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PITTSBURGH – St. Bonaventure (13-13, 6-7 Atlantic 10 Conference) watched a double-digit lead evaporate, but behind a game-high-tying 19 points from Chris Johnson and Demitrius Conger, the Bonnies were able to stave off a feisty Duquesne team (8-19, 1-12 A-10) with a 78-71 win Saturday night to move right into the thick of the A-10 postseason race.
Senior Eric Mosley was right behind the pace set by his classmates as he added 16 points in a victory which tied a single-season program record for the Bonnies with their fourth A-10 road win.
With the win, the Bonnies put themselves right into the thick of the A-10 seeding race as they join six other teams in the league which have either six or seven victories. Positions 6-12 in the wide-open A-10 are separated by just 1.5 games. Perhaps even more importantly, the Bonnies now also occupy a 1.5-game lead on 13th-place Dayton (4-8) as the top 12 teams in the 16-team conference qualify for the A-10 Championship in Brooklyn next month.
The Bonnies opened up their largest lead of the game, 37-25, with 4:30 remaining in the first half following a Johnson baseline 3-pointer. The Dukes were able to cut into that deficit, and behind a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from Marvin Binney, trailed by just six, 41-35, at the halftime break.
SBU shot 57 percent in the first half (16-28), compared with just 39 percent (11-28) for Duquesne, but only had that six-point edge due largely to the Dukes holding a 7-0 edge in second-chance points after they out-rebounded the taller Bonnies, 17-13, including 8-3 on the offensive end.
Duquesne started the second half the way it finished the first and closed the deficit to just two, 41-39, not even a minute-and-a-half into the second stanza. After a mini 6-0 spurt by the Brown and White, the Dukes – winless at home in A-10 play – rebutted and eventually tied the game for just the second time at 51-51 with 12:23 remaining.
The two rivals traded blows over the next six minutes before Bona began its game-altering run. With the contest knotted at 59-59, Marquise Simmons put Bonaventure in front with a layup, Mosley added to it with a pair of free throws and Conger padded the cushion more with his two free throws, and in a span of just 90 seconds the defending A-10 champions had taken a 65-59 lead.
From there, Duquesne was able to get the Bona lead down to three on two occasions, but the youthful Dukes finally succumbed to the veteran Bonnies as SBU earned its first win at the A.J. Palumbo Cernter since the 2006-07 season.
What plagued St. Bona in the first half proved to be the main catalyst in the second half as it out-rebounded the Dukes, 22-9, in the second stanza to finish with a 35-26 edge for the game. SBU also out-worked Duquesne on the offensive glass in the second half, 6-2, and out-scored the Dukes on second-chance points in the final 20 minutes, 8-0, to end with an 8-7 advantage in that category.
Quevyn Winters led a quartet of Duquesne double-figure scorers with 18. Andre Marhold added 13, and Derrick Colter and Jeremiah Jones each tallied 10 in starting roles for the Dukes.
For the Bonnies, senior leadership reigned supreme Saturday night as 82 percent of its scoring (64 of 78) came from seniors. In addition to the trio in double figures, Simmons added seven big points off the bench despite getting in early foul trouble, and Michael Davenport contributed three – all coming on a 3-pointer early in the first half which staked Bona to its first double-digit lead of the night.
St. Bonaventure now embarks on its second bye week of the Atlantic 10 season as it will not return to game action until next Saturday against Charlotte. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. from the Reilly Center as the Bonnies continue to jockey for A-10 Championship seeding. Great tickets are still available and may be purchased by calling the SBU Ticket Office at 716-375-2500 or logging on to GoBonnies.com/Tickets.
GAME NOTES: It was the 110th all-time meeting between the two schools … Duquesne holds a 57-53 edge … Duquesne wore black jerseys for the first time in school history as part of their "Blackout the Bonnies" promotion; SBU donned its alternate gold uniforms for the first time this year … Bona's swept the season series as it also claimed a 68-60 win at home earlier this month … Conger finished one rebound shy of his second straight double-double as he pulled down a game-high nine boards … Bonaventure shot 54 percent from the field for the game (27-50) … the Bonnies out-scored the Dukes in the paint, 36-20 … Mosley dished out a team-best five assists … after shooting 6-11 from 3-point range in the first half, SBU went 0-5 in the second half.