Game Notes: St. Bonaventure | Niagara
SBU Last Time Out
Andrew Nicholson's game-winning jumper with 5.2 seconds left - his second consecutive game-winning shot – lifted St. Bonaventure (5-2) to a 67-66 victory over host St. John's (5-2) Tuesday night at Carnesecca Arena. The Bonnies trailed by as many as 10 with 13:02 left in the second half, but rallied for their second straight dramatic win and snapped the Red Storm five-game win streak.
Next Game
The Bonnies return to the Reilly Center next Saturday to host defending MAC tournament champion Ohio University. The St. John's game was the only true road game during the month of December. After playing Virginia Tech at the Blue Cross Arena Dec. 23, the Bonnies do not play another road game until Jan. 5, when they will take on Arkansas-Little Rock.
Next Up
St. Bonaventure will enjoy a seven-day respite before returning to action opposite defending MAC tournament champion Ohio University Dec. 18 in the RC. The Bobcats are currently 5-3 after a 67-65 win at Illinois State.
The Matchup
Niagara has the Bonnies number of late, as the Purple Eagles have won seven straight in the series. The last victory for the Brown and White came at the Reilly Center Nov. 24, 2001. Before the current winning streak for Niagara, the Bonnies rattled off 11 straight victories from Jan. 26, 1993 to Nov. 24, 2001.
About the Purple Eagles
Under Joe Mihalich, the Purple Eagles have posted a 2-7 record with an 0-2 mark in MAAC conference play. Niagara's leading scorer, freshman G Antoine Mason, has been out the past four games with a stress fracture. In the three games Mason has played in this year, he averaged 16.7 points on 33 percent shooting from the floor. Guard Anthony Nelson is the only senior on the Purple Eagles' roster. In six starts this year, Nelson is averaging 14.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.7 assists a game. Junior F Kashief Edwards also scores in double figures at 14.4 points with 7.3 boards per game. The Purple Eagles were picked for eighth in the MAAC Preseason Coaches' Poll, behind Canisius (seventh) and preseason favorite Fairfield.
How They Got Here
The Purple Eagles come into today's contest with a 2-7 record in the fifth of a six-game road swing. Niagara started the season 2-2, but has dropped its last five contests. In those defeats, the Purple Eagles have lost by an average 15.8 points.
Head Coach: Joe Mihalich
Joe Mihalich's 223 career victories place him second among Niagara mentors in the school annals. Mihalich is now in his 13th season at the helm of the Purple Eagles, where he has earned an NCAA Tournament victory, two NCAA tournament berths, a pair of MAAC Tournament titles, two berths into the NIT, a trio of MAAC regular-season crowns, national, regional and conference accolades for his student-athletes and top 25 rankings in the CollegeInsider.com Mid-Major Poll.
Bonnies vs. the MAAC
St. Bonaventure is 240-155 all-time vs. current MAAC members: Canisius (95-63), Fairfield (13-5), Iona (9-4), Loyola(Md.) (6-1), Manhattan (4-4), Marist (1-2), Niagara (82-68), Rider (1-0), St. Peter's (4-2), and Siena (25-7). The Bonnies last victory over a MAAC team came Dec. 30, 2009 in an 82-75 win over Canisius. The Bonnies are 7-3 in their last 10 games at home against Niagara.
Series Snapshot
St. Bonaventure leads the all-time series against Niagara, 82-68. The Brown and White have lost their last seven games to the Purple Eagles dating back to Nov. 24, 2001 after winning the 11 previous matchups. The Bonnies are 52-17 all-time at home against Niagara.
1,000 for #44
Nicholson was a shoe size away from recording his 1,000th career point in comeback fashion as his stepback jumper vs. St. John's was reviewed. Although his foot was on the line, he sits just one point shy of becoming the 38th player in school history, and first since Michael Lee (2004-08), to surpass the 1,000-point barrier.
Climbing the Charts
Nicholson is climbing the St. Bonaventure career records list in his third season. The Mississauga, Ont. native is the school's career leader in FG% (.579 – ahead of Bob Lanier), ranks third in blocks (147), and now sits in 38th on the all-time scoring list with 999 points.
Deja 'Drew
Nicholson hit game-winning jumpers from nearly the same spot on the floor in the Bonnies' wins against UB and St. John's. The Buffalo game winner game with 6.8 seconds left to lift SBU to a 76-74 win, while the jab-step, stepback shot against the Red Storm gave 67-66 edge with 5.2 left.
