FAIRFAX, V.A. — It had the potential to go this way, based merely on both teams’ track record.
The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball squad, we know, had been susceptible to strong 3-point shooting foes, allowing a double-digit figure in losses to Northern Iowa (15), Virginia Tech (13) and Dayton (10). George Mason, meanwhile, had emerged as one of the Atlantic 10’s best in that category, ranking No. 3 in makes, with two of the top shooters — D’Shawn Schwartz and Devon Cooper — in the conference.
And that particular facet made much of the difference Wednesday night.
Bona turned in another “Mr. Hyde” performance, allowing Schwartz and Cooper to go off and surrendering a 15-of-32 clip from distance in dropping an ugly 75-66 decision to the Patriots inside EagleBank Arena.
Indeed, at just about every key stage for George Mason, the 3-point line was the source. The Patriots (10-7, 3-1) hit five while jumping out to leads of 17-6 and 25-14. They drilled four, including a four-point play, as part of a 15-0 run that pushed the lead to 18 early in the second half. And they hit back-breaking treys on consecutive possessions with just under four minutes remaining to essentially put it away.
Bona, again, was out of sorts from the beginning. It, again, was forced to play from behind and attempt a furious comeback, which it did, pulling to within four (61-57) with 5:31 remaining. But in the end, this was a microcosm for the downside of this wholly up-and-down campaign.
The Bonnies (11-5, 3-2) got off to a slow start.
They lacked energy. They made mindless mistakes that added up. They struggled defensively, especially on the perimeter.
“We didn’t get off to a great start … in both halves,” coach Mark Schmidt acknowledged. “We didn’t execute, we weren’t connected. We played hard at some points, but we’re not rebounding the ball the way we need to. We got to the foul line (Bona made 18-of-24 to climb back in it), but we’re not executing the way we need to execute when the game’s on the line.”
Summing up exactly where his team stands after a 1-2 road swing and another uneven outing, he added: “We’ve got to get back to being that blue-collar team, not the pretty team, but the team that plays the hardest.”
And on Wednesday, for too long of stretches, it wasn’t.
Schwartz, the Colorado transfer, finished with 20 points, Cooper had 18 and both hit five 3s. Davonte Gaines, the Buffalo native, added 14 points and another three 3-pointers.
Bona had rallied before at EagleBank, roaring back from 15 down with much of this same core to beat the Patriots 61-49 in 2020. But these weren’t the altogether average Patriots the Bonnies had seen in years past. This is a much-improved GMU group, under first-year coach Kim English, that asserted itself in a way that Bona didn’t.
Schmidt’s team made a concerted effort to slow talented big man Josh Oduro, who’d been averaging 18 points and had just gone for 31 in a win over Saint Joseph’s 48 hours earlier. But in doing so, it became vulnerable on the perimeter, leading to kickouts, extra passes and far too many easy looks.
“It’s like, you have to do something with Oduro (who finished with 15 points, 7 rebounds),” the 15th-year coach noted. “We made some mistakes, we went and doubled him too early, they hit some 3s. Give them credit, they made some shots. But it’s really us being able to guard the ball better so we don’t have to really help to get us in the rotations, and they have some good shooters.”
Dominick Welch, who’d gone just 1-of-16 from 3s over his previous three games, initially broke out of that slump, connecting on four early treys and totaling 14 first-half points on 5-of-8 shooting. That — and a Kyle Lofton bucket just before the buzzer — helped Bona remain afloat and somehow come within four (33-29) at halftime despite another sluggish first half.
Welch, however, was held scoreless after the break.
In this one, the Bonnies, too, made their runs. They outscored the Patriots 15-8 over the final 9:03 of the first half; they notched the first basket of the second half to make it 33-31; and they answered that 15-0 spurt with a 24-10 burst to make it a four-point contest.
But ultimately, this one went much like the Northern Iowa game: They made it close, but those 3s were too much to overcome.
“Oduro and Schwartz were the ‘knowns,’” Schmidt noted. “You can’t take three ‘knowns’ away. But those three guys, and we knew Cooper (had made 10-of-20 in league play), we knew he could shoot; you have to pick your poison. You can’t take all three guys away, but it was more of them getting downhill on us and not executing on both ends.”
