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ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Semaj Christon's driving basket with 5.1 seconds remaining provided the winning points for Xavier as the Musketeers outlasted the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team, 66-64, in a tightly-contested rematch from last year's Atlantic 10 Championship game Wednesday night in front of a national TV audience at the Reilly Center.

Sophomore Youssou Ndoye connected on 1-of-2 free throws for the Bonnies with 26.2 seconds left to tie the score at 64-64, but Christon drove the lane on Xavier's ensuing possession and banked in a shot plus the foul. The freshman missed the free throw, but SBU's attempt to tie the contest was denied as Charlon Kloof's driving effort to the basket was swatted away by the Musketeers' Landen Amos at the buzzer.
Ndoye netted a career-high 16 points and hit 7-of-8 field goals off the bench to lead the Bonnies. Fellow reserve Eric Mosley added 13 points and scored eight consecutive points in a 1:20 span late in the second half to give St. Bonaventure (7-9, 0-3 A-10) a 55-51 lead after being down 51-47.

The Bonnies led, 59-54, with four minutes remaining after a Marquise Simmons putback, but Christon put Xavier (10-6, 3-0 A-10) on his back, scoring eight of his game-high 19 points over the final 3:52.

Seniors Chris Johnson and Demitrius Conger each netted 11 as St. Bonaventure put four players in double figures for the first time in seven games. Conger grabbed a game-high-tying seven rebounds and Johnson dished out a career-best five assists against no turnovers in a career-high 38 minutes of action.
The loss is the sixth in a row for Bonaventure, its longest losing streak since dropping six straight during head coach Mark Schmidt's first season at the helm of the Bonnies in 2007-08.

For the first time in that six-game losing streak, however, SBU held an opponent under 50-percent shooting as the Musketeers connected at a 45-percent clip (26-57) compared with Bonaventure's 52 percent (23-44). Xavier's 13-attempt disparity came from the Musketeers grabbing 16 offensive rebounds against Bona's five, leading to 16 second-chance points.

Bonaventure took care of the ball as it only committed eight turnovers, but Xavier efficiently took advantage of that as it converted those eight giveaways into 11 points.

Xavier's Brad Redford hit five 3-pointers to account for a majority of his 17 points, and Travis Taylor added 11 as the only other XU player in double-figure scoring. Christon also issued a season-high 10 assists to finished with his first double-double.

St. Bonaventure's difficult opening stretch of A-10 play continues on Saturday when it heads to Philadelphia to face Temple at 1 p.m. The game will once again be shown nationally on the CBS Sports Network, and the Bonnies will be looking to earn their first-ever win on the Owls home court.

GAME NOTES: Two of Conger's 11 came on an emphatic one-handed slam over Jeff Robinson (photo, left) which tied the game at 40-40 midway through the second half … Matthew Wright had seven points and three assists for the Bonnies in a starting role … the Bona bench outscored Xavier's, 29-8 … the score was tied once and changed on just two occasions in the first half, but was tied five times and changed hands eight times in the second half … SBU had 16 assists on its 23 made field goals … Ndoye added two blocks 13 seconds apart on the same defensive stand in the second half (photo, right) … Don Criqui and Chris Spatalo had the call on CBS Sports Network.