Opening Tip
Coming off a fast-paced win over Massachusetts on Wednesday, St. Bonaventure looks to put consecutive victories together for just the second time in more than two months as it faces longtime rival Duquesne on Saturday night. The meeting will be the second of the season between the two teams, as SBU claimed a 68-60 win over the Dukes in its first game of the month. The Bonnies currently occupy the 12th – and final – A-10 Championship position, but with a win could potentially jump all the way into 9th place pending other league outcomes. In the cluttered A-10 race, 6th place and 12th place in the conference standings is currently a separation of just 1.5 games.
Last Time Out: Mosley Sets St. Bona Record
Eric Mosley scored the most points ever by a St. Bonaventure player in an Atlantic 10 game as the senior guard carried the Bonnies with a career-high 39-point performance to an up-tempo 99-94 triumph over visiting UMass. The two teams combined for 34 fastbreak points – the most in a Bona game this season – and Chris Johnson scored a career-high 22 points while Demitrius Conger posted a double-double with 16 points and 13 rebounds. But it was Mosley who stole the show with his efficient 12-18 shooting, including 5-8 from 3-point range, and 10-10 from the free-throw line in just 31 minutes of action. No Bonaventure player has scored more points than Mosley in a regulation 40-minute game since Greg Sanders tallied 46 against Detroit in 1977.
It was the second straight 30-point performance for Mosley, who set a then-career high with 30 points at Richmond last Saturday. Over his past four games, Mosley has scored 105 points and seen his points per game average go from 10.0 before the stretch to its current 12.6 average. In fact, Mosley has jumped from 98th on St. Bonaventure's all-time scoring list into a tie for 83rd in just four games.
A Historical Night
$ Wednesday marked the first time ever that St. Bonaventure has won an A-10 game when surrendering at least 94 points in regulation.
$ The 99 Bona points are the second-most in any Bona A-10 game; the most also came against UMass in 1981 (104-80).
$ The 99 points are also the most in any SBU regulation game in 10 years, dating back to a 104-101 loss at Ohio in 2003.
$ St. Bona went a robust 32-33 (97 percent) from the free-throw line, representing the best percentage by any team in the nation this year when attempting at least 30 free throws.
$ The two teams combined for 124 second-half points (63-61); more than 19 TOTAL games from Wednesday night in Division I (19 of 57 – 33 percent).
Scouting Duquesne
^ Duquesne will wear black uniforms for the first time in school history; the Bonnies will sport their alternate gold jerseys for the fourth time this year and first time on the road.
^ Head coach Jim Ferry has started three freshmen in each of the Dukes last four games, and three of Duquesne's top-five scorers are first-year players: Derrick Colter (13.1 ppg), Quevyn Winters (9.0 ppg) and Jeremiah Jones (8.0 ppg).
^ The Dukes rank last in the A-10 in 3-point field-goal percentage defense (37.6); Bonaventure is second-to-last (36.9).
^ Duquesne is coming off a 68-49 loss at No. 15 Butler on Tuesday night.
^ The Dukes lone A-10 win came at Temple, 84-83, and six of their other league losses have come by less than 10 points.
^ Duquesne has defeated the Bonnies five straight times at the Palumbo Center, dating back to head coach Mark Schmidt's first season in charge of SBU (2007-08).
Quick Hitters
# The 99 points against UMass Wednesday were a season high for St. Bonaventure; meanwhile, the Bonnies allowed a season-high 94 points to the Minutemen.
# Demitrius Conger's 13 rebounds versus the Minutemen were the second-most by a Bona player this year; the senior is close to becoming just the 13th Bonaventure player all-time with 1,200 points and 650 rebounds (1,134 pts; 611 rbs).
# Matthew Wright started for the first time since Jan. 26 against Massachusetts and played 19 minutes.
# Charlon Kloof played the second-fewest minutes of his season (9) versus UMass.
# The Bonnies held a 38-31 halftime lead over the Minutemen Wednesday and are now 9-1 when leading at the half this year.
# Ten of St. Bonaventure's 13 losses this year have come to top-100 RPI teams, and the other three have been against top-150 teams.
# Bonaventure produced 16 second-chance points Wednesday against UMass, breaking a stretch of four straight single-digit second-chance point games.
It's A Team Game
Eric Mosley (39) and Chris Johnson (22) combined to score 61 points in the Bonnies win over Massachusetts on Wednesday night. Additionally, it marked the first time since the 2010-11 season that two Bona players have scored 20 or more points in the same game (Ogo Adegboye (29) and Andrew Nicholson (22)) against Saint Louis on Feb. 16.
Uncommon Road Warriors
With a win at Duquesne, St. Bonaventure would – with still another road game remaining – tie a single-season record for most road wins in A-10 play with four, something it has done on five different occasions, and not once since the 1999-2000 campaign. The Bonnies have split their first six road games to start conference action. The Brown and White were 3-2 in road action until last Saturday's overtime loss at Richmond, and that marked just the third time in Bonaventure's history that it has started a conference season by earning victories in three of its first five road games (1982-83, 1985-86). It also occurred in 2002-03, but those wins were later vacated. Additionally, St. Bonaventure has never had a better road record than a home record in an A-10 season (2-4 at home this year).
Next Up
St. Bonaventure embarks on its second bye week of the 2013 Atlantic 10 Conference season before returning to action next Saturday against Charlotte. The week off from game competition coincides with Bona's mid-term break as no classes will be held next week. Tipoff against the 49ers is set for 7 p.m. from the Reilly Center, and it will represent Bonaventure's first Fan Appreciation Day.