12 Straight For Nicholson
Andrew Nicholson has scored in double figures in 12 straight games dating back to Feb. 27, 2010 against Rhode Island. Over that span, he is averaging 18.6 points and 7.8 boards and has not scored fewer than 14 points. He also has three straight double-doubles and five in his last six games.
Home Sweet Home
The Bonnies defeated Arkansas-Little Rock in their home-opener this season. Through 44 years as the home court, St. Bonaventure is 392-180 (.684) all-time in the venerable RC. In 15 games at Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center last year, St. Bonaventure earned a 10-5 record - the most since the 2002-03 season (9-3).
Out of Our League
All but four of the 12 teams on the Bonnies' non-conference docket ended last season with winning records. In total, the Bonnies' non-league opponents racked up a 232-163 record in 2009-10 for a .587 win percentage. That number includes 20-game winners Cornell (29-5), Siena (27-7), Virginia Tech. (25-9), Marshall (24-10) and Ohio (22-15). This season, only three non-A-10 foes are under .500 – Siena (2-5), Niagara (2-7), Cornell (2-6)
Canadian Money
A Mississauga, Ont. native, Nicholson has been "money" in the last five minutes of games this season, shooting 77.8 from the floor (7-9) and 8-11 from the charity stripe in the waning minutes. Fellow countryman Wright is 3-5 from the floor with a 5:2 assist/turnover ratio.
With a win…
A victory over Niagara would lift the Bonnies to 6-2 overall for the first time since 2001-02, when SBU earned its last postseason berth (NIT). It would also be St. Bonaventure's second three game win streak this season and the sixth three-or-more game streak in the Mark Schmidt era.
Stepping Up
Entering the season, coach Mark Schmidt commented that players other than Andrew Nicholson would have to step up for the Bonnies to find success. True to form, each of the other four starters have netted career highs through the team's 5-2 start to the year in Michael Davenport (19 pts vs. Canisius, 22 pts vs. St. John's), Ogo Adegboye (17 vs. Ark.-Little Rock, 24 pts vs. Buffalo), Demitrius Conger (22 pts. 14 rebs. vs. Cornell) and Da'Quan Cook (21 pts. 13 rebs. vs. Binghamton).
Stealing Minutes
In the win over St. John's Schmidt effectively deployed just two bench players to keep his lead cast in the game. In a combined 13 minutes the bench was 0-2 from the floor with two rebounds, three fouls and one turnover.
Good Week for the A-10
Along with the Bonnies' win at St. John's on Tuesday, the conference also created buzz with a pair of victories Thursday night, as Temple defeated Georgetown (68-65) and Xavier knocked off national semifinalist Butler (51-49).
And Boom Goes the Dynamite
Adegboye made seven 3-pointers – one shy of the school record – in last Saturday's effort to hold off Buffalo, 76-74. He tied his previous career high 17 points and set personal high-water marks for 3-point makes and attempts in the first half alone in helping Bona's to an 11-point lead at the break. Adegboye ended the game with new career-highs of 24 points and 10 assists for his first career double-double. The outburst also raised his then-season 3FG% from 31.6 to a blistering 46.4.
Where'd You Go?
With a new career-high 22 points versus St. John's and 13 points on 5-of-9 from the floor opposite UB, Davenport was once again a noteworthy contributor on the offensive end. Davenport recorded a career outing in the opener against Canisius (19 points) before posting another strong performance (17) against Ark.-Little Rock in his next outing. Over the next three games however, Davenport shot 5-for-25 from the field and 0-for-6 from deep and failed to crack double digits (9-4-4). Welcome back!
Stat Stuffer
Conger has already posted the first two double-doubles of his career and was riding a three-game double-digit scoring streak prior to the Buffalo game. The sophomore Brooklyn native finished with nine points, eight boards and six assists to go with a block and a steal on 3-of-4 from beyond the arc in 38 minutes of work against the Bulls.
Count Your FOUR-tunes
Jim Baron, the last coach to lead the Bonnies to a postseason tournament (NIT, 2001), posted 48 wins in his first four campaigns. Beginning his fourth season on the Bona sidelines, Schmidt and his staff (all of whom worked under Schmidt at Robert Morris) have collected 43 wins…and counting. By number of victories in their first four seasons, here's how it breaks down:
75 Ed Melvin (1948-52)
72 Jim Satalin (1973-77)
67 Jim O'Brien (1982-86)
58 Larry Weise (1961-65)
53 Eddie Donovan (1953-57)
48 Jim Baron (1992-96)
Mike Reilly (1928-32)
43+ Mark Schmidt (2007-Pres.)
