ST. BONAVENTURE — Mark Schmidt wants perfection.
That’s why, even after his St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team improved to 4-0 with a 71-52 win over Le Moyne Saturday at the Reilly Center, he made sure to note the Bonnies have “got a long way to go” this season.
But for a group that had never played a minute together before this season, in only its fourth game, Bona moved the ball — and pushed the pace when it got defensive stops — with fast-developing chemistry. It was a balanced attack, with five players totaling between 10 and 15 points.
Center Noel Brown led Bona with 15 points and five rebounds. Lajae Jones and Melvin Council Jr. had 12 points each with eight and seven rebounds, respectively. Point guard Dasonte Bowen had 11 points with six boards. Jonah Hinton added 10 points in 16 minutes for his third-straight double-digit game off the bench.
The one starter who didn’t join that group? Chance Moore, the leading scorer in games 1-3, who had six points with eight rebounds and three blocks
“I think that’s the neat thing about our team,” Schmidt said. “Chance was the leading scorer in the last three games and he averaged (22), he got six today. And we win by 19 and we have five guys in double figures. I think that’s the strength of our team is that we don’t rely on one guy. Chance didn’t play very well offensively, he played much better defensively. But we had other guys to step up offensively. So it’s going to be hard for people to guard us because we have different options.”
Bona made a point to get the ball to the 6-foot-11 Brown, with a size advantage on the Dolphins, who started two 6-foot-8 forwards.
“They told me before, my team told me they wanted me and we had an advantage,” Brown said. “So I just wanted to make sure I execute my part because I open everything else for them later on.”
Though Bowen had three assists, Brown credited the speedy point guard for making the initial pass — a “hockey assist,” leading to an official assist — to get the offense going.
“I like how aggressive he is. He gets in the paint; I don’t even know how he gets downhill or to the cup how he does,” Brown said. “But somehow, some way, he’s just gonna (go) straight downhill like a bullet. So I think he just facilitates. Everyone if you look at the (stat) sheet, a lot of people were involved in a lot of areas.
“He makes a lot of those hockey assists happen too. So he just does a really good job and is super involved, making sure we get the ball in the right areas.”
Bowen, a junior Iowa transfer, sees the chemistry coming along through four games, if not all the way there.
“I think it’s coming along great,” he said. “It started off the court. I think we built a great bond this summer, being together so long. So that just transferred onto the court, and now it’s gonna start to click. I think it’s getting there, but we got a few more things to clean up. But I think we’re definitely gonna get there.”
Bona never trailed and was never even tied with Le Moyne (1-4) after 2-2 in the early minutes. Bona rode that balanced scoring — five players tied at seven points at the half — to a 44-23 halftime lead. The advantage grew as large as 24 points, but didn’t shrink lower than 16 in the second half.
Still, Schmidt saw some flaws, namely zone offense and free-throw shooting, two things “rest assured, we work on.” Bona shot just 13-for-23 (56.5%) at the line, with Le Moyne only 4-for-7.
Bona’s offensive efficiency tailed off after a strong first half: 51.7% from the field in the first to 43.5% in the second and 45.5% from 3 in the first to 25.0% in the second.
“The guys are getting to know each other,” Schmidt said.
“The summer was big, but they’re trying to get to know each other in terms of our system and my expectations. I want them to play perfect. And I get upset when it’s not perfect. I think we’re getting better, but at the same time you watch the game and you know there’s areas that we need to really improve and one of them (was) the foul shooting today. And zone offense.”
Bona’s ball movement looked impressive at times, especially in the first half.
“Sometimes it moves well and sometimes it sticks,” Schmidt said.
Schmidt wants to see the ball continue to “swing” consistently.
“It’s coach-talk, but it’s almost like you drive for somebody else,” he said. “You try to get into the paint, draw somebody, drive and kick and then when that pass goes, then that guy has to make a decision: I have a good shot and wanna give it up to have a great shot. So we’ve gotta do a better job of sharing the ball. At times, we look like we know what we’re doing and then at times we take forced shots and we gotta get away from that.”
Bona has two more games left on its homestand, Wednesday against Mansfield and Sunday against Bryant, before flying back to Florida for a Thanksgiving tournament.
“We’ve got a long way to go, and that’s a positive, because we’re 4-0,” Schmidt said. “It’d be different if we were 0-4. We’re 4-0 and we’re getting better, but we’ve got a long way to go. I think this team has a pretty high ceiling. I think we can get better.We haven’t maxed out at all because some of the guys don’t even know what the heck they’re doing out there. So I think our ceiling is high. The question is, can we get there?”
