Noah Fernandes finally re-entered the game he waited nearly a month to play.
After picking up two early fouls against Saint Bonaventure on Saturday in Olean, N.Y., UMass’ senior point guard checked in for freshman Keon Thompson with 10 minutes left in the first half and the Minutemen trailing by eight. He hit a step back jumper to answer a Moses Flowers 3-pointer and screamed in the direction of Saint Bonaventure’s bench after they’d been talking to him all game. Flowers drilled a jumper, then Fernandes responded with a 3 and pointed at the Bonnies bench.
He was whistled for a technical foul – which gave him a third personal – and sent him to the bench for the rest of the half.
“The second one I just said, because it was number zero – I don’t even know the kid’s name – but I was like ‘hey zero,’ and then he gave me a [technical foul] for that,” Fernandes said. “I’m not really like a big curser, swearer at people and stuff like that. I don’t really try and degrade nobody or nothing. To me, it’s just being competitive, and that’s what basketball has been my whole life. It’s fun getting into those talking, chirping battles, and you’ve got to kind of back it up with your game, and I guess they’re trying to get that out of the game or something. I guess I’ve just got to adjust to the new rules or whatever.”
St. Bonaventure’s Daryl Banks III sank both free throws to restore the Bonnies 10-point lead.
UMass coach Frank Martin backed up his point guard, stating his case to every official he could find. They T’d Martin up, and Banks made two more free throws. It was part of a 9-0 Bonnies run that put the Minutemen’s Atlantic 10 opener out of reach, as Saint Bonaventure won 83-64 to snap a four-game losing streak. The Minutemen haven’t defeated the Bonnies since February 2015.
“We started the game with energy and trying to do what we spoke about trying to do, but as the game unfolded, we gave in to the difficulty of playing a league road game,” Martin said. “It’s disappointing because we’ve got guys on our team that have been through league games. They know what it’s like winning on the road in the league. Winning in the league is hard. Winning on the road in league is hard. I obviously did a really poor job of getting our guys in the right mindset to come into this building and play against a quality basketball team.”
UMass (9-4, 0-1 A-10) led 11-10 with 14:18 left in the first half after a Brandon Martin turnaround jumper. The teams exchanged buckets in the early going, but Fernandes – who missed the previous five games with an ankle sprain – picked up his second foul and had to sit. The Bonnies (6-7, 1-0 A-10) ripped off a 12-1 run to go up 22-12. The Minutemen never pulled closer than eight the rest of the game and faced a deficit as large as 26 points.
Saint Bonaventure hit 49.2 percent from the field and made 13-of-31 3s. The Bonnies forced 17 UMass turnovers and scored 22 points from them.
“If you turn the ball over, anywhere you play, you’re not going to win. If you turn the ball over against a team that has the guard play that they have, you’re not going to win,” Martin said. “They’ve got pride. They’ve got older players too, guys who have been through it. They protected their home court. We did a crappy job of playing with the discipline and the energy that we needed to figure out a way to win league road game.”
The Minutemen shot 38.8 percent from the field, 25 percent from 3 (on 20 attempts) and 67.7 percent from the free throw line. They out rebounded Saint Bonaventure 36-29 but had just eight assists compared to the Bonnies’ 17.
“Sometimes your offense impacts your defense. They play the old fashioned basketball. They actually screen people away from the ball, and they cut and use screens and move and throw it in the post, and they stressed our defense,” Martin said. “Our inability to guard them impacted our discipline on offense. We just broke off. We never executed anything that we were trying to call from the bench. We gave in to the emotion of the moment. You can’t do that and be any good.”
Fernandes led four Minutemen in double figures with 13 points and had three assists in 24 minutes. Isaac Kante notched a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds, making 60 percent of his shots. Brandon Martin hit two 3s and scored a season-high 12, while R.J. Luis added 11.
The Minutemen host Saint Louis at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (NESN) in their league home opener.
“It’s not time to get in our feelings and drop our heads or find a new spirit. We’ve got to accept what we can control. We’ve got to accept the things that we’re trying to do,” Martin said. “Also remember we’re still in the process of trying to build a program where learning how to win is a big part of it. We’re not there yet. So it’s back to work.”
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.