After taking an 11-point lead into halftime, St. Bonaventure withstood Fordham’s second-half shooting to win 74-72 on Saturday at the Reilly Center in St. Bonaventure, New York.
Leading the Bonnies (17-6, 5-5 Atlantic 10) to the win was the post dominance of graduate center Noel Brown, who had his way inside against Fordham’s big men. He finished with a career-high 22 points on 7-of-9 shooting and 8 of 12 from the free-throw line.
Fordham senior guards Japhet Medor and Jackie Johnson did all they could to overcome the halftime deficit. They finished with a combined 38 points and 6 3-pointers, but the largest St. Bonaventure lead of 16 proved too much to overcome.
Coach Mark Schmidt preaches winning the rebounding battle and uses it as a marker of toughness for the Bonnies’ play during a given game. Against Fordham (10-12, 2-7 Atlantic 10), St. Bonaventure won narrowly 30-29 but lost the second half 16-12.
The underwhelming finish to the game has been a problem for the Bonnies all season, not just in this game. St. Bonaventure struggles mightily coming out of halftime, with a minus-20-point differential so far in conference play in the second half. Without the Dayton game, that number would drop to minus-35, as the Bonnies outscored the Flyers 36-21 in the final 20 minutes.
“I thought for the first 15 minutes, we played extremely well,” Schmidt said. “We defended, rebounded, got out on the break and pushed the ball. Got it inside. But then they went to that 1-2-2 zone, and that stopped us a little bit.”
The move to the 1-2-2 zone, made by Fordham interim head coach Tray Woodall, slowed the Bonnies’ momentum and gave Fordham the confidence to shoot 5 of 10 from 3-point range in the second half. That wasn’t the only problem for the Bonnies. They forced only three turnovers in the second half compared to six in the first half.
“We had a hard time keeping them in front of us in the second half,” Schmidt said. “The two guards, Johnson and Medor, are really good. We also made some uncharacteristic mistakes toward the end of the game — missed foul shots and bad decisions.”
Schmidt had one specific decision in mind. Melvin Council Jr. took an inbound pass with 23 seconds left on the game clock. With the Bonnies up 73-70, he drove down the court and attempted an ill-advised dunk to make it 75-70.
Fordham blocked Council, and the Rams got the ball back with no shot clock, with a chance to tie the game at 73-all. Having not backfired, Schmidt, Council and Brown reviewed it in good spirits at the press conference, knowing the alternative result could have been much worse.
“It’s disappointing that we got into that situation and did not handle it the right way,” Schmidt said. “It’s a learning experience, and I can guarantee that Melvin will not go for that dunk the rest of his life. He’ll pull it back out and get fouled because he is our best foul shooter.”
Schmidt then joked, saying, “If someone here told me that when Dasonte Bowen (six assists per game) would go down, and Melvin would have games of seven assists and zero turnovers, I would not have a house.”
Council has been thrust into the point guard role because of Bowen’s injury and deserves all the credit for doing so while often playing all 40 minutes of the game.
The next chance for the Bonnies to pick up a win is Tuesday against Loyola Chicago.
