By Paul Gotham
Other than getting mentioned on a pre-season list of projected “break-out” players, St. Bonaventure’s Dion Wright has gone relatively unnoticed. You won’t find him on any pre-season all-conference teams, and he hasn’t earned conference player or the week.
You will find Wright under various categories of production and that has the attention of opposing Atlantic 10 coaches.
Nicknamed the “Worm” for his ability to thrive in tight places, Wright has netted double figures on 15 occasions this season including back-to-back 20-point performances in his SBU’s last two games.
He scored a team-high 21 on 8 of 11 shooting in St. Bonaventure’s 66-56 loss to La Salle over the weekend.
“He is one of those guys who is too strong for a guard and too quick and slippery for a big guy,” La Salle head coach Dr. John Giannini said. “I use the word slippery because he turns his shoulders and gets into small spaces.”
Wright tallied seven in the opening moments of Saturday’s game as Bona took an early lead. He scored twice in the lane on feeds from teammate Jay Adams. Then the 6-7 forward drew contact on a runner across the lane. His conventional three-point play gave SBU an 11-4 advantage.
“He’s pretty quick,” Giannini added. “He makes some tough shots. He’ll make reverse layups. He’ll get to the rim and just has the ability to make shots in traffic. He’s a unique player, a really tough matchup. He may have done it quietly in terms of the media, but in terms of opposing coaches I think we’re all extremely aware of him.”
Wright matched a career high with 22 points in SBU’s previous outing against Rhode Island.
“He does a really good job of getting both feet in the paint,” URI’s Dan Hurley said. “He’s obviously an experienced player. A guy who competes really, really hard, nightly.”
Wright grabbed 10 rebounds against the Rams for his fourth double-double of the season. Five of those boards came on the offensive end where he ranks fifth in the Atlantic 10 averaging 3.3 a game.
“He has a really great nose for the ball obviously on the offensive glass,” URI head coach Dan Hurley commented. “He’s got a great sense of how to use his left and right shoulders to create that space to finish those touch shots.”
In 19 games, Wright is averaging 12.7 points and seven boards per game.
“He’s creative around the basket in his ability to score the ball,” Bona head coach Mark Schmidt said. “The biggest thing is he is much more mature both physically and mentally. He understands what we’re trying to do. He has a better feel for the game in what we’re trying to do both offensively and defensively.”
Wright appeared in 13 contests as a freshman and averaged less than points a game. He showed a glimpse of what was to come when he scored 15 points and grabbed four rebounds in 11 minutes as the Bonnies beat Charlotte, 104-83. A year ago he averaged almost 22 minutes in 33 games, scored nearly nine points and grabbed 4.8 rebounds.
“Coming off his freshman year he didn’t play a lot,” Mark Schmidt continued. “He took that next step as a sophomore. No one really knew who he was. This was a big year. I told him he was going to have a target on his chest. People are going to game plan for him now when in the past they didn’t even know who he was.”
He has responded well. While taking three more shots per game than he did last season (7.3 as opposed to 10.9 currently), the junior is still hitting better than 50 percent (105 for 208) of his attempts.
“He can put the ball in the basket, and he can do it in a variety of ways,” Schmidt noted. “He’s tough matchup. He’s strong enough where you switch a guard on to him, he can post him up. If you keep a big guy on him, he has those ball skills to take guys off the dribble.”
Wright has made Giannini reconsider his approach going forward.
“He even makes you think about recruiting a little bit. I’d love to have one of those 6-7 versatile guys who are tough matchups.”
Wright ranks 12th in A-10 scoring, 10th in rebounding. His free-throw percentage of 77.6 (38 of 49) is 12th while his shooting percentage is 13th best in the conference. He leads the A-10 with 104 2-pt. field goals, and his 105 field goals are ninth in the league.
“He’s had a heckuva year for us,” Schmidt stated. “He’s scoring the ball. He’s defending. He’s rebounding. Whatever success we’ve had this year, he’s been a big part of it.”
Bona (11-8/4-4) travels on Wednesday for their first conference meeting with A-1o newcomer the Davidson Wildcats (14-5/5-3). A 7 p.m. tipoff is slated.
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