By Carson Hayek, Sports Staffer
ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — The St. Bonaventure University men’s basketball team won by its largest scoring margin in a conference game, 18 points, in a 94-76 victory over the University of Rhode Island Wednesday night in the Reilly Center.
The Bonnies have scored 94 points in back-to-back games, but have allowed an average of 87.5 points per game in that span. Bonnies head coach Mark Schmidt said the team’s strength remains on offense, but defensively, the team still has to improve.
“Offensively, we are fourth in the [conference] in offensive efficiency,” Schmidt said. [Our issues have been] on defense. We haven’t done a good job keeping the ball [in front of us] in league play. We did a better job [tonight], but you can’t rely on your offense. You’re not going to shoot 55% [from the field] and 45% from three every night. You live and die with your defense.”
In the final eight minutes of the first half, Bonaventure outscored the Rams 19-9 to take a 39-30 advantage at halftime.
In the second half, the Bonaventure scored 55 points, marking a season-high for points scored in a half, and drawing cheers from a crowd of 2,706. Bonnies senior guard Cayden Charles said that the team’s defense directly led to offense.
“If we watch the tape, we will see our defense led to our offense,” Charles said. “Like Frank [Mitchell] said, not trying to get into the half-court offense but pushing the pace, and that’s when we are at our best, and I think we did a good job [tonight].”
All eight Bonnies who played recorded points. Bonaventure senior forward Frank Mitchell led all scorers with 23 points and 10 rebounds, and Charles added 21 points and 10 rebounds. Schmidt praised the team’s bench for providing offense.
“I thought it was a good team effort,” Schmidt said. “We had eight guys that contributed, with other guys coming off the bench and giving us a lift. Those guys coming off the bench didn’t score a lot of points, but they had an impact, and that’s what we need.”
Bonaventure moves to 15-13 (4-11, A-10), and for now, avoids being mathematically required to play in the play-in round of the Atlantic 10 Tournament. The Rams fall to 15-13 (6-9, A-10).
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