Brown. “My team had me on the inside. They were just in the right spots. They spaced out perfectly.”
Graduate student guard Charles Pride led the way for the Bonnies finishing with a game-high 13 points in the first half. Pride was 6-7 from the free throw line and shot 3-6 from the field. Pride also grabbed five rebounds.
Venning opened the scoring for the Bonnies in the second half with a quick layup.
La Salle shot 7-11 from the field and out-scored the Bonnies by eight to begin the half.
After five consecutive makes the Explorers tied the game at 52 with 11:32 in the second half.
After being fouled on a 3-point attempt, freshman forward Tunde Vahlberg Fasasi gave the Explores a 55-52 lead.
With eight minutes left, the Bonnies answered back with a 5-0 run of their own to take back the lead.
At the under four minute media timeout, the Bonnies led the Explorers 63-62.
A 3-point shot from redshirt senior guard Moses Flowers gave the Bonnies a 68-66 lead with two minutes left. Prior to this, the Bonnies shot 0-5 from three in the second half.
La Salle answered back, tying the game at 68.
With one minute left, a nifty spin move and layup from Venning gave the Bonnies a 70-68.
With 50 seconds left, redshirt senior guard Daryl Banks III drew a charge. After inbounding the ball Banks drove to the basket and scored a quick layup, giving the Bonnies a four-point lead.
Sophomore forward Rokas Jocius responded with a breakaway dunk to cut the lead to two.
Following a pair of Flowers free throws the Bonnies once again went up four. Just when it looked as if La Salle was down and out, senior guard Jhamir Brickus was fouled while attempting a 3-pointer.
After making all three free throws, La Salle fouled Venning and the Bonnies big man stepped to the foul line, up by one.
Venning’s first shot bounded around the rim and fell through the net, putting the Bonnies up two. Venning committed a line violation as his second free throw bounced off the rim, giving the Explores one last shot.
With 10 seconds left, La Salle inbounded the ball to Brickus and he raced up the floor. After being double teamed by Bonaventure defenders, Brickus chucked up a wild 3-pointer.
Brickus’s attempt missed the rim entirely, but Shepherd caught the airball and went up for a dunk at the buzzer. Shepherd’s wide-open dunk was unsuccessful, and the Bonnies held on for a 75-73 victory.
“We just found a way, basketball is a tough sport,” said Schmidt. “I’m not sure that was great defense on the last shot, that was the Franciscans looking over the Bonnies when he missed that dunk.”
Brickus finished with a game-high 18 points.
“It’s almost like [Brickus] has an old man’s game,” said Schmidt. He just goes slow, he sees things, and the game is slow for him. He’s really smart and he’s just he has a high IQ.”
Graduate student guard Mika Adams-Woods came up big for the Bonnies, scoring 10 of his 15 total points in the second half.
“Games like this, it was a team effort from all the guys,” said Adams-Woods. “I want to shout out my guys for sticking together and everybody that made plays on our team. It was definitely an overall team effort for sure.”
Bonaventure takes on No. 2 Loyola Chicago Thursday at 5 p.m. in the quarterfinals of the A-10 Championships. The game will air on USA Network.
halea22@bonaventure.edu
