By Paul Casey Gotham
Two minutes and change remained on the Bridgestone Arena clock last Friday afternoon. A six-point St. Bonaventure half-time lead had evaporated. Okaro White capped a 12-0 run with a dunk, and Florida State led 60-52 in the second round of the Midwest Regional.
Surrender seemed likely.
The Seminoles had flexed their muscles. Their defense, which entered play keeping opposing offenses under 40 percent from the field, held the Bonnies without a field goal for more than five minutes.
Open shots were hard to find. Making matters worse, when the Bonnies penetrated the paint early in the half, they found the rim unforgiving. A Demitrius Conger putback attempt rattled around and into Andrew Nicholson’s hands for another attempt that touched all the iron before settling with a Seminole.
No one would have blamed Bona if they settled for a close loss. After all, it had been twelve years since SBU’s last trip to the NCAA Tournament. During that span the program endured a gut-wrenching scandal that left it near extinction. Winning the Atlantic 10 conference tournament and earning an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament was enough.
But that’s not why the Brown and White made the trip to Nashville.
They responded by hitting their next four from the field.
Conger grabbed a loose ball and finished with a layup. Charlon Kloof dribbled out the wing, and Nicholson replaced at the top of the key for a catch-and-shoot three; SBU trailed 60-57.
White stung the Bonnies with a trey of his own.
Then, with the Seminole defense harassing him, Nicholson skipped a pass from the free-throw line extended to Conger in the right corner for a three and a 63-60 deficit.
After a timeout and two Seminole free throws, Conger connected again from long range pulling Bona within two. That’s as close as they got.
“We didn’t come here to get moral victories,” said St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt. “We wanted to win. I am as proud of our guys as I’ve ever been with the team that I’ve coached. They’ve done everything we’ve asked. They fought. We just came up a bucket short.”
The Bonnies hit 23-of-57 (.404) from the field including 7-of-14 from behind the arc against a team that limits opponents to 38 percent. The weekend prior, Florida State held North Carolina (which usually connects 46 percent of the time) in the Atlantic Coast Conference championship to 39 percent (28-71) including 5-of-20 from long range. In the semi-final round FSU held Duke to 19-of-51 (.373).
“They were well prepared,” commented Florida State coach Leonard Hamilton when asked about the Bonnies. “They’re loaded with talent. They executed very well…We were very fortunate to come away with a victory.”
“You don’t win the ACC tournament with bad players and coaches,” Schmidt added. “This is a great team. They beat Carolina by 30, I think, and beat Duke. For us to be able to hang within 3, that’s a heck of a job.”
St. Bonaventure’s program moves forward without Da’Quan Cook and Nicholson. The seniors leave behind a legacy of rebuilding. With those two logging minutes, SBU went from 8-22 to 20-12.
Nicholson will leave a gaping hole. He takes with him 2,103 total career points, 887 rebounds, 244 blocks and field goal percentage of .575.
Pundits will point to his absence as the reason the Bonnies will slip to the bottom half of the Atlantic 10 in 2012-13. After all, much of SBU’s motion on offense and defense revolved around #44.
Stopping there in the assessment misses the point.
This is a team that endured the loss of two important players early in the season. Marquise Simmons barely broke a sweat before suffering an Achilles injury in the season opener. Michael Davenport went down with a shoulder injury not long after that.
The vultures started circling when Bona fell at home to Arkansas State.
“It’s not written a lot,” Schmidt explained. “But when we lost our sixth man one minute into the first game, we lost our starting two man who is going to be a thousand point scorer in our seventh game. People had us dead. Lot of media people had us dead. We fought. Our guys came back. We had great bench play. Our young guys really developed.”
Schmidt and his staff continued on their path.
Kloof developed into one the finest point guards in the conference. Conger presented matchup problems for opposing defenses. Jordan Gathers earned a starting spot. Chris Johnson put his imprint on the season. Youssou Ndoye filled a void in the post, and the Bonnies evolved.
Yes, Andrew Nicholson will be missed, but this is a program that learned to adapt. They overcame roster changes during the season. Schmidt and his staff now have an off-season to scheme.
St. Bonaventure’s Bonnies did more than win the Atlantic 10 title. They proved they belong with the best teams in the country. And they belong for the long haul.
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