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La Salle ousted by St. Bonaventure in opening round of Atlantic 10 tournament

Darris Nichols’ first season at the helm comes to a close after St. Bonaventure handed La Salle a 99-80 loss in the first round of the conference tournament on Wednesday.

La Salle’s Rob Dockery finished with a career-high 33 points against St. Bonaventure in the first round of Atlantic 10 tournament on Wednesday.
La Salle’s Rob Dockery finished with a career-high 33 points against St. Bonaventure in the first round of Atlantic 10 tournament on Wednesday.Read moreTyger Williams / Staff Photographer

Darris Nichols’ first season as head coach at La Salle ended without a win in the Atlantic 10 tournament.

Behind 21 points from Darryl Simmons, St. Bonaventure handed La Salle a 99-80 loss in the first round of the A-10 tournament at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh on Wednesday.

Rob Dockery led the 12th-seeded Explorers (9-23) with a career-high 33 points. It was the seventh time Dockery scored 20 or more for the Explorers this season, including back-to-back 25-point performances in the final two games of the regular season.

Ashton Walker, who was named to the conference’s all-rookie team on Wednesday, finished with 15 points, while Truth Harris added 11.

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All five starters for the 13th-seeded Bonnies (16-16) scored in double figures. Frank Mitchell finished with 18 points and grabbed nine rebounds, Dasonte Bowen and Cayden Charles scored 16 apiece, and Daniel Egbuniwe added 13.

Six Explorers were ruled out for the game with injuries. La Salle was the third-most injured team in Division I basketball this season, according to the university, with 10 Explorers missing a combined 146 games. Only Boston University (197) and Binghamton (175) had more games lost because of injuries.

The Bonnies built a 15-point halftime lead with a 10-0 scoring run to close the first half and maintained it after the break. La Salle trailed by as many as 26 in the second half before St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt brought in his bench.

St. Bonaventure’s win extends Schmidt’s coaching career by another game. Schmidt, who has been the coach of the Bonnies since 2007, announced Saturday that he would retire from coaching at the end of the season.

The Explorers were 5-13 in conference play this season, the same record as in 2024-25 during Fran Dunphy’s final season as coach.

St. Bonaventure advances to face fifth-seeded George Mason in the second round of the A-10 tournament on Thursday (2 p.m., USA Network).