BUFFALO — It was the perfect recipe for this kind of outcome.
This, after all, was a new-look St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team, in its first road game of the year, against both an arch-rival and a Canisius squad that was very much upset-minded.
And it was exactly the outcome that came to fruition.
Oh, when Chad Venning banked home a 19-footer to make it a two-score game with 2:14 remaining, it appeared as if maybe the Bonnies would pull this out, that any warts would be masked in another close, character-building victory. But that’s when its inexperience, its lack of late-game success as a group and Canisius’ biggest weapon, its 3-pointers, took hold.
Bona went from up 65-61 on Vennings’ bank to down 76-68 with 1:49 left in overtime. And though it twice rallied to within a possession on a trio of Daryl Banks III treys, it was ultimately dealt a humbling 84-80 loss in this Little 3 renewal before a spirited audience of 1,903 inside the Koessler Center on Saturday night.
The Bonnies (1-1) had a handful of empty possessions on either side of the extra period. They had a shot clock violation in the final minute of regulation and Venning made 1-of-2 free throws to tie it at 66 with 26 seconds left to help force OT, but prevent Bona from perhaps winning then and there.
They missed four of their first five shots in overtime.
But this one came down to defense,, as Canisius made a trio of huge 3s in that span, went 11-of-22 from deep in total and racked up 18 points in the extra session to secure the win.
“It wasn’t from an offensive standpoint,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt confirmed. “It was defensively. We scored 80 points; if you score 80 points, you should win. We didn’t defend. They made some tough shots, and give them credit. But we gotta be better on the defensive end.”
Jordan Henderson (19 points) drilled a 3 to put the Golden Griffins up 66-65 with 51 ticks left.. Xzavier Long (19 points, 7-of-8 shooting) hit one to make it a two-score game in OT and Tahj Staveskie (11 points) knocked down a bit of a back-breaker with 2:57 left and, after a rough first 40 minutes, scored nine points in the period, including a huge 6-of-6 effort at the line to help Canisius hang on.
Bona had done a decent job defending to that juncture, as the Griffs (1-1) didn’t score their 62nd point until 1:43 left in regulation. It held decisive edges both on the boards (39-32) and in the paint (36-22) and committed 12 turnovers. But then it all came undone on the road.
The question afterward: was this immaturity showing through or merely breakdowns at the wrong time?
“When you win, you make the shots; when you lose, you don’t. We missed some shots, and they made some big shots.”
Of the OT frame itself, he added, again directly: “They made 3s, that’s the difference. And we had to foul at the end (Canisius went 8-of-12 in that time), but they made 3s.”
Bona, much like in a season-opening win over St. Francis (Pa.), had some bright spots on which it’ll look to build.
In a rowdy environment for both sides, it managed to turn a five-point first-half deficit into a six-point advantage with 7:52 remaining. It received a combined 24 points on 10-of-15 shooting from its centers, as starter Anouar Mellouk had 13 and Venning 11. Kyrell Luc didn’t have a great day from the field, but still finished with an impressive 13 points, nine assists and six rebounds in 43 minutes. Banks III rallied to finish with a game-high 22 points, including a 9-of-12 effort from the line.
This was another close battle, especially at Koessler, as there were 14 lead changes and nine ties and the deficit, for both sides, generally hovered between only 3-5 points throughout.
But with a new team still finding their way, the Bonnies couldn’t close it out.
“Yeah, it’s promising. We’re young and we’re going to make mistakes and we gotta grow,” said coach Mark Schmidt, whose teams have split the last six meetings with Canisius, and who fell to 2-3 at Koessler in his 16 seasons, before adding of his big men, “Offensively, they were productive, they just gotta do a better job rebounding. We only got six rebounds from those (two) guys inside. We certainly made some mistakes today.”
Banks III had another slow start, missing eight of his first 10 shots before splashing those three late treys to make it 77-73, 78-76 and 80-79 and give the Bonnies a real chance in the last 30 seconds. The former Saint Peter’s standout is hoping it was the spark needed to get him going.
“Yeah, I gotta be consistent from the start of the game,” he acknowledged. “I can’t wait that long because it’s gonna hurt us as a team. But we just gotta learn from it; we’re gonna go back and get better.”
It was a point he reiterated when asked if there was anything positive to pull from this group’s first big gut-check battle of the season, even in a bitter loss to a rival.
“Being a young team, some people haven’t experienced it yet,” Banks III said, “So this was a good first test. We failed, obviously. But it’s alright, we’re gonna learn from it, we’re gonna go back to the gym, practice and just execute better.”
