WASHINGTON, D.C. — It wasn’t the blowout that seemed destined to be.
Indeed, on three occasions, Richmond dug out of 17-point holes, the last one starting with 6 ½ minutes to play, and the Spiders came roaring back with a possession to take the lead and just over a minute to go.
But when it was over on Friday night at Capital One Arena, St. Bonaventure’s basketball team owned a 13th straight victory and had all but punched its ticket to the NCAA Tournament.
The Bonnies (25-6) prevailed in the Atlantic 10 quarterfinal, 83-7, and it didn’t matter whether they won by six, or 60, as this was the win that will likely be recalled as the one which pushed them into “The Big Dance” for the first time since 2012.
Afterward, Richmond coach Chris Mooney was adamant that Bona is one of the country’s top 68 squads.
“They’re definitely an NCAA team … they compare very favorably to everybody,” he said. “When you have guards like (Jaylen) Adams and (Matt) Mobley … those guys are tough to stop.
“And I like their front court players (Courtney Stockard, LaDarien Griffin and Amadi Ikpeze) … but every situation is improved when you have great guards and they do. And with a great coach like Mark (Schmidt), I think they’ll do very well.”
Oh, there’s still a little business left for the Bonnies to do.
This afternoon (3:30), back at the same site, Bona, seeded No. 2, will face third-seeded Davidson in the second of the A-10’s two semifinals, after the 1 o’clock opener matching top-seed Rhode Island against fourth-seeded Saint Joseph’s.
In a rarity, this year’s Atlantic 10 championships have played out as seeded, the top 4-ranked teams making the semis.
Of course, last night’s game was not without its suspense.
Start with the fact Adams, the A-10’s Co-Player of the Year, arguably, had his worst game in the last two seasons.
He finished with a mere five points, and didn’t log his first bucket until 9:23 remained in the game. Adams added six assists and three boards.
But, Stockard (19 points, five assists, four boards and three assists) and Griffin (17 points, 11 rebounds and three blocks) ably filled in for their star guard’s missing 21 points per game.
Then, too, Mobley added a glittering 29 points on 10-of-14 shooting, including nine treys, an Atlantic 10 Championships record.
Bona hit its first 10 shots after intermission, six of them three-pointers, five by Mobley.
“I always tell our guys the first 10 possessions of the second half are critical and Matt did a heckuva job to get us going, he came out red-hot and we needed that … then we just held on,” Schmidt admitted. “We didn’t play great offensively and we dealt with some adversity, but we made enough plays to win.
“Jay didn’t play the game he usually plays, (but) Matt did a really good good job of getting us going in the second half. When your best player doesn’t play his ‘A’ game and you still pull out a victory, that tells you we’re a team … not just one or two guys.”
Schmidt pointed out, “LaDarien stepped up, Courtney did a good job before he got injured (hamstring with just over 10 minutes to play). I’ve said it from the beginning, we’re not a two-man team, it takes all of these guys to fill their roles. When one guy’s not playing up to his capabilities, another guy steps up and we’ve had that.”
Mobley’s last three-pointer came with 6:25 remaining, pushing SBU up, 74-57, and seemingly putting the game out of reach.
However, that would be Bona’s last field goal as Richmond (12-20) got back in it with help from the Bonnies who committed a numbing nine fouls down the stretch and missed 6-of-14 free throws over that span which could have put the game away.
Indeed there was plenty of tension among Bona fans both in the building and watching on the NBC Sports Network’s national telecast when Mobley had the ball stolen with his team desperately trying the hold on to a 78-76 lead, only to have the Spiders miss a shot for the tie with 49 seconds to play.
“They were more aggressive and we became tentative,” Schmidt said of Richmond. “They got us on our heels and when you’re playing on your heels, you’re in trouble.
“Every time you go to the foulline and miss … it’s like a turnover. We missed 11 and that’s something we’ve got to improve on.”
Still, the Bonnies got the desired result … and very likely secured that NCAA bid.
“We’ve faced some adversity in this 13-game win streak and it says how tough (the players) are mentally and physically,” Schmidt said. “Our guys have made the plays when they needed to make them.”
And they did again Friday night.
(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)
