By Paul Gotham
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The plan was to get in the lane and score at the basket.
And that is exactly what St. Bonaventure’s Bonnies accomplished.
With a distinct advantage in rebounds and points in the paint the Bonnies outscored their long-time rival, Canisius Golden Griffins by 15 in the second half on their way to a convincing 86-64 victory Saturday night in the Reilly Center.
St. Bonaventure flexed their collective muscles and outscored the Golden Griffins 56-30 in the paint.
“I thought we could get the ball to the paint,” said Bona head coach Mark Schmidt. “And we did that. We got a lot of things in transition. But we attacked the paint, and that was the gameplan going in.”
The Bonnies established the tone early and never let up. Youssou Ndoye and Matthew Wright sent home back-to-back dunks in the game’s opening moments, and then in the second half the Bonnies rode a 12-2 run to victory.
“We got it to the paint off the dribble, off the pass,” Schmidt added.
Penetration off the dribble also resulted in the Bonnies gaining an advantage at the free throw line. The Brown and White made as many free throws (17) as their counterparts attempted.
Wright notched a career-high 27 points on 10-of-14 shooting with most of his points resulting from the senior guard getting in the lane using the dribble.
“This year with the new rules it really favors the offensive player,” Wright stated. “There’s no hand check, so they want scoring to be up, so to take advantage of it you have to play by the rules. I just try to be aggressive and get to the free throw line.”
Wright also dished out a pair of assists including a delayed pick-and-roll which Ndoye finished with an emphatic dunk for a 40-31 Bona lead late in the first half.
“I felt like they didn’t play the pick-and-rolls too well,” Wright commented. “We had a lot of fast break opportunities, so there goes all of your points in the paint.”
The Bonnies converted 15 Canisius turnovers into 22 points and also controlled the boards 44-25.
But St. Bonaventure did not dominate all categories on this evening attempting just four shots behind the arc and hit just one.
“Threes are there,” Schmidt explained. “When you can score 86 points and only shoot four threes to me that’s impressive.”
The Bonnies also outscored Canisius on second-chance (14-8) and fast-break points (14-4).
Despite the disparity, the Bonnies led by just four points early in the second half when the Griffs’ Jordan Heath was whistled for a technical foul. Matthew Wright knocked down both free throws and ignited a run of eight straight.
Ndoye tallied 13 points with Charlon Kloof adding 15.
Andell Cumberbatch, seeing his first action in brown and white, scored nine including Bona’s only three – a catch-and-shoot trey soon after the first media timeout of the game. Cumberbatch sat out the first two games of the season as the result of playing in unsanctioned summer league games.
The game was the 162nd between the Big 4 rivals with St. Bonaventure now holding a 97-65 advantage in the series.
With the win, Bona improves to 3-0 for the first time since 2000 when current Canisius head coach and St. Bonaventure Hall of Fame member, Jim Baron roamed the sidelines.
Baron was 11-9 against his former school entering Saturday’s action. Ten of those 11 wins came when Baron coached the Rhode Island Rams. Canisius defeated St. Bonaventure 72-69 last season – Baron’s first with the Griffs.
Paul Gotham is the founder, owner, editor and lead writer at Pickin’ Splinters. Paul is the Communications and Media Director of the New York Collegiate Baseball League. He is a USA Today Contributor and member of the USBWA. You can follow Paul on Twitter @PickinSplinters.
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