By CHUCKIE MAGGIO
The St. Bonaventure Bonnies are a win away from playing in Madison Square Garden.
Bonaventure traveled over a thousand miles for the second straight National Invitation Tournament round and won another true road game over a power-conference opponent, defeating Oklahoma 70-68 at Lloyd Noble Center on Sunday.
Bona withstood a 26-point performance from Sooners guard Umoja Gibson and two turnovers in the final minute to advance to its first NIT quarterfinal since 1977. The Bonnies led for 30 minutes on a night no one held a double-digit advantage. They will play the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, Va. on Tuesday night, with the winner advancing to the tournament semifinal on March 29 in New York City.
Mark Schmidt’s team matched Oklahoma in the paint and was more accurate from the perimeter. The Bonnies also committed four fewer turnovers, a crucial differentiator in a two-point final. They were, travel be damned, the sharper team that made the most defensive stops.
On the anniversary of Bonaventure’s last NIT second round appearance in 1995, a 71-60 loss at Marquette, SBU ensured it was going to continue playing basketball into the final full week of March.
“Our guys showed some mental and physical toughness,” Bonnies coach Mark Schmidt remarked. “Just really, really proud of the win today.”
Jaren Holmes continued his resurgent postseason run, scoring 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting- including four 3-pointers- to come within a point of his season high.
The Bonnies improved to 4-0 this season when Holmes, who has made 12 of his 21 field goal attempts during the NIT, scores at least 20 points.
“It’s been a tough road this season,” Holmes acknowledged. “Me and coach talked about it actually, before the start of the NIT, just talking about getting that first one to go. I don’t know, it’s kind of emotional for me right here. … A lot of people counted me out and were saying a lot of things about me, so I’m just happy to be here and thankful that my teammates always stuck by me every step of the way…
“Today was a day I’ll always remember, and I’m very thankful and blessed to be here.”
The Bonnies made over half of their 3-pointers for a second straight game, the first time they have done that all season. Dom Welch added three baskets from beyond the arc, while Kyle Lofton extended Bona’s lead to 67-63 with 1:14 remaining on a monumental trey.
Each Bona starter tallied double-figure points, with Osunniyi making seven of his 10 field goal tries and Lofton notching all 10 of his points in the second half. Karim Abdoul Coulibaly made a basket while spelling Osunniyi, who was a team-leading plus-five on the box score sheet.
Jalen Hill was the only other Oklahoma player in double figures. Jacob and Tanner Groves combined for 10 points on 4-of-13 shooting. Jordan Goldwire, a Duke transfer, missed five of his six shots.
The Bonnies once again roared to a 10-2 lead, as they had in Colorado, with Holmes and Welch each landing early 3-pointers. The Sooners recovered to gain the halftime lead thanks largely to Gibson, who made four of his six 3-pointers over the first 20 minutes.
Bona’s 3-point defense improved in the second half, as OU managed just five 3s in 13 attempts. The Bonnies led by as much as eight with 10:38 remaining, but the Sooners, bolstered by being in the bonus with five minutes left, outscored SBU 19-13 over the next nine minutes to make it a one-possession contest.
Osunniyi missed a pair of free throws and committed a turnover with 43 seconds remaining, but redeemed himself by stealing Goldwire’s inbound pass with 28 seconds left and flipping it to the hot-handed Holmes. Holmes made both free throws to put Bona up four, ensuring Gibson’s last 3-pointer of the night could only thin Oklahoma’s deficit.
“I saw they had filled the middle,” Osunniyi recalled of his takeaway. “I read the inbounder’s eyes and pulled the ball out of the air.”
Welch split free throws on the ensuing Bona possession, but Sooners reserve Marvin Johnson missed an open chance to send the game to overtime.
“I thought we did a decent job of keeping the ball in front,” Schmidt assessed. “Even the last shot, he had a 12-foot, it was open, thank God he missed. But I thought our guys, you try to get stops and scores, and I thought we put them together pretty well in the last five minutes. That’s a really well-coached team, a very talented team.
“And for us to come in here and win is a credit to our guys.”
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