This one said a lot about character. St. Bonaventure went on a second half tear to defeat Colgate 85-77. Wednesday’s game at the Reilly Center saw the Bonnies win their fifth straight, improving to 10-1. The Raiders dropped to 6-5. Numbers and notes…
Possessions: 70
Offensive Efficiency: Colgate 110, St. Bona 121
Four Factors:
| eFG Pct. | FT Rate | OREB Pct. | TO Rate | |
| Colgate | 50 | 28 | 37 | 9 |
| St. Bona | 51 | 37 | 43 | 17 |
Shooting Numbers:
| Colgate | St. Bona | |
| FG% | 46.3 (31-67) | 47.7 (31-65) |
| 3PT FG% | 23.8 (5-21) | 21.1 (4-19) |
| FT% | 52.6 (10-19) | 79.2 (19-24) |
Colgate is not a team relying on proficiency from beyond the arc. Coach Matt Langel’s group scores just 27% of their points from long range. A surprise is the charity stripe. The Raiders struggled at the charity stripe where they normally shoot 74%.
Kenpom.com Player of the Game: Frank Mitchell. The Bona senior was a force inside turning in another double-double, 19 points and 18 rebounds. Mitchell grabbed 11 of his game-high total boards on the offensive end.
Resilience, gut check etc. These terms have been used several times this season in discussing the Bonnies. Usually they were reserved for talking about finishing a close contest. Here they took on a different meaning. The Bonnies trailed by 14 early in the second half. They went on a 13-4 run over the initial five and a half minutes after the break. With just over ten minutes remaining the Bonnies regained the lead for the first time since early in the opening stanza. The lead stretched to ten, Colgate made a run cutting it to five before the hosts closed it out. It was a performance speaking volumes about the team’s character.
“You find out a lot about a player, a person and a team, when adversity hits,” Schmidt told gobonnies.com. “If you’re a competitor you get up and fight. I thought we gathered ourselves, we came back in the second half and played much better.”
What veterans do. Seniors Cayden Charles and Frank Mitchell each posted double-doubles. Charles scored a season-best 20 points while grabbing 10 boards, Frank Mitchell, as noted previously, enjoyed a 19 point, 18 rebound outing. Junior Dasonte Bowen scored a season-high 15 points while handing out a career and team-best nine assists. Buddy Simmons, another junior, scored 17 points for the Bonnies.
When the game is on the line and you face the adversity Schmidt alluded to, you need veterans to consistently step up. This comeback victory proved the Bonnies have just that.
Bowen. Dasonte Bowen is a valuable contributor who sometimes gets overlooked. Last season his campaign ended after ten games due to an injury. His loss definitely had an effect on the Bonnies.
Bowen may get overlooked but not by his teammates. “Dasonte is probably one of our most selfless players,” Charles told the Olean Times Herald. “He doesn’t always get the spotlight but he loves our team. Without him we’re not 10-1, not even close. It doesn’t happen without a true point guard like him. He’s in the gym every day, he’s a great vocal leader.”
Notes. Colgate’s Jalen Cox led all scorers with 26 points. Andrew Alekseyenko added 25. Sam Wright led Colgate with nine rebounds, six on the offensive end.
Colgate had exceptional care for the ball with only six turnovers. Bonnies had 12 miscues and were beaten 11-2 on points off turnovers.
Bonnies led 50-48 in points in the paint and despite leading in offensive rebounding percentage, came up short 17-13 in second chance points.
Bonnies head to Cleveland to face Ohio University in the Cleveland Hoops Showdown on Saturday. The Bobcats of coach Jeff Boals are 3-6 but coming off a two game winning streak. Like Colgate, they rely more in the paint as only 26% of their points are produced from beyond the arc. Ohio, of the Mid American Conference, is led by senior guard Jackson Paveletzke, a 17.2 ppg scorer.