PHOTO COURTESY OF ST. BONAVENTURE ATHLETICS
BY: ANDREW HALE, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
WASHINGTON – The No. 8 seeded St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team takes on the No. 9 seeded Duquesne Dukes in the second round of the Atlantic 10 Championships Thursday.
The Bonnies (21-10, 9-9 A-10) enter the tournament having won four of their last five games, including a 70-63 win over the Dukes on Feb. 22.
“That’s good, that we’re playing well, we’re playing with some confidence,” Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. “I think the confidence, more than momentum, is critical. You got to win the first game [in the tournament] and then once you win the first game, then you can gain some momentum and feel good about yourself.”
Duquesne (13-18, 8-10 A-10), on the other hand, enters Thursday’s matchup on a two-game skid. However, in the first game between the two teams, the Dukes defeated the Bonnies 75-57, handing Bonaventure its biggest loss of the season.
In that game, the Dukes made 14 threes and held the Bonnies to three.
“It’s always good to make threes, but we got to defend,” Schmidt said. “We got to keep the ball in front of us. Transition defense is going to be critical; not turning the ball over so they can get free points. We got to execute.”
This year’s second round matchup between the two is a rematch of last year’s semifinals game where the Dukes advanced, beating the Bonnies 70-60.
“The saying is ‘It is hard to beat a team three times,’” Schmidt said. “We only beat them once [this season], so we’re in a little bit of a different situation. But every game is different, but it’s the same thing. They’re playing the same way as they did the first game. They just didn’t shoot the ball as well in the second game. [That’s] one of the reasons why we won.”
In the Bonnies’ two games against the Dukes, graduate center Noel Brown and senior guard Melvin Council Jr. have combined for 63 total points.
“We’ve relied on [Brown] and Melvin [Council Jr.] the whole year,” Schmidt said. “When they play well, we usually have some success. They’re the guys that practice the best and they’re the guys that get [other] guys excited to play.”
However, Duquesne’s backcourt and size create some problems for opposing defenses according to Schmidt.
“[Duquesne’s players] are all good; they have a real good back court,” Schmidt said. “[Tre] Dinkins II is extremely good. They got good size inside. The four men are skilled. They got good guard play. [Cam] Crawford is a good player. [Maximus] Edwards came off the bench and hit four or five threes against us in game one. So, they run good stuff, they’re really well coached and they got good players.”
Thursday marks the 28th A-10 tournament game Schmidt has coached for the Bonnies, totaling a tournament record of 16-12 in his 18 seasons at the helm.
“We’re trying to win the tournament, and you can’t win the tournament unless you win the first game, so all our attention is trying to prepare the best we can to play a really good Duquesne team,” Schmidt said. “Our guys know them. They know us. It’s about executing. There’s not going to be any surprises. Once you get into the tournament, it’s about the players and how hard they are willing to play in execution.”
Tipoff is set for 11:30 a.m. and will air live on USA Network.
halea22@bonaventure.edu
