ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. - St. Bonaventure (10-7, 3-2 Atlantic 10) cruised to its largest-ever win over a conference opponent Saturday, securing a 95-51 victory against Fordham (8-10, 1-4) at the Reilly Center.
The 44-point win is the largest ever for the over an Atlantic 10 opponent and marks just the second time SBU has won by 40+ in conference play. The margin of victory is the biggest for a Bona team since matching that difference in a 92-48 drubbing of Prairie View A&M Dec. 8, 1992.
Andrew Nicholson just missed his fourth double-double of the season with 19 points and nine rebounds - in just 24 minutes - to lead the way. Da'Quan Cook tallied eight of SBU's first 12 points en route to a season-high 18 and added eight caroms as the Bonnies enjoyed a double-digit lead by the 10:54 mark of the first half and were never threatened.
Matthew Wright chipped in all of his 13 in the first 20 minutes to join Nicholson and Cook in double figures at the break, helping Bona to a 49-18 margin after shooting 60 percent (15-25) from the field.
Still comfortably ahead in the second half, freshman guard Jordan Gathers brought the crowd to its feet with a thunderous left-handed jam for two of his career-high 12. Gathers also grabbed a personal-best seven rebounds, while Chris Johnson passed set a new high four assists to go with his nine points in 15 minutes of work off the bench. All 12 dressed players got into the scorebook, with walk-ons Zach Moore and Danny Farrell adding the final Bona points of the day.
St. Bonaventure travels to Rhode Island (3-16, 0-4) Wednesday at the Thomas M. Ryan Center. The game is slated for a 7 p.m. tip and will be syndicated by CBS College Sports Network.
NOTES: The Bonnies' 22 assists and 1.69:1 assist/turnover ratio were the best this season ... SBU ranks 21st nationally in team free throw percentage (75.0) and went 24-of-26 (92.3 pct) from the stripe ... Nicholson was perfect from the line (7-7), blocked three shots, made three assists and did not turn the ball over ... Jake Houseknecht swatted three shots as well ... 95 points are a season-high for SBU and the most since 112 in a 4OT game, the longest in school history, versus Ohio Dec. 12, 2010.
