ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Matt Mobley walked gingerly but happily to the postgame press conference, a smile on his face, the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team’s latest thrilling victory in hand.
It was almost 12:40 a.m., but it didn’t matter.
Lost in all the drama, the history-making, the sheer incredibility of this 117-113 triple overtime triumph over Davidson was the absurd nature of the senior guard’s stat line: 55 minutes, 33 points, 14-of-16 from the line, no turnovers and a couple of game-clinching free throws.
In his final game inside the Reilly Center, Mobley was ironlike, guiding a quartet of backups to one of the grittiest regular-season victories in Bona history in arguably the greatest contest this building has ever seen.
In their final act before a community whose spirit is often reflected in the outcome, he and teammate Jaylen Adams did exactly what they wanted to do on their Senior Night, throughout this entire senior season: They left it on the floor, keeping this budding Cinderella story intact.
“It’s special. It’s a special place,” Mobley said. “I never would have expected it to end like this. I just told the guys: we weren’t going to leave until we got the win. We just wanted to scrap until we could get a good win.”
Mobley and the Bonnies created any number of forever memories and forever moments in Tuesday night’s triumph.
It was a performance so teeming with big-time shots and big-time plays that it’s easy to overlook some of the important happenings along the way: Courtney Stockard scoring his team’s first 17 points on 6-for-6 shooting; LaDarien Griffin’s layup to force the first OT, Tshiefu Ngalakulondi’s go-ahead dunk.
They also added to what’s quickly becoming a sure-fire NCAA Tournament resume: Bona sits at No. 21 in the RPI, owns an 8-4 record against Quadrant 1 and 2 opponents, went unbeaten in February and, assuming a win over Saint Louis, might well be nationally ranked on Monday morning.
That’s an offering more like that of a Michigan, currently on most No. 5 and 6 lines, than of anybody on the outside looking in.
In winning what’s been billed as the greatest game of the entire collegiate season, however, the Bonnies did more than just pad an already impressive resume — they casted an even longer shadow on anything that happened before this three-year golden stretch and almost made you forget: This season, if you can believe it, began with a home loss to Niagara and a pre-game power outage.
Ten years ago next week, Bona was finishing up an 8-22 regular season, the first under coach Mark Schmidt. Three years prior to that, the students stormed the floor after the lone home win in a 2-26 campaign.
When it’s all said and done, we can debate about where the current era ranks all-time in Bona annals, but until then, there’s this: Schmidt has the Bonnies on the verge of what should be the program’s third NCAA berth in seven seasons, an unfathomable accomplishment given the program’s historically limited relationship with the Big Dance and its undeniable budgetary and recruiting disadvantages in 2018.
And the current run has hinged on players who began their careers at Jacksonville (Adams) and Central Connecticut State (Mobley).
“You’re only as good as your seniors, and they’re desperate,” Schmidt said. “Especially on Senior Night, they were really desperate. We wouldn’t be anywhere close to where we are right now without Matt, Jay and Idris (Taqqee).
“I’m just proud and happy that they were able to go out this way.”
The defining moment in this wild, reality-defying contest came with under a minute remaining in the second overtime.
Mobley hit one of his five 3-pointers from the corner to put the Bonnies up 90-86 with 56 seconds remaining. It seemed over, just as it had — for both teams — on a handful of other occasions. And then Peyton Aldridge, who finished with 45 points, stuck another huge 3 13 seconds later, and it was back on.
The more significant moment, however, happened in the waning seconds of the third OT, after Mobley had secured a rebound and before he sealed the outcome with a pair of free throws.
An impressive crowd of 4,865 stood on its collective feet, cheering, as loud as it’s ever been despite the fact that it was after midnight on a Tuesday and the students were gone on break. Bona displayed an incredible amount of heart in picking up its 23rd win of the season. The fans did the same in willing their team to the final buzzer.
They were rewarded for their support with a second Game for the Ages in 11 days following the recent win over then-No. 16 Rhode Island.
“They rallied around us,” Schmidt said. “They came, and they were terrific. We wouldn’t have won without them.”
Bona, of course, still has some work to do. It now has to eliminate the two remaining reasons a committee could even dream of leaving it out of the field of 68: A bad loss to Saint Louis and an early exit from the conference tournament.
No matter how things unfold in the next couple of weeks, though, one thing is certain: The Bonnies, two wins shy of the school record, have already made this one of the most interesting and enjoyable seasons in program history.
Appreciate it for what it is, and what it means to the community.
Appreciate Adams and Mobley and what happened on Tuesday.
“I couldn’t have asked for anything better,” said Adams, before adding with a smile, “I mean, I could have … we could have finished it in regulation. But this is a special game. It’s probably going to go down in history. I’m just glad I could be a part of it.”
