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PHILADELPHIA – St. Bonaventure (9-9, 2-3 Atlantic 10 Conference) led from start to finish at preseason league favorite Saint Joseph's (10-7, 1-3 A-10) Wednesday Night as the Bonnies claimed a 73-64 win in the City of Brotherly Love for the second time in five days.
Senior Demitius Conger scored a game-high 21 points, Matthew Wright knocked down four 3-pointers for the second straight game as part of his 18 points and Chris Johnson added 15 as the Bonnies earned their first win in Hagan Arena since the 1999-2000 season, breaking a streak of nine straight setbacks.
The win, coupled with SBU's 81-78 victory at Temple Saturday, gave Bonaventure consecutive triumphs in Philly and just its third all-time win at Hagan Arena (3-22).
The Bonnies raced out to a 12-0 start just more than four minutes in after a Youssou Ndoye lay-in. The lead ballooned to 25-10 with a Conger jumper at the 9:12 mark, and that spearheaded a 12-0 Bona run which stretched the Bonnies lead to 25 points, 35-10, following a Conger traditional three-point play with 4:32 left.
St. Bona maintained a double-digit lead until the 7:10 mark of the second half when two Carl Jones free throws trimmed the Hawks' deficit to nine, 58-49. SJU cut it to six, 58-52, on its next offensive trip. However, Conger was able to answer after a Wright steal with a layup to put SBU back up eight, 60-52. The bucket stopped a stretch in which Bona scored just two points from the 12-minute mark until the 5-minute mark, in which it saw its lead dissipate from 56-36.
That lay-in by Conger fueled nine straight points from the Bona senior, from the 4:45 mark until 46 seconds remaining, with each score countering a Saint Joe's score. The Bona defense bent, but didn't break in the second half, as Saint Joe's could get no closer than six – something it did on three occasions.
For the fourth straight game, senior Eric Mosley hit three 3-pointers as he finished with nine points in his second consecutive start. As a team, St. Bonaventure shot 10-20 from beyond the 3-point line as it connected on double-digit 3-pointers in back-to-back games for the first time this year (11 at Temple).
Conversely, the Hawks – who came into Wednesday's game averaging eight 3-pointers a contest – were held to a season-low two against the Bonnies as SJU shot 2-22 (9 percent) from long range on the night.
After shooting just 27 percent in the opening half from the floor (7-26), the Hawks regrouped and connected at a 58-percent clip in the second half (15-26). However, it still wasn't enough to overcome SBU's 54-percent shooting for the game (28-52).
One area the Hawks did dominate the Bonnies was on the glass as Saint Joe's held a drastic 36-19 rebounding edge. SJU grabbed 16 offensive boards, which led to 15 second-chance points for the Hawks, including 11 in the second half. Conger led Bonaventure on the boards with seven.
For the second game in a row, the Bona starting group did a majority of the offensive damage on the evening as they accounted for 67 of the 73 points. It marks the first time this year that Bonaventure has not received double-digit points from its bench in consecutive games, but it's also the first time SBU has won two games in a row since Dec. 15 and 19.
Halil Kanacevic led Saint Joseph's offensively with 16 points off the bench. Ronald Roberts netted 14, C.J. Aiken added 13 and Chris Wilson finished with 12. The Bona defense limited leading scorers Langston Galloway (15.6 points per game) and Carl Jones (15.3 per game) to zero and eight points, respectively. Galloway played just 18 minutes, while Jones came off the bench to play 33, but went 0-7 from the 3-point line.
St. Bonaventure returns to the Reilly Center to face Saint Louis on Saturday as part of Homecoming Weekend. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. from Bob Lanier Court, and the game will televised regionally by Time Warner Sports. Good seats still remain, but tickets are going fast. To reserve yours, call the Ticket Office at 716-375-2500 or email tickets@sbu.edu.
GAME NOTES: It is the third game this year that Bonaventure has not allowed an opponent to lead at any juncture … Ndoye and Marquise Simmons scored four each for the Bonnies, and Jordan Gathers rounded out the SBU scoring with two points … Conger issued three assists – all in the first half – and did not commit a turnover … Mosley passed out four assists, and Wright dished out three as Bona had 13 assists compared with just six turnovers … the turnover total is the second fewest this year (five vs. Siena) … SJU came into the game top-10 nationally in blocked shots at 6.25 per game, but rejected only three against the Brown and White … Bona turned 11 Saint Joe's giveways into 16 points.
