Courtesy of GoBonnies.com
RICHMOND, Va. – For the majority of the season thus far, the narrative around the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team has surrounded the team’s inexperience, its youth, and perhaps most loudly, its inability to win on the road.
On Saturday night at VCU, the Bonnies changed the narrative in an emphatic second half performance, controlling the majority of the second half on the way to downing the Atlantic 10’s top team in the standings, 61-58.
Yann Farell and Moses Flowers scored 15 points apiece to lead all scorers while Chad Venning added 13.
“That was the best performance we’ve had from an energy standpoint this season. To beat VCU in this kind of environment says a lot about the character of our guys,” St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. “We executed at the end, but I thought throughout the game we played great defense on a really talented team. It was just a great effort and to be able to come in here off a loss on Wednesday and beat a team like VCU shows a lot of character from our guys.”
With the win, the Bonnies snapped VCU’s six-game winning streak as the Rams fell to 16-6, 7-2.
Flowers led the charge in the second half, scoring all of his points after intermission while Farell produced one of the best games of his young career with five buckets from beyond the arc as well as seven rebounds and three assists.
The Bonnies shot just 25 percent in the first half (7-28), but connected on 14 of 25 field goal tries in the second 20 minutes, erasing a five-point halftime deficit quickly into the second half.
VCU’s sell-out crowd of over 7,600 roaring, the Rams muscled ahead, 53-49, with 4:27 to go.
Farell silenced the crowd with one of his buckets fired from long range off one of Kyrell Luc’s four assists. He pulled down the defensive rebound following an errant VCU floater in the lane and a foul forced Daryl Banks III to the line where he knocked down a pair of shots for the lead, 54-53.
Another defensive stop paved the way for Venning to come through, working in the paint for a three-point edge with just over two minutes left.
The 56-53 tally remained until 54 seconds were on the clock as Ace Baldwin made one of two foul tries to close the margin to just two.
Another layup from Venning made it a two-possession Bonnies lead, but Baldwin brought the hosts back within a bucket on his lay-in with 21 seconds left.
A VCU foul sent Flowers, who played much of the second half with four fouls of his own, to the line where he calmly sank both, and the Rams made the front end of a 1-and-1 for a three-point game and eight seconds to play.
Flowers made one of two on another trip to the stripe, leaving the Rams with one last-second opportunity to force extra time, but a wayward three attempt clinched Bona victory.
Perhaps Bona’s biggest win of the year, which improved the Brown and White to 11-11 overall and 5-4 in conference play, it quickly erases the disappointment of two losses in the past week.
“We have a really young team and for us to bounce back the way we did says a lot,” Schmidt said.
A ragged start saw the teams combine for a 2-of-20 start from the floor.
By the under-8 media timeout, it was clear that the night would likely bring no offensive records as VCU held a 14-8 edge.
Farell helped the Bonnies stay close, sinking three of his first four tries from three-point land.
Bona held VCU without a field goal for the final 5:31 of the half, closing within 23-18 on a put-back from Barry Evans just before the halftime buzzer.
The Bonnies turned it on out of the break.
Aided by VCU’s Baldwin being forced to the bench with his third foul, along with a pair of Flowers three-pointers, Bona surged ahead, 32-31, five minutes into the period following a drive of the lane by Luc to force a VCU timeout.
That started a back-and-forth swing with the third trey from Flowers giving the Bonnies a 39-37 edge, but soon thereafter he would be whistled for his fourth foul as that score showed with 11:54 remaining.
Evans was a spark plug for the Bonnies’ comeback and made most of his presence felt on the defensive end, but he gave the visitors a 41-37 lead with a powerful slam.
VCU’s aggressive defense, forcing opponents into nearly 18 turnovers per game on the year, helped the Rams turn the tide with a 12-2 run for a lead before the Bonnies made the final stand.
“We aren’t a great offensive team; we’re going to win by defense and rebounding and we did that,” Schmidt said. “Our defense wasn’t impacted by our offense when we were struggling to score in the first half. We got some open shots and started knocking them down. We did really well (against the press). We spaced it out; we didn’t get sped up too much. To play against VCU and have only 10 turnovers is a pretty solid effort.”
Baldwin posted 15 points to tie the Bonnies leading scorers while Jalen DeLoach had a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds for VCU.
And, as for if a win like Saturday could potentially be the catalyst for another Bonnies signature February run?
“It’s hard to say,” Schmidt said. “We’re just trying to enjoy this one.”
As will Bona fans everywhere.
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