By Paul Gotham
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – In a performance best described as precise, the University of Dayton Flyers dissected St. Bonaventure’s Bonnies, 78-61 in Atlantic 10 play on Bob Lanier Court, Thursday night.
Dayton connected on 29 of 52 shots from the floor including 14 of 24 behind the arc, improved to 2-0 in conference play and won for the fifth straight time.
Jordan Sibert paced the offense with a game-high 22 points. The senior guard hit 9 of 16 shots including 4 of 9 from long range.
The Flyers trailed only briefly in the game’s opening moments before breaking it open with an early run.
Dayton connected four times behind the arc to open their largest lead of the first half. Sibert snapped an 8-8 tie when Scoochie Smith found him with a drive and dish. Smith fed Darrell Davis for another 3-pointer. Kendall Pollard converted a pair from the free throw line.
Dyshawn Pierre scored back-to-back baskets pushing the lead to eight at 20-12. Sibert made it a double-digit advantage when Pollard found him ahead of the defense and forced goaltending on a layup. Sibert drilled another three, and Bobby Wehrli found the measure from long range when Pierre kicked out a pass from the lane.
UD led 28-16.
“Moving the ball and moving yourself is the whole key to this team,” Dayton coach Archie Miller said. “As the ball’s moving and sharing, we’re seeing some success, and I think it’s becoming contagious.”
St. Bonaventure responded with a 7-0 run cutting the lead to four, but that’s as close as the Bonnies would get for the remainder of the game.
“The fear going into the game was that Dayton was going to space us out and take us off the bounce,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt said. “They do a great job of making the one more pass.”
Pierre netted six in a 9-2 run as UD pushed the lead back to double digits just before the end of the first half. The junior forward converted a traditional three-point play and connected on a pair of baby hooks to give Dayton a 39-28 advantage.
Jay Adams hit a 35-foot shot at the buzzer to pull Bona within eight at halftime, 39-31.
“All the credit goes to Dayton,” Schmidt commented. “We couldn’t keep them in front or defend the three-point line. Going into the game we knew that they were 4-0 with a small line-up. They played extremely well offensively.”
Kyle Davis converted his own three-point play early in the second half. Pollard finished at the rim, and Sibert pushed the lead to double digits when Pierre found him slipping a screen on the wing.
Pierre tallied 15 points on the night with seven rebounds and three assists.
“When Pierre plays the way he did in the hole, as a coach you decide do you double or not,” Schmidt explained. “When you doubled, they would make that extra pass.”
After hitting just 27.1 percent (42 of 155) for the first nine games of the year, the Flyers had hit 44.8 percent (39 of 87) behind the arc in the previous four games.
Any chance the Bonnies had for a rally was swallowed in an 8 of 13 performance from long range in the second half.
“We didn’t get anything out of our defense and as the game is going along, I think we panicked a little bit offensively,” Schmidt added.
UD handed out 20 assists on 29 field goals. For the second time in as many outings the Flyers dished as many assists as their opponent made field goals.
Bona went 20 of 48 for the game.
“They play extremely well, shooting 14-24 from three and 20 assists,” Schmidt said. “We couldn’t defend them.”
At the same time, Dayton limited SBU’s big man, Youssou Ndoye to just eight points and nine rebounds. Ndoye took four shots. The 7-footer hit 6 of 8 free throws.
“They did a good job fronting the post, pressuring us on the perimeter and forcing us to not get the ball inside,” Schmidt noted.
Smith scored 14 for Dayton and handed out a game-high five assists. Darrell Davis added 11.
Marcus Posley led Bona with 17. Dion Wright added 13, and Andell Cumberbatch chipped in 10.
Darrell Davis and Wehrli led a UD bench which outscored its counterparts, 20-7.
Dayton hit 1 of 6 to start the game. The Flyers assisted on each of their first 10 made baskets.
Bona hit 18 of 24 from the free throw line but managed to shoot just 3 of 14 behind the arc.
St. Bonaventure travels to Richmond to take on the Spiders this Sunday. A 3 pm tip time is scheduled.
Dayton heads to the Bronx to take on Fordham, Saturday night. A 7 pm tipoff is slated.
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