Saint Bonaventure powered down five dunks and hammered in four alley oops Wednesday, dominating the paint to take down the UMass men’s basketball team 83-71 at the Reilly Center in Olean, N.Y.
Kyle Lofton set a Bonnies single-game record with 17 assists. He added 11 points in a double-double and five steals. Dominick Welch led Saint Bonaventure with 23 points.
“Sometimes you forget about Welch, and he can really shoot it,” UMass guard Noah Fernandes said. “We let him free too many times.”
The Bonnies held a 38-18 advantage in the paint despite UMass (11-13, 4-8 Atlantic 10) out rebounding them 32-26.
T.J. Weeks Jr. led three Minutemen in double figures with 19 points. He added six rebounds and two steals.
Fernandes dished a career-high 12 assists and had 14 points. Rick Kelly also scored 14.
Trent Buttrick contributed 11 rebounds and nine points.
UMas finished with 17 assists.
“I thought obviously we had some chances. Our effort was where it needed to be,” UMass coach Matt McCall said. “Our unselfishness was through the roof. There was an intent to make the right play on offense.”
The Minutemen shot 16-of-33 from beyond the arc but were only 9-of-24 from two-point range. They had 15 turnovers that turned into 16 Saint Bonaventure points. Nine of those turnovers game in the second half.
“The turnovers in the second half were timely and costly,” McCall said.
Saint Bonaventure (16-7, 8-4) gave itself some breathing room with 13 unanswered points in the second half. The Bonnies turned a 45-43 deficit to a 56-45 lead over 3 minutes, 20 seconds. Abdoul Karim Coulibaly capped the run with a layup with 13:46 left.
Buttrick broke the drought for UMass with a 3, but Saint Bonaventure had the cushion it needed.
“Their five starters have been together for four years now and know how to play together,” McCall said. “During that stretch, some guys made some difficult shots. I don’t remember too many wide open looks.”
The Bonnies made that run without one of their starters: center Osun Osunniyi. Saint Bonaventure relies on its first five more than any other team in the country. Four of them average at least 37 minutes per game, while Ossuniyi plays at least 30. He picked up his third foul 2:54 into the second half and sat.
Saint Bonaventure outscored UMass 23-8 while he was on the bench. Coulibali stepped in with six points during that stretch, and the Bonnies shot 9-of-14 from the floor. They made five steals and forced eight turnovers by the Minutemen.
The Minutemen led 37-36 at halftime thanks to an opening 3-point barrage. They hit six of their first eight triples and held Saint Bonaventure at bay.
UMass opened the game in a zone that was effective until Saint Bonaventure cracked it.
“We wanted to limit points in the paint,” McCall said. “That was the game plan to try and limit that as much as possible.”
Lofton gave the Bonnies their first lead on a 3 with 8:18 to halftime 21-20. UMass then missed its next six 3s until Weeks splashed one that tied the game at 23 a minute and a half later.
The teams traded the lead after that. Michael Steadman gave it to the Minutemen 24-23 with a free throw, and Rich Kelly followed with at 3. Then Saint Bonaventure ripped off a 7-0 run behind back to back dunks to go ahead 30-27 with 3:11 to the break.
Weeks hit another 3, his fourth of the first half, that tied the game at 30, nine seconds later.
Saint Bonaventure extended its lead to 34-30 before the Minutemen ended the half on a 7-2 run.
UMass shot 47.4 percent from 3 in the first half and out rebounded the Bonnies 22-13.
The Minutemen return to the Mullins Center to face La Salle at noon Saturday.
Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.