On Saturday afternoon, St. Bonaventure took down Duquesne 70-63 in a must-win Atlantic 10 matchup during its annual 80’s weekend and its senior night.
“We found a way to win,” said St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt in regards to the rebounding numbers.
Duquesne (11-16, 6-8 A-10) outrebounded St. Bonaventure (19-9, 7-8 A-10) by a staggering 17. Schmidt credited this victory to the team’s relentless scoring from LaJae Jones and Melvin Council Jr. Jones ended with 24 and Council Jr. ended with 20.
“You see adversity, and we overcame it,” said Jones.
Council Jr. gave a lot of credit to Bonnies center Noel Brown for the scoring opportunities. He said Brown does a great job at drawing double teams, which leads to better scoring opportunities for the rest of the offense.
“He deserves it. I’m glad we won it, for him,” said Schmidt on Brown.
Brown lost his mother last May, so Schmidt and the rest of the team are glad they could pull through for Brown.
Schmidt also said this was one of the best environments in the Reilly Center all season. He thanked the students, alumni, and others who attended this game.
Aside from senior day and 80’s weekend festivities, this is a huge win for St. Bonaventure. Coming into the game, Duquesne was one game ahead of St. Bonaventure in the Atlantic 10 standings. Now, they flipped-flopped, and the Bonnies now rank seventh.
Schmidt, Jones and Council Jr. all agreed they are shooting for a top four seed to secure the double bye come tournament play.
The Bonnies look forward to playing at Saint Joseph’s at 7 p.m. ET on Wednesday.
