After his 21-point, 23-rebound performance in St. Bonaventure's 69-48 victory over Duquesne at the Reilly Center, the hunt was on to find out the last time a Bonnie had put up a 20-20 night. The answer: none other than Bob Lanier — more than 40 years ago — a 34-point, 27-rebound game against Loyola (Md.) on Dec. 22, 1967.
"They're an undersized team, so I used it to my advantage," said the 6-foot-9 Nicholson, whose previous career high for boards in a game was 15, as a sophomore in 2009. Nicholson's 23 rebounds were just one off the single-game high in Division I this season, 24 by UAB's Cameron Moore.
Led by Nicholson, Bona controlled the glass all afternoon, out rebounding the Dukes, 48-26. The Bonnies pulled down 21 offensive rebounds, leading to 22 second-chance points.
"We dominated physically," Bona coach Mark Schmidt said. "We were bigger and stronger and we needed to take advantage of it.
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| Andrew Nicholson - Mark Mallvile Buffalo News |
Duquesne shot just 28 percent (7 of 25) from the field after halftime, finishing 27 points below its season average of 75. The Dukes thrive on the transition game, but got just 10 fast-break points because they couldn't grab any rebounds and get started the other way.
"We forced too many shots. We didn't make any extra passes and we had been doing good with that all year, being able to play small and make the extra pass," Dukes coach Ron Everhart said. "I thought [Nicholson] and [Da'Quan] Cook negated that very effectively."
Duquesne's two leading scorers, guards Sean Johnson and B.J. Monteiro, entered the game averaging 30 combined points per game. The pair was held to just 11 on 4-of-15 shooting.
The result was an outcome that was never seriously in doubt after the first couple of minutes. Duquesne jumped out to its biggest lead of five points, 7-2, on a three-pointer by Jerry Jones just two minutes into the game. Bona responded by making a quick substitution, bringing Chris Johnson in for Demitrius Conger.
The move was a double stroke of genius by Schmidt: Chris Johnson scored 12 of his 15 points in the first half, while Conger got the wake-up call and came back into the game hungry. When he got back in, he was immediately more aggressive and finished with nine points and eight rebounds, seven of them on the offensive end. "[With] players coming off the bench, it doesn't always have to be the points, but they have to be productive," Schmidt said. "In this case, Chris was productive offensively. He did a terrific job."
"You get confidence from putting the time in [in practice], and I've been putting the time in," Johnson said.
The Bonnies took their first lead, 14-13, on an offensive rebound and dunk by Nicholson with 12:04 left in the first half. They would not trail again.
Conger's baseline drive and emphatic two-handed slam with 3:41 left in the first half was part of a 12-4 run that stretched the Bonnies' lead to 15, 40-25.
Other than a 9-0 spurt spanning the end of the first half and the start of the second that pulled the Dukes within 40-34. Duquesne didn't mount much of a fight against a team it had beaten by 14 on its home floor last month.
That's life in the Reilly Center, though, for the opposition. The Bonnies (13-9 overall, 6-4 A-10) are now 9-1 on Bob Lanier Court and 5-0 against A-10 opponents. They've won those games by an average of 19.6 points per game.
"You look at the scores [around the nation]. Who wins most of the time? It's the home team. It's a huge difference," Schmidt said.
The Bonnies get to stay home for their next two, including what's shaping up to be the Bonnies' biggest game of the season Wednesday night when Temple visits.
Saturday's win moved Bona into fifth place in the conference, a game out of the coveted top four. Those teams get an automatic bye into the Atlantic 10 Tournament quarterfinals next month in Atlantic City, N.J.
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