ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — All wins aren’t created equal.

And the St. Bonaventure basketball team proved that emphatically on Wednesday night before a national TV audience in a fanless Reilly Center.

It wasn’t just the way they won … it’s who they beat … and what it might mean.

And, by the way, coach Mark Schmidt might just have unintentionally entered his name for college basketball’s “Halftime Speech of the Season.”

Despite the Bonnies’ Atlantic 10 success under Schmidt, one conference team has proven to be their nemesis. Since Virginia Commonwealth joined the conference in the 2012-13 season, the Rams have beaten Bona in six of eight meetings … four of those victories over very good SBU teams that won between 18 and 22 games.

VCU has always been a tough matchup for St. Bonaventure. The Rams seemingly tireless defense — under four different coaches over the past nine seasons — picks up full-court and presses opponents into exhaustion.

Those half-dozen wins are by an average of 16 points, the last two by 30 and 28, respectively.

LAST NIGHT at the RC, the Bonnies unraveled against VCU in the first half.

Bona had gotten off to a 6-1 start because its undersized team had dominated the glass, leading the A-10 in rebounds (40 per game), offensive boards (13) and rebounding margin (+5).

They were also first in scoring defense (62 points), 3-point defense (27%) and second in field goal percentage defense (40%).

In addition, the Bonnies ranked second in fewest turnovers (12 per game).

Unfortunately, the Rams didn’t get the memo.

A 9-0 run in the final 2:24 of the first half put Virginia Commonwealth up 40-25 at intermission and the Bonnies produced some indicting numbers.

They were destroyed on the boards, 28-15, committed 10 turnovers, and let VCU shoot 46% on treys.

We’d seen this movie before.

Or had we?

THE BONNIES emerged from the locker room after intermission and wiped out that 15-point deficit in barely five minutes, never trailing over the final 13:21.

When it was over, Bona owned a 70-54 victory in a game that featured a 31-point swing.

In the second half, Schmidt’s crew outscored the Rams by a numbing 45-14, holding them 23 points under their average.

It got worse for VCU.

The Rams were outrebounded 22-14, shot 19 percent from the field and committed 13 fouls over the final 20 minutes.

St. Bonaventure was the polar opposite hitting 56% from the field, 50% on three-pointers, scoring 15 points off turnovers and logging a 16-0 run.

Actually, Schmidt didn’t take credit for any inspirational intermission address.

“The first half we didn’t play well … it looked like we were heavy-legged,” he said. “As a coach at halftime, you just challenge the guys and if you have character guys and guys that are competitors, they’re going to respond.

“The most important minutes of the second half were the first five … 10 possessions.”

AFTERWARD, when asked if this was a season-defining win because of the quality of the competition — VCU came in at 10-3, 3-1 in the A-10 — Schmidt allowed, “Since I’ve been here as coach, in my opinion, that’s the best half we played … offense and defense. We couldn’t have played better.

“To hold that team to 14 points and stop what they were doing to us in the first half and hold them to the percentage that they shot is a credit to our guys. I think they were a little embarrassed with how they played in the first half at both ends. We got the momentum and they never got it back.”

And the reason wasn’t strategy.

“There were really no changes,” he said of the game plan. “The guys were disappointed in how they played in the first half … they played tentatively. It was a mentality, they changed it … ‘We’re going to be aggressive … we’re going to attack.’ We played how we were supposed to.

“We made the plays, we defended and we rebounded against a really good team. It wasn’t that we played against some bad team (they’re) a really competitive, really good team and it just showed just how good our guys are.”

And if this season plays out the way fans hope, they might just look back at the Jan. 20 victory over VCU as the game that undeniably showed this Bona team is special.

(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald senior sports columnist can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)