ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — How this season plays out for the St. Bonaventure basketball teams has yet to be determined.

But if coach Mark Schmidt’s Bonnies regain the promise that caused them to be ranked No. 16 in the preseason polls, they will likely look back to the final three minutes on Tuesday night at the Reilly Center as the stretch that turned the campaign around.

In the early-season’s key Atlantic 10 game before 4,015 witnesses, Davidson seemed set to run Schmidt’s crew out of the RC.

The Wildcats (18-3, 8-1 A-10), leading the conference, were up by 15 with just under four minutes to play.

Bona seemed en route to a demoralizing 20-point loss and a glum outlook heading into the last 11 games, its only NCAA berth hope conjuring a win in the conference tournament.

But then something happened.

Guards Kyle Lofton and Jalen Adaway hit treys, Osun Osunniyi had a three-point play and five made free throws put the Bonnies down 79-76 with 10 seconds to play.

The Wildcats held on for an 81-76 victory as Bona fell to 12-6, 4-3 but with its pride and dignity intact.

AFTERWARD, Davidson coach Bob McKillop, who looks more like the administrator at a metro hospital, allowed of the SBU comeback, “There are times where you have to make foul shots, where you have to get rebounds, where you have to get stops and there were times we had it (tonight) and times when we didn’t have it.

“Credit St. Bonaventure, my goodness they are terrific, they’re so well-coached and they compete and they’re tough and they’re interchangeable and they’re versatile. What a terrific team they are and for us to beat them here is a big step for our team.”

McKillop, who has 625 wins in 33 seasons at the small North Carolina school whose most famous alum is Stephen Curry, allowed of the final three minutes, “We made some mistakes, we gave a couple of threes, we fouled on a three-pointer. You can’t make a mistake against St. Bonaventure … they will make you pay … they can cut you up surgically.

“And, we’re a very good foul-shooting team (78%) and we only shot 72% (four missed free throws in the last 45 seconds), so there were times we could have kept the lead at double digits and we didn’t.”

Plus, Mckillop, is well aware that Davidson is only 8-5 against the Bonnies since Schmidt has been coach.

“Any time you play St. Bonaventure, you’d better have your ‘A’ game,” he said. “We’ve had some memorable games against Mark in my years at Davidson and it seems that every game against them is an adventure.”

FOR SCHMIDT’S part, he saw the issue as a hole dug 13½ minutes into the second half.

“You can’t get down 16 to Davidson,” he said, “but our guys showed a lot of fight to come back and make it a one-possession game.

“You look at the stat sheet and other than three-point shooting I thought we did a decent job.”

Indeed, Bona had the edge in points off turnovers, points in the paint, second-chance points, fast-break points, blocks, steals and fewest fouls.

Unfortunately, the stat from beyond the arc was the killer. Davidson had a dozen treys, the Bonnies five… a glaring difference of 21 points.

Still, Schmidt’s team fought back and he wasn’t surprised.

“The game is 40 minutes … if you get down by 20 in the first 10 minutes of the game, you fight, you play,” he said. “Our guys weren’t going to quit.”

And, on this night, they didn’t.

(Chuck Pollock, an Olean Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)