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Schmidt Pleased With Team’s Defensive Effort

St. Bonaventure’s Idris Taqqee comes up with a steal against Duquesne on Wednesday night during Atlantic 10 men’s basketball action at the Reilly Center. P-J photo by Tim Frank

ST. BONAVENTURE — Mark Schmidt walked off the court at the Reilly Center on Wednesday night, clapping his hands, an ear-to-ear grin covering his face.

The St. Bonaventure men’s basketball coach’s apparent glee may have been more relief than anything else.

Just five days removed from knocking off nationally ranked Rhode Island, the Atlantic 10 first-place team, the Bonnies finally pulled away in the final four minutes last night to knock off stubborn Duquesne, 73-67, in a foul-plagued, stop-and-start, defensive contest.

“I thought that’s the best defensive performance that we did all year,” Schmidt said. “We didn’t have a great offensive game, but from a defensive game standpoint — from the very beginning to the end — we did a very good job of keeping the ball above the foul line, getting back in transition and making it really difficult to score in the half court.”

The victory extended the Bonnies’ winning streak to nine games — their longest since a 13-game run during the 1969-70 season — while improving their record to 21-6 overall and 11-4 in the Atlantic 10.

St. Bonaventure’s LaDarien Griffin blocks a Duquesne shot Wednesday night. P-J photo by Tim Frank

“From a defensive standpoint, it was terrific,” Schmidt said. “We didn’t let our offense affect our defense. … We’ve struggled at times this year when we don’t play great offensively, but I thought our guys were connected tonight and committed, and they did a great job on defense. That’s why we sit here with our 21st victory.”

It wasn’t a thing of beauty, unless you consider a parade to the foul line artistic.

Twenty-nine fouls were called in the second half and 47 for the game. Of St. Bonaventure’s 41 second-half points, 21 of them came at the charity stripe where the Bonnies were a brilliant 29 of 33 on the night.

“I’d never want to be a referee, even though they make a lot of money,” Schmidt said. “It’s just a hard job. Nobody is happy. … Forty-five fouls (26 on Duquesne and 19 on St. Bonaventure)? That’s a lot of fouls. … You’ve got to play with the way the referees are calling it.”

At a time in the season when every game’s importance is magnified, the Bonnies found a way, even when one of their best players — Matt Mobley — made just one field goal (a 3-pointer in the first minute of the first half), shot just 1 of 10 from the floor and finished with 5 points.

“When you don’t play your best and play your ‘C’ basketball and still win, that’s a credit to our guys,” Schmidt said.

Jaylen Adams, who torched the Dukes for 40 points in an 84-81 victory in Pittsburgh three weeks ago, led St. Bonaventure with 24 points, five assists and four steals, but it was the play of his lesser-known teammates that made the biggest difference.

Center Amadi Ikpeze had the best game of his career, finishing with 13 points and 10 rebounds; forward Courtney Stockard added 12 points; and guard Idris Taqqee chipped in 11 points and eight boards. Together, they were 14 of 16 from the line. Ikpeze, the Buffalo native, was 7 of 7.

“Amadi has really improved,” Schmidt said. “One of the reasons we’re having some success is he’s able to get some buckets inside and defend a bigger guy. He’s come a long way. Hopefully, he’ll continue to improve.”

The Bonnies hit the road on Saturday against VCU before returning home Tuesday for their final RC game of the season against Davidson.

“Every game right now is like Game 7,” Schmidt said. “We have to play with that sense of urgency every game. Twenty-one (wins) isn’t enough. Eleven (wins) in the A-10 isn’t enough. Our goal is to try and win them all.”

By the way, St. Bonaventure is four wins away from tying the school record for victories in a season.

Guess which team holds that mark?

The 1969-70 team, led by a guy you may have heard of.

His name?

Bob Lanier.

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