“Funky” and “disjointed,” these are just some the words Head Coach Rick Majerus and Brian Conklin used to describe the game against St. Bonaventure on Wednesday night where the Bills won, 86-62.
The laundry list of “funkiness” began before the game even started. Eleven NBA scouts were at the game, not to see any players from SLU, but to see potential first-round NBA draft pick Bonnies forward Andrew Nicholson. Nicoholson played a game that he would like to forget.
Kyle Cassity, who normally starts, did not start due to a coach’s decision. Instead, Mike McCall Jr. started in Cassity’s place. If you removed all of the starters, who scored in double figures for the Bills, the team would have only scored seven total points.
The Bills scored 50 points in one half, which is the most that they scored in one half all season, while only converting less than 20 percent of their three pointers attempts. Brian Conklin scored 19 points in 19 minutes.
The Bonnies melted down in the second half with two technical fouls, one of which was on Nicholson.
Finally, in all of this mess, Conklin scored his 1,000th career point early in the first half, and the late Basketball Coach Charlie Spoonhour was honored by a moment of silence before the tipoff.
After all of the dust settled, The Bills (17-5, 5-3) are now fourth place in the Atlantic 10 standings behind La Salle, Temple and Xavier. The Bills were led by Kwamain Mitchell who scored 22 points, 15 of which he scored in the second half. The Bills had four other players that scored in double figures. Conklin had 19 points, McCall had 15 points, Jordair Jett had 13 points and Dwayne Evans had a double-double 10 points and 11 rebounds.
“We played very hard especially in the second half, they are a real good team,” Majerus said. “I was proud of my guys maintaining their poise and composure.”
The game started as a tight matchup. Nicholson played a minute in the first half as he picked up two early fouls. With Nicholson on the bench, SLU took an early 10-7 lead. The Bills took this advantage with Brian Conklin’s basket and subsequent free throw attempt. Conklin, with that basket, made his 1,000th career point.
However, SLU could not take advantage of Nicholson sitting on the bench. The game was tightly contested through the first half and the game was tied at 33-33 at the 4:00 media timeout.
After Jett made a free throw, the Bonnies went on a 5-2 run to close out the half and take the advantage at halftime, 38-36.
After halftime, the Bonnies were carrying the momentum, until the 16:24 mark in the second half when Da’Quan Cook received a technical foul after drawing a personal foul against Conklin. This was a huge turning point in the game.
After the technical foul and personal foul free throws, SLU reclaimed the lead 44-42 and would not give the lead back to the Bonnies. To make matters worse for the Bonnies, at the 14:03 mark, Nicholson received a technical foul after being frustrated with a foul call made by the referees.
After the technical foul on Nicholson, SLU took control of the game. After the 12:00 media timeout, SLU, who was only up 54-49, went on a 21-2 run which destroyed any chance of the Bonnies coming back. The run was capped by a Dwayne Evans offensive rebound putback.
After the 11:37 mark, the Bonnies only scored 13 points and even worse, Nicholson fouled out at the 5:34 mark. Conklin was the man to draw the first and last foul on Nicholson.
The Bills drove the basketball a lot more in the second half and played more aggressively because they had not converted many of their three point attempts. Mitchell and Jett continually drove the basketball in the lane because Nicholson was stuck on the bench, which hurt their defensive presence throughout the game. After the Nicholson technical foul, the Bills went on an overall run to finish the game with a 40-17 run.
The Bonnies self-destructed and never could regain their composure after getting those two technical fouls. Demitrius Conger led the Bonnies with 13 points. Nicholson had one of the worst games of his career with only 2 points and 4 rebounds.
“Brian and I kept telling the guys that our effort won us this game. Everybody was confident in their shooting, and we have a big game coming Saturday,” Mitchell said.
The Bills had one of their best games offensively after a poor shooting first half, but in the second half their offensive outburst was uncharacteristic of the normally defensive oriented team. The Bills had 28 points in the paint in the second half and scored 17 points off turnovers compared to the Bonnies 0 points on turnovers in that half.
On Saturday, the Dayton Flyers come to Saint Louis. Dayton has lost two straight games at home. However, Dayton defeated SLU 79-72 in overtime earlier this year, but that game was at Dayton.
Dayton is led by Kevin Dillard who averages 12.5 points per game and nearly 6 assists a game.
This game will certainly be remembered as being “disjointed” but will have to be forgotten quickly if the Bills want to continue to succeed in the A-10. The Bills will face Dayton with a chance to avenge their earlier loss to Dayton this season.
The Bills had a strange game against St. Bonaventure, but they were able to shut down a potential NBA first round draft pick.
