COLLEGE BASKETBALL
Bonnies looking for upset in A-10 tourney
When the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team met in August to start a new academic year, there were two goals — have a winning season and qualify for the Atlantic 10 Conference tournament.
Check and check for Bonnies.
The Bonnies are 15-14, 6-10 and enter the A-10 tourney for the first time in four years.
Bona, seeded No. 11, will play No. 6 Richmond (17-14, 9-7) in tonight’s 9 p. m. opening round game at Boardwalk Hall in Atlantic City, N. J.. The winner will advance to play No. 3 Dayton on Thursday at 9 p. m.
This is St. Bonaventure’s first appearance in the A-10 tourney since 2005, when the league expanded to 14 teams and only the top 12 advanced.
To get to this point, the Bonnies needed to win their regular season finale, which they did, 74-68, over Charlotte.
“I think the Charlotte win goes a long way,” Bona coach Mark Schmidt said. “We won our way into the tournament. We didn’t back in. Our guys are feeling good about themselves and are confident. That’s such a big factor in this game. We’re excited to be here, and it’s a situation where, hopefully, we give a great show and if we play well, if we play like we’re supposed to, we have a chance at beating Richmond and advancing.”
The chance is good considering the Bonnies beat Richmond in their only regular season meeting this year — 71-67, at the Robins Center on Jan. 17.
But the Spiders are on a roll, fresh off an 80-75 win over then-No. 17 Xavier. Richmond is led by point guard Kevin Anderson who had 29 points in that win and is averaging 16.2 points this season.
“We’ve got to keep Anderson in front of us. That’s a huge key,” Schmidt said. “They have guys you have to control. You’re not going to stop them but you try to keep them in front of you. . . . The whole key for us will be defense, rebounding and taking care of the ball. When we do those three things well we’ve had some success.”
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