By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
St. Bonaventure, long comfortable in the role of the “hunter” and only recently becoming a “hunted” team with a target on its back, is again playing spoiler- and just fine with that designation.
The Bonnies, fortified by a stingy defense that swiped 12 steals and held the league’s top offense to its lowest output of Atlantic 10 play, used a 16-0 run and wire-to-wire second half to snap Saint Louis’s six-game win streak. Bona prevailed 68-61 in front of 7,924 observers at Chaifetz Arena, earning its most impressive true road victory of the season in the process.
“I really thought that we came to play today,” Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt remarked. “It was a great performance.”
Bona center Osun Osunniyi, despite foul trouble, played as dominant as he did in last year’s A-10 Tournament semifinal. Osunniyi set the tone by tallying the first six points and finished with 12 points, six rebounds, six blocks and a pair of assists in 26 minutes. He registered a plus-minus of 14, leading all performers.
The Bonaventure defense held SLU leading scorer Gibson Jimerson, who entered the contest averaging over 17 points a night, to just six points on 2-of-10 shooting. Jimerson missed the second-most 3-pointers he has all season, sinking just two of his nine tries from beyond the arc.
Star Billikens point guard Yuri Collins outscored Kyle Lofton but was largely outdueled, tying his season high by turning the ball over eight times in the defeat. Lofton scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half, shooting 7-of-12 from the field and dishing eight assists while recording four steals.
“We did a good job on Jimerson; we did a good job on Collins,” Schmidt noted. “And that’s what you’ve gotta do against a really good team.”
Bonaventure earned 16 points off SLU miscues and tallied 16 fast break points, contributing to a 36-30 edge in paint scoring and 29 minutes with the lead. Four of the five starters reached double-figure scoring, with Jalen Adaway contributing 15 points and Jaren Holmes, who was shooting just 20.6 percent over the last three games, chipping in 12 on 5-of-10 shooting. Dom Welch finished a point shy of double-digits but made both of his field goal attempts, including a three, in the second half.
The Bonnies shot 50 percent for the game despite converting just three of their 13 3-point attempts, the first time since 2019 that SBU has hit the 50 percent mark while shooting below 25 percent from 3-point range. Bona hit one scoring drought in the first, finding itself on the wrong end of a 12-0 run, but answered with a 20-6 run over the next eight minutes.
“I thought (Osunniyi) was really active inside- blocking shots, intimidating them,” Schmidt assessed. “I just thought that we played a total game. They outrebounded us, but I thought we were the more physical team at times. Before the game, we said it’s fast break points; it’s points in the paint. And I thought we did a really good job keeping the ball, for the most part, above the foul line.”
Backup center Abdoul Karim Coulibaly struggled defensively against Billiken big Martin Linssen, fouling out as Linssen scored 10 points. Coulibaly did, however, chip in four points and three steals to help Bona weather the storm with Osunniyi sidelined for 14 minutes of action.
Saint Louis kept its deficit manageable, with a Collins 3-point jumper making it a three-point game with 36 seconds remaining. Bona, specifically Adaway and Lofton, did not blink, converting its final four free throws to ice the game.
The Billikens are the eighth team Bona has held under 65 points this season. The Bonnies are perfect, 8-0, on those occasions. The teams play again on Monday at 5, this time in SBU’s Reilly Center.
“We made the plays when we needed to make the plays,” Schmidt commented. “Kyle hit the big jump shot, we got some stops, we made enough foul shots to keep them at bay. But it was good to finish, and like I said, we didn’t play perfect; we got down by 11. But our guys showed some mental toughness fighting back, getting the lead at halftime, stretching it out a little bit and then every time they made a run, we had an answer.
“That was good to see.”
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