By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
It was the same refrain for St. Bonaventure on Friday night.
The Bonnies began their nationally-televised bout with Richmond haphazardly, as they often have on the road, committing three turnovers over the first four minutes and surrendering an early 7-2 deficit. They regrouped enough to hang around in the first half, trading baskets and even taking the lead three times, but scored just two points over the last 4:46 of the half and carried a seven-point deficit into the break. Despite a strong start to the second half, they surrendered 36 points to Tyler Burton, who had nine NBA scouts in attendance to judge his talents, and could not make the necessary plays to win late in the game.
Richmond secured a 71-61 victory in front of 5,803 observers at the Robins Center. Bona dropped to 12-7 overall and 4-4 in the Atlantic 10, with its third loss in five true road games this season.
“Right now, the situation’s where we’re not making plays and the other team is,” Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt remarked.
The Spiders, who hadn’t outrebounded Bonaventure during Bona’s five-game head-to-head win streak, grabbed 11 more boards than SBU in snapping that skid. That number included 10 offensive rebounds and 13 second chance points. Burton led the stat sheet with four offensive rebounds, including one he put back for a dunk with 6:21 remaining to stretch Richmond’s lead back to three points.
Bona turned the ball over 13 times and shot a season-low five free throws, missing three of them. Richmond capitalized by scoring 15 points off those miscues and tripled SBU’s trips to the stripe, making 13 of 15.
The Bonnies found success when they found center Osun Osunniyi at the rim, as he scored 10 points, but Osunniyi attempted just seven field goals. Bonaventure launched 22 3-pointers and, while sinking nine of them, missed its last five over the final 8:02.
“We didn’t get to the foul line; we didn’t get the ball to the paint; we didn’t finish as well as we needed to,” Schmidt assessed. “Richmond had something to do with it, but can’t win if you don’t get to the foul line and can’t win if you get outrebounded. And those two things happened. And then you give a kid, I think, his career high. It’s hard to win on the road if you do those things.”
Burton’s previous career high was a 30-point effort at Drake earlier this season. He’s the third player (Northern Iowa’s A.J. Green, Dayton’s DaRon Holmes II) to record a career scoring high against Bona this season. Grant Golden, who tallied 12 points, was the only other Spider in double figures. Point guard Jacob Gilyard managed just three points on 1-of-6 shooting.
“When you give a kid confidence like that,” Schmidt said of Burton, “and he’s a heck of a player, he got it going. It’s hard to stop him when he gets it going.”
Bonaventure received a first-half boost from its bench, as Quadry Adams and Abdoul Karim Coulibaly combined for seven points and five rebounds in 17 minutes. Neither reprised that role for the rest of the game, as Adams did not play in the second half and Coulibaly played just one minute.
“They gave us a lift today,” Schmidt acknowledged, without committing larger roles for either going forward. “We’ll see how it goes tomorrow in practice and then the Fordham game, making decisions based on how things are going in the game. Those guys gave us a little bit of a lift today and hopefully they can continue to do that.”
The Bonnies have compiled a .500 (7-7) record since the Charleston Classic and have won just once in regulation outside of the Reilly Center in that span. Jalen Adaway led the team with 16 points on 6-of-12 shooting, while Dom Welch notched 11 points including the 1,000th point of his career, but neither Kyle Lofton or Jaren Holmes reached double-figures.
Bona is 0-3 when neither half of the Holmes-Lofton duo records 10 or more points.
“That’s basketball; that’s athletics; that’s just how it is,” Schmidt commented. “Sometimes you’re gonna make the plays and sometimes you don’t. That’s how it is. … We’ve just gotta get better and hopefully make those plays when they come up.”
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