Getting away from snowy Western New York to the Sunshine State of Florida was a nice diversion. Taking two games with you on your trip was an attractive bonus.
Scores:
Tip-OFF from Fort Myers
North Carolina 85 St. Bona 70
St. Bona 67 East Carolina 58
St. Bona 70 FAU 65
Efficiency.
| Offensive effect. | Defensive eff. | |
| North Carolina | 99 | 120 |
| Eastern Carolina | 94 | 82 |
| FAU | 108 | 100 |
The two Carolina games were played exactly at a 71-possession pace. The FAU game was more in line with the Bona pace (68 average) with 65 possessions.
The best defensive game obviously came against East Carolina. That turned out to be a coincidence, as the offense had the lowest total of the three games.
Two out of three isn’t bad. To borrow the title of the pop star from history, Meatloaf, who summed up the trip to Florida. Against 16th-ranked North Carolina, the Bonnies fought back from a double-digit deficit to take a lead and then end the half trailing by two. The Tar Heels were able to pull away in the second half.
Two days later there was a meeting with East Carolina. A chance to see how Mark Schmidt’s group would react after the North Carolina game. The match was close for the duration. In the play it was anyone’s game. The Bonnies showed determination and made big plays to get the win.
OT was a difficult match.’ Schmidt defeated Tapinto and Olean. “But in the end we overcame adversity and won, which is the most important thing. We must continue to improve at all stages. But coming back 48 hours after losing a tough game against (North) Carolina, I thought our guys responded well.
Riding the momentum of a gut check win, the Bonnies faced Florida Atlantic (FAU) on their home court. The match featured three ties and seven lead changes. In the closing minutes the Bonnies had a three-point lead. A key steal from Dasonte Bowen , who has played well so far, followed by two free throws allowed the Bonnies to seal the verdict.
Bank: The Bonnies averaged 22 points off the bench for the three games. And those embossed numbers were significant.
Facing North Carolina, Daniel Egbuniwe came off the bench to score eight points while grabbing five boards and dishing out three assists. In the East Carolina game, Egbuniwe answered the call in a big way with a 17-point performance. The junior forward knocked down five shots from beyond the arc. Egbuniwe’s three with 1:50 remaining gave the Bonnies a 59-54 lead. A lead they would not lose.
“Daniel was great,” Schmidt said. “He hit that big shot, that was the backbreaker.”
Against FAU, Achille Lonati came off the bench, buried three three-pointers and finished with 13 points. The final three were linked and came in the final six minutes of the game, allowing the Bonnies to close out the victory.
Find a way. There are games where you trust the best compensated or completely closed by the opposition. In such situations, you need the determination to dig deep and find another way to win. That was exactly what the Bonnies could do.
In the FAU match, the Bonnies were defeated on the boards 37-29 by the host Owls. A shooting figure of 53% for Brown and White appeared to compensate for the recurring inequality. Especially since the Bona defense limited FAU to 40% shooting from the floor.
Double-double. Frank Mitchell scored 18 points and grabbed six rebounds against North Carolina. In the last two games, the senior center has been a double-double machine: 17 points, 12 rebounds against East Carolina and 13 points, 11 boards against FAU. Through eight games, Mitchell is averaging 16.0 ppg and 10.4 rpg, both team leads.
Spreading the wealth and banknotes. When you have multiple scoring threats it becomes very difficult to guard. That was the case for the Bonnies during the three games in Florida. During that time, four different players (two tied in one match) claimed scoring honors. Buddy Simmons outscored the Bonnies with 22 points against North Carolina. Mitchell and Egbuniwe led the way with 17 each against East Carolina. Cayden Charles led the way with 16 against FAU.
Bonnies return to Reilly Center at 7-1 to play DII Bloomsburg on Wednesday. A familiar name on the floor for FAU was Devin Vanterpool. The son of Bonaventure Hall-of-Famer David Vanterpool was the game-high scorer with 17 points.
#Bonaventure #bad