Matt Mobley chalked it up to a better performance on the defensive end.
Coach Mark Schmidt called it a refocusing after a big early lead had gotten away.
Whatever it was, it led to a second-straight blowout victory for the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team and an ideal finish to the three-day Lone Star Showcase Wednesday at the H-E-B Center in Cedar Park, Texas.
Clinging to a two-point lead (42-40) at halftime, the Bonnies did exactly what they’d done the night before in a 102-71 triumph over Central Michigan: They took the game over.
Bona continued to knock down 3-pointers, clamped down defensively, holding Pepperdine to a mere 32 percent shooting, and ultimately outscored the Waves 43-27 in the period.
The result was another drama-free triumph: 89-63 over Pepperdine on the final day of an eight-day road trip between Florida and Texas.
“We got off to a great start and I think it came a little bit too easy for us early,” said Schmidt, whose team jumped out to a 16-4 lead before finding itself in a close game at the end of the half. “We got a little relaxed defensively thinking that this was going to be easy, we’re just going to outscore them; we lost our focus a little bit.
“But in the second half, we got it back. We defended better, we rebounded better, we had more second chance points. We couldn’t have played better … offensively or defensively in the second half.”
He added: “Our guys realized what they need to do to win at this level. You’re not just going to outscore people. You need to defend and rebound, and we did that.”
The Bonnies (3-2) held a 38-32 edge on the glass and held the Waves (4-2) to 38 percent shooting for the game. But much like the Central Michigan triumph, this win began and ended with St. Bonaventure’s dynamic backcourt, which is once again quickly becoming one of the better tandems in the conference.
Mobley collected 24 points, 10 rebounds and six assists while Jaylen Adams totaled 22 points and five assists to just one turnover. Together, they knocked down 9-of-19 from 3-point range — many of them from beyond the NBA mark — as the Bonnies finished with a season-high 12 as a team.
This was one night after the two combined for 45 points in the win over the Chippewas.
“It’s early, we’re only five games into the season, so we gotta continue to work at it, but we got talented guards,” said Schmidt, when asked just how well Mobley and Adams, who are averaging 23 and 20 points, respectively, are playing. “They didn’t take care of the ball the way they needed to against Florida or Arkansas-Little Rock, but I think both guys understand that and they played better.
“They’re talented, we have a lot of confidence in both of them, that they can play well, defend, score and distribute. They’re good players and I think they’re just going to get better.”
Four minutes into the second half, it was still a three-point game. The Waves largely remained in the contest due to the shooting of Lamond Murray Jr., who had scored 16 and made 3-of-4 from 3-point range, and an aggressiveness that allowed them to hold a significant edge at the line (10-of-13 to 2-for-2).
That’s when Bona, behind its backcourt, took over.
Mobley and Adams connected on back-to-back 3s to stretch the lead from one to seven. A couple of minutes later, another Adams 3 made it 61-48. By the waning minutes, the Bonnies had their largest lead of the game at 28 and were in complete control.
It was a far cry from where they were earlier the previous day, coming off a pair of close losses and merely looking to get back on track against Central Michigan.
“We dealt with some adversity,” Schmidt said.
“We had the tough loss to Florida, where we had a chance to win, and a tough loss against Arkansas-Little Rock. But I thought we showed some physical and mental toughness in being able to come back from that tough loss to Arkansas-Little Rock where we didn’t play well, especially early.
“I thought we played with confidence. We defended, we rebounded, we took care of the basketball, and when we do that, we have a chance to be pretty good.”
Idris Taqqee and Denzel Gregg (10 rebounds) both added 10 points for the Bonnies, who shot 51 percent from the field, made 12-of-24 from 3-point range and held a 19-4 edge in points off turnovers.
To Mobley, however, their big second-half rally began at the other end. They ultimately held Murray to 24 points on 6-for-17 shooting.
“It started on defense,” the junior guard said. “We just had to lock in. We were only up two, which gave us a little more energy. So we just locked in defensively and our defense led to easy offense so we just capitalized on both ends of the floor.”
After falling to 1-2 on Monday night, the Bonnies are happy to be returning home with a 31- and 26-point victory in their pocket.
“After the first game, we were disappointed,” Mobley said. “We didn’t really come out to play early. For us it was important to bounce and take care of the last two games. We’re on a winning streak now and hopefully we can keep it going.”
– Olean Times Herald
ST. BONAVENTURE (89)
Ayeni 4-6 1-1 9, Gregg 4-11 2-4 10, Mobley 8-15 3-4 24, Taqqee 4-5 0-0 10, Adams 8-18 2-2 22, Andoh 4-7 1-1 9, Griffin 0-1 0-0 0, Ikpeze 0-0 0-0 0, Obokoh 1-3 0-0 2, Coburn 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 34-67 9-12 89.
PEPPERDINE (63)
Reyes 2-6 2-4 6, Keenan 0-1 0-0 0, Hellums 2-6 0-0 5, Major 3-11 2-3 10, Murray 6-17 7-9 24, Hempy 0-0 0-0 0, LeCesne 4-7 2-2 10, Gehring 4-4 0-1 8, Allen 0-0 0-0 0, Lee 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 21-55 13-19 63.
Halftime-St. Bonaventure 42-40. 3-Point Goals-St. Bonaventure 12-24 (Mobley 5-9, Adams 4-10, Taqqee 2-2, Coburn 1-1, Andoh 0-1, Gregg 0-1), Pepperdine 8-17 (Murray 5-8, Major 2-5, Hellums 1-3, Lee 0-1). Fouled Out-Allen. Rebounds-St. Bonaventure 36 (Mobley, Gregg 10), Pepperdine 27 (Murray, Major 5). Assists-St. Bonaventure 18 (Mobley 6), Pepperdine 14 (Lee, Major 4). Total Fouls-St. Bonaventure 17, Pepperdine 16.
