Photo by Dan Nelligan
St. Bonaventure defeated Miami (OH) 90-60 Saturday afternoon. The Bonnies we led by Charles Pride, Daryl Banks and Noel Brown as the team notched a season high in points. Darweshi Hunter led the Red Hawks in scoring as he tallied 17 points in the loss. This is how today’s offensive explosion went down.
The Bonnie offense came out flying this afternoon as Daryl Banks III banged a three on the first possession of the game. Mika Adams-Woods followed the opening bucket with a jumper of his own. Miami would get on the board as Darweshi Hunter cashed one in from beyond the arc. The scoring kept coming early on as Chad Venning and Assa Essamvous got on the board while Hunter and Banks added on to their totals. The Bonnies led 14-8 at the first media timeout of the game.
Hunter made his and-one free throw following the break, but the Bonnies would respond with a 9-0 run. Assa, Noel Brown and Barry Evans all contributed while Charles Pride knocked down a triple to extend the Bonaventure lead to 23-9. Miami finally broke out of its 4:29 scoring drought as Bryce Bultman knocked down a jumper to end the run.
Bonas would once again immediately respond on the other end of the floor as Venning laid one in and Banks sank his second three of the game. Miami’s Jackson Kotecki and Hunter answered layups prompting head coach Mark Schmidt to call the timeout as he was not happy with his team’s defensive effort.
The scoring went quiet for the next 2:24, the longest stretch without a bucket for either side, before Noel brown re-broke the ice with a layup off a beautiful pass by Adams-Woods. This opened an 18-0 Bonaventure scoring run to end the half. Brown, Adams-Woods and Pride would do all the damage on this run including a pair of NBA-range three pointers for Pride. Miami entered the halftime locker room on a 7:31 scoring drought as the Bonnies led 46-18.
Pride led all scorers with 11 points at the half while Brown and Hunter each had tallied 10. Banks III’s eight points and Venning’s six rounded out the top five scorers of the half. The Red Hawks only mustered 18 first-half points. Miami shot 7/27 (25.9%) from the floor, 2/12 (16.7%) from beyond the arc and 2/3 from the free throw line. The Bonnies scored a season-high 46 first-half points as the team shot 19/34 (55.9%) from the field, 6/13 (46.2%) from three and 2/2 from the charity stripe. Bonaventure outrebounded Miami 24-11 in the first 20 minutes.
Both teams came out of the locker room with productive first possessions as Jaquel Morris flushed a dunk for Miami and Banks knocked down a midrange for the Bonnies. Banks would then add his third and fourth triples of the game. The redshirt senior had surpassed his made threes in the first five games in just 17 minutes of play this afternoon. Venning, Hunter and Morris all grabbed points as the game reached the first timeout of the second half with Bonaventure leading 58-24.
Pride and Hunter continued to score on the other side of the media timeout before Ryan Mabrey knocked down a pair of threes to cut the Bonaventure lead back to 30. Brown would grabbed a pair of buckets on the other end as he continued to have a strong game. Miami’s Hunter also added a deep three as he continued to build on a strong offensive afternoon. Mabry continued to produce has he grabbed five more quick points following the under-12 media timeout.
Even up 30 with nine minutes remaining, Schmidt kept the foot on the gas as he began trying different personnel combinations. A positive sign that could have gone unnoticed was Venning making four straight free throws after being drawing a foul on consecutive possessions. Pride cashed a triple to officially give the Bonnies their highest total of the season as Bonaventure lead 75-42 with 8:25 remaining in the game. Adams-Woods added to the Bona lead with a reverse lay and step-back three to push the Bonnies to 80 points on the afternoon.
Mabrey continued his solid performance for Miami as his three pushed him up to 13 points while Barry Evans countered with a triple of his own on the following possession. Kyrell Luc would get to the hole and earn a trip to the line as he cashed one of two. The Bonnies would come up with the steal which lead to the exclamation point on the win as Evans delivered a monster slam. Schmidt emptied his bench as Melian Martinez entered and score along with all three walk-ons, Broek Ostrom, Anthony Belardinelli and Jack DeRose, seeing game action.
The Bonnies grabbed a 90-60 win as Pride led the team with 18 points. Banks and Brown trailed close behind Pride as the pair notched 16 points apiece. Venning (14 points) and Adams-Woods (11 points) rounded out a Bonaventure team that had five players in double figures. Hunter led Miami in points with 17 while Mabrey’s 13 and Kotecki’s 10 points rounded out the three Red Hawks in double figures.
Bonaventure finished shooting 36/65 (55.4%) from the field while knocking down 11/25 (44.0%) threes and 7/8 free throws. Miami shot 22/56 (39.3%) from the floor, 7/27 (25.9%) from deep and 9/10 from the line. The Bonnies outrebounded the Red Hawks 42-22 and out-assisted Miami 20-13. The Red Hawks turned the ball over 12 times compared to Bonaventure’s nine.
Head coach Mark Schmidt credited the offensive outburst to his team’s defense. “We got a lot of offense off our defense today,” said Schmidt, “We were committed for all 30 seconds [each possession] and got deflections to cause turnovers.”
Schmidt continued to emphasize the importance of the good offensive day. “We didn’t have any pace the last few games,” he said. The coach then gave his guys credit for breaking out and picking up the slack on the offensive side. “We shot the ball well and Daryl got out of his shooting slump,” said Schmidt, “Noel was a bright spot for us, too, and we need to continue this moving forward.”
The Bonnies will have a full week off before traveling north to face the University of Buffalo next Saturday. Tip is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. as the Bonnies and Bulls renew their rivalry.