By Paul Gotham
CINCINNATI, OH — St. Bonaventure’s Bonnies had plenty of answers on Saturday afternoon. Just not enough to beat an elite team.
Mark Lyons led four Musketeers in double figures as Xavier downed St. Bonaventure 77-64 in Atlantic 10 Conference play at the Cintas Center.
Lyons paced an offense which attacked the Bonnies from the inside and out.
“When Lyons is hitting shots like he did, they’re hard to play,” Bona head coach Mark Schmidt said. “I thought Mark played exceptionally well.”
Xavier jumped to an early 8-2 lead. Tu Holloway and Lyons opened the game with an old-fashioned give and go. Holloway dished to Lyons at foul line extended and made an inside cut for the bucket in the lane. One free throw later and XU led by three. The Muskies doubled the lead on their next trip when Dez Wells hit mark Lyons in transition for one of his two treys in the first stanza.
After a pair of free throws by Andrew Nicholson, Holloway drove across the lane and finished on the right with a layup.
“Holloway and Lyons are the focus of any team’s game plan,” Schmidt continued. “They’re both so good off the dribble. I thought we did a decent job against Holloway, but Lyons got us pretty good. We had a tough time keeping them in front of us.”
Lyons stretched the lead to 15-6 with a pair of drives. The redshirt junior made an acrobatic move through the lane and connected with an up and under layup. Next trip he drove baseline drawing contact. After a free throw, XU led 15-6.
Bonaventure responded.
Demitrius Conger started a 7-0 run with an emphatic dunk. Eric Mosley ran down a loose ball at half court and found Conger open for the easy basket. Bona’s defense forced a travel at the other end, and Chris Johnson stepped into a three. Nicholson hit a pair from the free throw line, and Bona trailed 15-13.
But the Musketeers finished the half outscoring Bona 19-8 including a 9-0 spurt sparked by Brad Redford and Andre Walker to take a 29-17 lead.
Walker caught the ball outside the arc near the top of the key, took two dribbles and kicked to Redford in the corner for an open trey. After the under four media timeout, Walker stole a pass and went in for an undefended dunk. Holloway and Travis Taylor both connected twice from the free throw line before Walker and Redford combined for another trifecta.
Redford finished the game with 10 points. His first double-digit performance since season-ending knee surgery during pre-season a year ago.
“That’s the Brad I know,” said Xavier head coach Chris Mack. “He’s the best shooter I’ve ever been around.”
The duo helped increase the lead to fifteen when Walker stopped Nicholson in the post, and Redford doubled-down for the steal off the dribble. Two passes later, Holloway hit Dez Wells for a layup.
“It’s more about getting in the gym and trusting myself,” Redford said of his performance. “I feel like every week I’m getting stronger. Part of the difficulty coming back [from an injury] is in the head.”
The Musketeers hit 12-of-of-24 from the field including 4-of-8 from behind the arc in the first half. At the same time, Xavier outscored Bonaventure 16-8 in the paint over the first twenty minutes.
Nicholson scored 11 of his team-high 20 in the second stanza as the Bonnies refused to go away.
“Coming into the game we were very aware of who Andrew Nicholson is, was, has been,” Mack commented. “He’s arguably the best post player in our conference. Our whole objective was to make sure he passed the basketball.”
Matthew Wright drove the paint and shoveled a back pass to Nicholson for a 17″ shot off the glass. On the next possession, Nicholson and Conger ran a ball screen with Nicholson connecting on a step back jumper.
Wells and Redford responded for the Musketeers with an acrobatic layup and a pair of free throws.
Nicholson scored seven of Bona’s next 11 to stay within striking distance.
“He can hurt you with his back to the basket. He can hurt you facing up,” Mack explained. “He’s a poor man’s Tim Duncan. He’s got a great touch as everybody witnessed out there.”
Nicholson and Chris Johnson also combined on a screen and roll with the senior forward knocking down a baseline jumper.
“It evolved today in the second half,” Schmidt said of his team’s using ball screens. “We tried to do that in the first half, but we just weren’t effective with it. I don’t think we were as patient as we needed to be.”
Nicholson’s catch-and-shoot three kept the Bonnies within sniffing distance at 48-35 going into the under 16 timeout.
But Xaver proved too much.
Jeff Robinson sealed the victory scoring Xavier’s final nine points.
Lyons’ 21 came on 7-14 shooting. The Musketeers shot 27-54 as a team and finished with 20 assists.
Robinson added 13 with Holloway and Redford adding 13 and 10 respectively.
Walker had a game-high seven assists. Wells led all with nine rebounds.
“Our guys didn’t quit. We hung in there,” Schmidt said. “But playing a team like Xavier at Xavier, we need more than one guy playing his A game. We didn’t have that. You can’t have that against an elite team.”
Nicholson hit 6-of-12 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line.
Freshman, Youssou Ndoye notched a career-best nine points.
Xavier improves to 3-1 in the A-10 and 12-5 overall. The Musketeers host St. Joseph’s on Wednesday.
Bona falls to 2-2 in conference play and 9-7 for the full slate. The Bonnies host Fordham next Saturday.
Representatives from 18 N.B.A teams sat courtside for the game.
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