By Taylor Nigrelli
Sports Editor
Two games, two sub-par first halves, two strong second halves and two wins for the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team.
After pulling away in the second half against South Dakota Saturday, the Bonnies (2-0) defeated Abilene Christian (0-2) 75-47 Monday night at the Reilly Center.
Despite the lopsided score, the Bonnies didn’t take the lead permanently until late in the first half. After falling behind 22-18 12 minutes into the first half, the Bonnies outscored the Wildcats 57-25.
Head Coach Mark Schmidt blamed the Bonnies troubles in the first half to being slow off the dribble and credited the second-half turnaround partially to junior Jordan Gathers’ buzzer-beating three-pointer to end the first half.
“We got off to a slow start. Give Abilene Christian credit – they were beating us off the dribble,” Schmidt said. “We came out sluggish for whatever reason, but I thought Jordan’s shot at halftime gave us momentum going into the second half.”
Schmidt also pointed to improved defense and ball-handling as reasons for pulling away in the second half. The Bonnies allowed just 25 points in finals 28 minutes of game action and didn’t turn the ball over once in the second half after nine first half turnovers.
“We did the trifecta,” Schmidt said. “We defended really well, we took care of the basketball – we didn’t have a turnover in the second half – and we outrebounded them by 12. If you do all those things, you’re going to win.”
St. Bonaventure scored 42 points in the second half despite sitting some starters for the final five minutes. Schmidt maintains the offensive spark came from an aggressive defense.
“We got a lot of stuff off our defense,” Schmidt said. “23 points came off our defense…A lot of times when you play good defense, you get some energy and move the ball well offensively.”
Senior guard Charlon Kloof said the first-half deficit was a matter of the team being outworked, something he said he believes to be unacceptable at home.
“(The biggest difference was) not accepting someone coming in our house and trying to have their way,” Kloof said. “We’re a blue-collar team. No one comes in our house and works harder than us.”
Senior forward Matt Wright considered the second half surge a matter of pride. He said the team didn’t want others to see the Bonnies lose to an Abilene Christian squad in their second-ever Division I game.
“It’s about pride,” Wright said. “We look at all the (Atlantic) 10 scores. We don’t want VCU or St. Louis to look at the box score or hear in the announcements at halftime that it was a close game between us and Abilene Christian. No disrespect to them but it’s about pride.”
Wright earned his first career double-double, scoring 15 points and grabbing 10 rebounds despite shooting just 5-18 from the field. Wright moved into the small forward slot in the absence of suspended junior Andell Cumberbatch He said he believes this new position allows him to establish a presence in the paint when he has trouble shooting the ball.
“Playing the three, I have the freedom to crash,” Wright said. “I’m allowed to go to the offensive glass. It wasn’t like I was jumping over guys, balls were coming to me. But if you don’t go for the rebound, you’re not going to get it.”
The Bonnies will play their third consecutive home game against Canisius Saturday night. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
