St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt liked the way his 22nd-ranked team played — at least in the final 10 minutes — against visiting Canisius on Sunday.
Now he’d like to see the Bonnies perform the same way for a full game as they head south to face Boise State (1-1) in the first round of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic in Charleston, S.C., on Thursday afternoon.
St. Bonaventure (2-0), which is trying to adjust to being circled on opponents’ schedules, trailed at halftime Sunday. Longtime rival Canisius led by nine with 14 minutes left before the Bonnies clamped down on defense and allowed only 13 points thereafter for a 69-60 win.
“Give our guys credit. We overcame some adversity,” Schmidt said afterward. “We got a lot of (offense) off of our defense. That got us going.
“We started to play the way we’re capable of playing,” he added. “Now we need to have it consistently.”
The Bonnies also trailed Siena for much of the first half, and the led by just four points — 36-32 at the break — before blowing the game open in the second half.
“We need to get better, and we’re going to,” said Jaren Holmes, who is averaging 17 points.
Kyle Lofton, also averaging 17 points, said, “I think we’re going to have to emphasize jumping on (opponents) first before they get on us. It’s hard to come back when you’re trailing. It takes that much effort out of us.”
After an opening-night victory over Utah Valley, 76-56, Boise State went cold in a 58-50 loss at Cal-Irvine on Saturday. The Broncos shot 32.2 percent overall and 13.6 percent from long distance. Guard Marcus Shaver scored 14 points in the game.
“We have good shooters and with shooters you don’t want to make a mountain out of a molehill,” Boise State coach Leon Rice said, per mwwire.com. “The best way to shoot better is to take better shots, but we missed a lot around the rim, too.”
Boise’s shooting percentage could improve markedly if St. Bonaventure’s 6-for-10 rim protector Osun Osunniyi is out. Osunniyi, the Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year last season, missed the second half of the Canisius game with a nagging back injury and his status is unclear.
–Field Level Media
