ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — St. Bonaventure desperately needed some offense. Daryl Banks III, Moses Flowers and Chad Venning supplied it in a big way Friday night.
The Bonnies looked hardly like the team that struggled to knock down shots in a loss at Duquesne on Tuesday. Instead, they came to life in front of the Reilly Center crowd on national television against Atlantic 10 rival Saint Joseph’s.
A strong close to the first half saw Bona leading 45-41, then rolling to the second half in an avalanche. The Bonnies led by as many as 22 points with just over a minute remaining and dispatched the Hawks, 91-72.
“I thought it was a great bounce back game. You know, our guys showed a lot of character,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt said. “You’re not going to play well all the time. We had a dud, really, the last two games (Duquesne and George Mason) probably. The last one, we had a dud offensively. But I thought our guys really fought through it. You’re gonna have some adversity in life and it’s a great lesson. And I thought those guys really, really came back.”
Banks led with 29 points, shooting 7-for-11 from the 3-point line as part of a 9-for-13 shooting night. Flowers had 23 points, shooting 10-for-17.
Venning also enjoyed a 21-point night (10-for-13) with two blocks and five rebounds. The scoring trio combined to 73 points, just above the Hawks’ total for the game.
“We had energy, so we’ve got to let our defense dictate how we’re going to play,” Banks said. “So if we’re getting after on the defensive end, that’s going to give us energy, get us easy looks down on the offensive end, getting out in transition, stuff like that. So defense is the staple.”
Bona (12-7, 3-4) recorded assists on 23 of its 36 made baskets.
Finishing with just four points — both thunderous dunks in the second half — Barry Evans still had the best plus/minus on the court, at plus-28. He led Bona in assists (six) and rebounds (seven).
“I mean, that’s what that’s what B5 does, man,” Flowers said. “He’s athletic, he can dribble, he makes good passes, good plays. Just having him on the court and us being able to just run the floor and him just bring it down and push it and make plays is great for us on the court.”
Schmidt valued the scoring from Banks, Flowers and Venning, but considered Evans the ‘MVP’ of the game.
“Daryl had been struggling and couldn’t have played better. Same thing with Moses, (he’s) been struggling since we put him in the lineup,” Schmidt said. “We couldn’t have won without those guys, but I thought the guy that was the MVP of the game was Barry Evans.
“I thought, if you know anything about basketball, it’s not about scoring. It’s about defending, rebounding, getting deflections. He was just a stat-stuffer. He was the guy. He defended really well. He was active and the other guys, Chad and Moses and Daryl scored the points but Barry did some of the blue collar stuff, and then that’s how you win.”
The Bonnies trailed by as many as eight, 27-19, in the first half after a torrid start for the Hawks’ 3-point shooters at 5-for-7. But they led by four after a fast-paced half, scoring almost as many points as the 50 it did in the entirety of Tuesday’s trip to Duquesne.
Banks scored 17 first-half points, making four of his first seven 3-point attempts, including a four-point play with a foul on his made trey. It was part of an exciting sequence for the Bona fans at the other end after a Kyrell Luc chase-down block.
The Hawks (13-7, 3-4) shot 53.8% from 3 in the first half (7-for-13) but just 27.3% in the second half (3-for-11).
The Bonnies shot the ball well too in the first half, but turned up the defense in the second.
“We shot the heck out of it in the first half and we’re only up by four,” Schmidt said. “In the second half we defended better, held them to 31 points, did a good job on (Erik) Reynolds. But yeah, those three guys, from an offensive standpoint, did a heck of a job. But like I said, I thought Barry was really good.”
Notes: In the Bonnies’ annual Coaches vs. Cancer game, both coaching staffs wore suits and sneakers. Fans in attendance helped raise $18,000 in donations for the American Cancer Society.
The Bonnies started a stretch of four of five games at home, next playing VCU on Tuesday at 7 p.m.
(Editor’s note: This is a condensed version of the Times Herald’s game story due to the late tip-off. A full story will appear on www.oleantimesherald.com)