24 Anthony Solomon (2003-07)
Riding the Pine
The Bonnies are on the short side of the bench scoring matchup by a wide margin despite their favorable record. Through six games SBU has yet to post a deficit of better than three points in bench scoring.
Canisius 23-6
Ark. Little Rock 19-9
Cornell 10-0
Binghamton 22-5
Cleveland State 12-9
Buffalo 11-2
St. John's 31-0
Nostradamus on Nicholson
Should he record two more seasons similar to those already in the books, Nicholson will notch: 1,849 points (would rank sixth at SBU), 819 rebounds (fifth) and 272 blocks (second). It is also likely that he will become the 22nd player in school history with 1,000 points and 500 rebounds (needs one point and 52 rebounds).
NLI Signees
SBU added a pair of guards in the early signing period. Schenectady native Derrick Millinghaus, who currently attends Queen City Prep in Marshville, N.C., is a 1-2 combo guard with an open-court style. Millinghaus will have four years of eligibility, while fellow signee Eric Mosely will have two years remaining. Mosely currently attends Cincinnati State Technical and Community College and spent his freshman season at Austin Peay in 2008-09.
APR Improvement
Mark Schmidt ranks 13th in the nation in NCAA Academic Progress Rate (APR) improvement, as calculated by Fox Sports. Schmidt is among the top coaches nationally in cumulative improvement of his team APR, a metric used by NCAA officials to track the academic achievement of Division I teams during each academic term. Each student-athlete earns one point for staying in school and one point for being academically eligible. A team's total points are divided by points possible and multiplied by 1,000 to equal the team's APR score. As calculated by Fox Sports, Schmidt has increased the Bonnies' team APR by a combined 126 points over the last three academic years for which data are available (2006-2009).
Ahead of Schedule?
Now in his fourth season at the helm of the Bonnies, head coach Mark Schmidt is ahead of schedule with respect to his previous head coaching stint at Robert Morris. During his third and fourth season at RMU, Schmidt posted back-to-back seasons with the same number of wins (14) before guiding the team to a record over .500 (15-14). At St. Bonaventure, Schmidt has guided the team to 15 wins in each of the last two campaigns in his second and third seasons with the program. St. Bonaventure has not finished a season over .500 since 2001-02 (17-13).
#100 for Schmidt
Now entering his fourth season at St. Bonaventure, head coach Mark Schmidt will coach his 100th game at St. Bonaventure Dec. 18, nine games into the season, when the Bonnies host Ohio University in a non-conference tilt at the RC. Schmidt's .419 (39-54) win percentage at SBU is the highest by a Bonnies' mentor since current Rhode Island coach Jim Baron's .502 (132-131) mark compiled from 1992-01. Schmidt and Baron are the only two coaches to post a win-loss percentage over .400 since the start of the 1987 season.
A Look Back: 2009-10
The St. Bonaventure University men's basketball team ended the 2009-10 season with a 15-16 overall mark that included a 7-9 record in Atlantic 10 conference play. Third-year head coach Mark Schmidt guided the Bonnies to a No. 8 seed in the A-10 Championship. The Bonnies earned its first postseason win since 2002 by eliminating No. 9 Duquesne, 83-71, in an opening-round game on Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center. The Bonnies have now won 15 games in consecutive seasons after an 8-22 (2-14) showing in Schmidt's first season.
Chasing .500
After recording a 15-15 mark in 2008-09, SBU fell one game short of .500 last season by booking a 15-16 record. St. Bonaventure enjoyed a streak of 28 consecutive seasons of .500-or-better basketball from 1956-57 to 1983-84, but has just eight such seasons in the last 25. SBU has 63 seasons at or above .500 in 89 years.
International Men of Mystery
Four players on the 2010-11 roster hail from outside of the United States. Andrew Nicholson (Mississauga) and freshman Matt Wright (Toronto) both came to St. Bonaventure from Ontario, Canada, while Ogo Adegboye (London, England) and Sam de Haas (Den Bosch, Netherlands) have European roots.
Ogo in the Olympics?
Senior G Ogo Adegboye spent his summer playing for Great Britain in the Eurobasket qualifying tournament. In contrast with other sports which receive an automatic Olympics berth as host nation, GB basketball must qualify for the London 2012 games and took a big step toward that goal by advancing to its fourth-straight Eurobasket championship that will take place in Lithuania in 2011. Adegboye was playing on the U23 team but received a call-up to the senior men's team after injuries to several players, including Chicago Bulls' star Luol Deng, short changed GB head coach Chris Finch's options. Adegboye earned the starting point guard spot in all eight games and averaged 4.8 points and 21.1 minutes per contest with a 1.3 assist/turnover ratio.
