LAKE BUENA VISTA, Fla. — St. Bonaventure men’s basketball coach Mark Schmidt has been adamant about his team excelling on defense when its offense sputters.
Unfortunately for his Bonnies, this was exactly what led to his team suffering its first loss of the season, a 72-67 Thanksgiving result against Utah State in the NIT Season Tip-Off Semifinals at Disney’s ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
But while those words may have been unheard in some respects, they were far from out of the fight.
The Aggies, out of the Mountain West Conference, entered the game boasting the best field goal percentage in the entirety of Division I basketball, shooting 54% from the field through their first five games of the campaign. However, the Bona defense managed to hold them to just 23.7% in the first half of play.
It took a few minutes for the offense to begin to find its groove, but luckily for Schmidt’s squad, its defense prevented Utah State from making any big opening run. Chance Moore played a big role in the defensive effort, answering calls for his coach to remain engaged in the game when not leading the team in the points column. In the first nine minutes of game time, Moore had four massive blocks, energizing the team and, in turn, jumpstarting the Bona offense, led by Melvin Council Jr. in the first half.
The transfer from Wagner finished the game with 13 points, 11 of which fell in the first 20 minutes. Moore (12 points), Dasonte Bowen (15 points) and Noel Brown (15 points) each finished in double figures for points alongside Council.
In the final 11 minutes of the first half Bona went on a 20-12 extended scoring run, within it a 13-1 run.
Despite it not being the tidiest half of basketball, and considering the defensive motor wound down in the second half, Schmidt was happy with the fight that he saw from his players against an offensive powerhouse.
“I thought defensively, we did a decent job,” Schmidt said. “We had a tough time against the ball screen stuff in the middle of the court, but I thought the first half we scrapped. It wasn’t pretty. (In the) second half they went on some runs, but I thought we didn’t give up.”
In that second half, the Bonnies’ grip on both sides of the game began to slip. The shots stopped finding the bottom of the bucket and the defense found itself unable to stop a recharged Aggie offense.
Utah State managed to go on a 19-3 scoring run over a near eight-minute stretch that put Bona in a deep hole.
The Bonnies put together a late-game charge that cut a 13-point deficit to just three points towards the end. It ended up being too little, too late to complete the turnaround or force overtime, but Schmidt knew his team was just one or two opportunities away from swinging things back in their favor.
“We had a chance,” Schmidt said. “If Chance made that foul shot, we’re down three (and it’s) a one possession game. … That was a good effort. We just didn’t execute the way we needed to execute. We need to get better.”
Where Schmidt saw Utah State make the biggest defensive impact was in the way it forced his team into settling for contested shots in deep to mid-range. While the Bonnies had improved on their shooting percentage over the last couple games, in a crucial stretch it wasn’t happening.
Eventually, Bona’s tactics shifted to more attack-based, but just a handful of mistakes prevented it from stealing a win.
“(Utah State) played that match up, they’re good at it, and you got to make some shots on the perimeter,” Schmidt said. “We struggled, early on, making shots. I thought we attacked it a little bit better in the last five or six minutes. We just got to get better. We made some mistakes at the end. We got some steals, and then we turned it over. But our guys fought, and that’s what I’d like to see.”
And although the game might have ended up in the loss column and prevented the Bonnies from grabbing their first 7-0 start to a season since the 1970-71 season, according to Schmidt, the experience it provided the team will pay dividends.
“This is (like) the Atlantic 10 tournament,” Schmidt said. “That’s why we play games like this. We have 24 hours, we’ll go back, get some rest, watch tape and come out tomorrow night and try to win a game.”
The loss places Bona in the consolation game for the tournament. It will play for third place against Northern Iowa with tip-off slated for 9 p.m. on ESPNU.
