Final Score: St. Bonaventure 78, #21/19 Massachusetts 65

Location: Bob Lanier Court at the Reilly Center – St. Bonaventure, N.Y.

Records: St. Bonaventure 13-8 (3-4)  |  UMass 17-3 (4-2)

Box Score (PDF) | Final Stats and Play-by-Play

Social Media Recap

The Short Story: For the first time since 2000, St. Bonaventure has a win over a ranked opponent. Using balanced scoring, superb free throw shooting and a feisty defensive effort, the Bonnies defeated #21/19 Massachusetts 78-65 on Wednesday night in front of a raucous Reilly Center crowd.

St. Bonaventure had lost 24 consecutive games to ranked teams, including a 73-68 decision to the Minutemen in Amherst, Mass., on Jan. 11. UMass is ranked 21st in this week's Associated Press poll and 19th in the USA Today Coaches poll.

Despite shooting just 20 percent (6-29) in the first half, the Bonnies took a 26-25 lead into halftime. St. Bonaventure then outscored the Minutemen 52-40 in the second half, pulling in front for good with a 9-0 run that made it 64-54 with 5:27 left. Matthew Wright's three-pointer with 52 seconds left was the final exclamation point as his shot made it 72-63.

Only a 67 percent free throw shooting team coming in, foul shooting was a key for the Brown and White, as they converted 30 out of 34 free throw attempts (88 percent).

Five Bonnies scored in double figures led by senior point guard Charlon Kloof with 14 points. Youssou Ndoye and Dion Wright had 12 points apiece; senior forward Marquise Simmons nearly had a double-double, scoring 10 and grabbing nine boards on the night, while Matthew Wright finished with 11 points.

St. Bonaventure limited UMass senior point guard Chaz Williams, who was recently named to the Wooden Award watch list, to 11 points before he fouled out late in the second half.

St. Bonaventure Starters: #3 G Charlon Kloof, #23 G Andell Cumberbatch, #24 Matthew Wright, #33 F Marquise Simmons, #35 C Youssou Ndoye

How It Happened:

• After a defensive-focus start to the night, Chris Dees slammed home a dunk off a Matthew Wright pass with 12:08 left to give the Bonnies a 10-7 lead.
• UMass responded with a 9-3 run, but Denzel Gregg came off the bench to provide a spark; he ended that run with a layup to bring the Bonnies back within three at 18-15.
• Youssou Ndoye rejected a shot and converted a layup on the other end to give the Bonnies a 24-21 lead with 3:21 left in the first half.
• After Chaz Williams picked up his third foul with five seconds left before halftime, Jordan Gathers drew a foul on the other end with one second remaining and converted both free throws to give the Bonnies a 26-25 lead at intermission.
• St. Bonaventure shot just 20.7% from the field in the first half, but did limit UMass to 30 percent shooting (8-26) in a tightly-played opening 20 minutes.
• The Bonnies opened up the second half on a 9-3 run that drew a timeout from UMass coach Derek Kellogg at the 17:12 mark.
• Marquise Simmons hit back-to-back buckets with 14:17 left to give the Bonnies a 43-36 lead.
• Gregg threw down a fast break dunk to give the Bonnies a 45-38 lead 12:38 remaining. Ndoye then drew an offensive on the following possession and he converted both free throws to make it 47-38.
• Dion Wright converted a put back lay up to make the score 49-42 with 10:19 remaining.
• It was a 53-46 game when the Minutemen rallied with an 8-2 run to close the Bonnies' lead to 55-54. Andell Cumberbatch then banked in a three-pointer as the shot clock expired to push the lead back up to 58-54 lead with 7:21 left in the game.
• Cumberbatch's shot opened a 9-0 run that made it 64-54 Bonnies with 5:27 to go; Cumberbatch also had two free throws and Dion Wright had back-to-back scores to cap the run.
• UMass twice cut St. Bonaventure's lead to six, the last time at 69-63 with 1:25 to go on a jumper by Trey Davis.
• After Davis' score, Matthew Wright drained a three-pointer from the top of the key that gave the Bonnies a 72-63 lead with 52 seconds left.
• From there, the Bonnies converted 4-4 at the free throw line and got a closing dunk by Dion Wright, setting off a celebration that included the Bona students storming the court.
• The Bonnies made 17 of 18 free throws in the second half. 
• Rebounds were also a key as St. Bonaventure out-rebounded UMass 45-35. IN addition to Simmons' nine boards, Gregg had seven, Dion Wright six and Kloof five. The Bonnies' 45 rebounds included a pivotal 20 on the offensive glass.

Beyond the Box Score:

• Tonight's win was the Bonnies' first win against a ranked opponent since Jan. 15, 2000, when they defeated Temple 56-55 at the Reilly Center on a last-second three-pointer by J.R. Bremer. 
• UMass' 65 points was its fourth-lowest point total this season. The Minutemen came into the game leading the Atlantic 10 Conference in scoring at 78.5 points per game.
• Freshman Denzel Gregg played his most significant minutes (15) of his young career, setting a season high with his eight points and grabbing seven rebounds, which was one shy of his season high.
• The attendance was 3,881.

Quotes from St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt:

• "We didn't play a great offensive game, especially in the first half. We scrapped, and I'm really proud of our effort. Shooting 20% and being up by one at half to the 21^st ranked team in the country tells you a lot about our guys' effort defensively."
• On the difference between the first meeting with UMass: "We took care of the ball better, we rebounded better, and we executed better."
• "It was the best effort of the year. The way our team bounced back from the Duquesne game shows everyone how tough this team is."
• "I told (the team) this would be the only team this year that would come in here ranked and it was a tremendous opportunity, you want to keep on fighting, you don't want to lose because you didn't give great effort. If we lost, we were going to leave it on the court and it was something that they realized and something that they will remember for the rest of their lives. They had the opportunity and they cashed in."
• "The three seniors … [Wright, Simmons, Kloof] this is their team. This is their legacy. What we accomplished tonight and this season is because of their leadership."
• On the Bonnies' defense against Chaz Williams: "It was a team effort. Charlon (Kloof) was first but you have to have a team effort against a player like Williams. We kind of corralled him, and when he got by guys, Youssou was back there with his length to be a deterrent. (Williams) is the known when you play UMass; you can't have him go off against you."

Up Next: The Bonnies will enjoy their first of two byes in the A-10 schedule this weekend; their next game will be at Richmond on Wednesday, Feb. 5 at 7 p.m.

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