By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
Osun Osunniyi had waited his entire career to drill a 3-pointer in a game. Tuesday’s long-decided bout with Rhode Island presented the perfect opportunity.
St. Bonaventure’s senior center did not hesitate when he caught Dominick Welch’s pass on the left wing with 1:11 remaining, sinking his second career attempt from behind the arc to an uproar from the Reilly Center crowd. That oddity, coupled with a hockey line change where Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt cleared his bench, provided a fitting conclusion to a second half Bona was never in danger of losing.
The Bonnies won 73-55 in front of 3,833 observers, completing a perfect four-game homestand and extending their longest win streak of the season to six games. They improved to 18-7 overall and 10-4 in the Atlantic 10, securing an eighth consecutive 10-win league campaign.
“Before the game, I was just telling the guys, telling us seniors, ‘Treat this like it’s a tournament game,’” said Jalen Adaway, who led all scorers with 23 points, including 19 in the first half. “I wanted us to all be ready.”
Adaway tallied 11 of SBU’s first 22 points and made seven of his 13 shots in the first half, keying a slow-starting offense. The rest of the Bonnies managed just 5-of-19 (26.3 percent) shooting in the opening period, but led by eight at the half anyway.
Adaway, who took charge of the offense with a career-high 17 field goal tries, finished two points shy of his career scoring high, set last month against VCU.
“When they went to the zone,” Adaway noted, “they were kind of falling asleep on the back side, and I kind of make a living on the backdoor cuts; going up for lobs and stuff, playing above the rim. So I tried to put an emphasis on that. Once I did that, I feel like some of our guards started to get more clean looks from the perimeter.”
Rhody, true to form, converted just two 3-pointers and recorded 28 of its 55 points in the paint. Bonaventure not only outscored URI in the paint, it helped decide the game from the perimeter, making eight 3s including three from Welch.
The Bonnies took advantage of both the Rams’ aversion to shooting from deep and URI’s tendency to turn the ball over before it can even get a shot off, scoring 24 points on 16 Rhody giveaways.
“To have 11 steals, and then to turn those into baskets, that’s critical against a team with their size,” Schmidt remarked. “We had all these things that we needed to do to win, and the keys to victory, and for the most part, we did them.”
Makhel and Makhi Mitchell combined for 27 points, with Makhi notching one more than his twin brother, but the rest of the Rams managed just 28. Jeremy Sheppard, their second-leading scorer, was shut out on four shot attempts. While URI shot 46 percent from the field, it made just nine of its 16 free throws. Bona made each of its 11 foul shots, perfect from the line for just the second time this season.
Four of Bonaventure’s five starters finished in double figures, while Welch added four assists to his nine-point night. Abdoul Karim Coulibaly made each of his field goals, including a difficult finish over Makhi Mitchell, and even got a rare opportunity to play alongside Osunniyi. The duo proved formidable inside, connecting on a basket and helping shut the Rams out for nearly three minutes.
Bona came out of the locker room strong once again, opening the second half on a 9-2 run over the first 2:36 to extend its lead to 15 points. It allowed fewer than 60 points for the seventh time this season and has won each of those contests.
Schmidt told the team when it returned from St. Louis on Feb. 11 that the goal was to sweep the homestand. The Bonnies, having accomplished that, are just two games away from a 20-win season.
“I knew we would be ready,” Adaway acknowledged, “but I made an emphasis on just treating this like a tournament game because we want to get that feel. We want to have momentum going into the (A-10) Tournament, and we’re trying to do that one game at a time. I’m just really proud of how aggressive we came out, how aggressive I came out, and I just think we’ve got it rolling right now.”
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