By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
St. Bonaventure nearly went wire-to-wire, again, regardless of how tense the ending developed.
Saint Louis made the first basket of the game, allowing the Billikens 26 seconds with the lead until Bona tied the score. What followed was a scoring explosion, with the Bonnies posting 48 first half points and entering the halftime break up 16 points.
That burst, a 21-6 run to close the period in which Bona swiped three steals and made nine of its 16 shots, defined the contest even as SLU made the Reilly Center faithful sweat out the last five minutes. The Bonnies survived with an 83-79 victory, sweeping the Billikens for the first time since 2018.
SBU improved its record to 15-7 overall and 7-4 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. The program has now won 12 of the last 15 against Saint Louis dating back to the 2014 A-10 Tournament quarterfinals.
Osun Osunniyi dominated the first half much like he dominated this past Friday in St. Louis. The 6-foot-10 Osunniyi scored 17 points and blocked two shots as Bonaventure outscored SLU 36-10 in the paint over the first 20 minutes. Osunniyi finished with 21 points on 9-of-10 shooting to lead all scorers.
Few Bonnies have found as much success against one league opponent as Osunniyi, who has made 73.5 percent (25-of-34) of his field goal attempts and blocked 28 career shots against Travis Ford’s group.
“In the last two or three games, (Osunniyi)’s done a really good job,” Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt assessed. “Much more aggressive, putting that shoulder into the guy’s sternum. That’s what we need.”
“We need him to get more than three rebounds,” Schmidt cracked with a smile as he continued, “but from an offensive standpoint, I thought he was terrific.”
Saint Louis adjusted in the second half as physical big man Francis Okoro, who sat in the first half with two personal fouls, played more minutes and held Osunniyi to four points on two attempts. The Bonnies became more reliant on outside shots in the period and, while they made all but five of their 17 two-point tries, sank just two of their 11 3-point attempts.
The Bonnies never put away the Billikens, who opened the second half with a 9-1 run and conducted a 19-7 run to thin the margin to just three points with 1:51 remaining. SLU made three of its four 3-point shots during that stretch and, more importantly for a turnover-prone squad, did not commit any giveaways. The Billikens shot 60 percent (15-of-25) from the field in the second half.
“Just a couple mistakes on the defensive end,” Dominick Welch said of being on the wrong end of the second half surge. “Allowing them to get a couple open 3s and just bad rotations on the defensive end. Fouling, unnecessary fouling to put them in the one-and-one.”
Bona’s misses at the foul line also opened the opportunity for a SLU comeback. The Bonnies missed seven of their 16 free throw attempts, including five misses over the last 3:20.
The Bonaventure defense, however, secured the stops it needed. Dominick Welch drew a charge on Jordan Nesbitt with 1:03 remaining and the Bonnies leading 80-77, while DeAndre Jones missed a 3-pointer with 32 seconds left and Jordan Nesbitt missed a game-tying 3-pointer on the Billikens’ final offensive possession.
Saint Louis shot 56.3 percent for the game and 9-of-19 from 3-point range, but Bona surrendered just one basket and two free throws over the final 1:51.
“Don’t foul and just make sure we’re talking on screens, because we knew they were trying to come down and get a quick shot up,” Osunniyi explained of the team’s late defensive mindset. “I thought we did that; us, being seniors, communicated and did what we had to do.”
Welch shook off a 3-for-10 night from beyond the 3-point arc to make five of his six two-pointers and finish with 19 points along with four steals and six rebounds. Jaren Holmes scored 18 points, making seven of his 14 field goal attempts. Jalen Adaway tallied 17 points, six rebounds and four assists with no turnovers.
Kyle Lofton was the lone Bonnies starter not to reach double-figures, but he dished eight assists aside just two turnovers and held Yuri Collins to four points and six turnovers. Collins fouled out with 4:03 remaining and SLU down eight.
“The first half, I don’t think we could have played better offensively… couldn’t have played better,” Schmidt noted. “We were just sharing the ball; we were cutting; we had great spacing. We got a little stagnant in the second half, but being up 16, sometimes that happens. But yeah, I thought we really shared the ball.
“19 assists and five turnovers, that’s a heck of an offensive game.”
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