Final Score: St. Bonaventure 84, Richmond 70

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

Records: St. Bonaventure 11-4 (1-0 Atlantic 10)  |  Richmond 10-6 (0-1)

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

The Short Story: After giving up all of a 13-point halftime lead, St. Bonaventure battled back with a superb final 10 minutes and won its Atlantic 10 opener over Richmond, 84-70, on Wednesday night at the Reilly Center.
After the Bonnies jumped out to a 40-27 lead at halftime, the Spiders came back to take a 57-55 lead with 9:03 remaining. From there, St. Bonaventure responded by scoring 13 of the game's next 14 points to regain control at 68-58 with 4:48 left.
Matthew Wright led the Bonnies with 20 points while Youssou Ndoye scored a career high 19 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season. St. Bonaventure's 84 points were the most allowed by Richmond this season.

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

How It Happened:

• Going up against one of the top defensive teams in the Atlantic 10, St. Bonaventure played yet another strong first half. 
• It was a 14-14 score at the 9:15 mark when the Bonnies went on an 8-0 run to open a 22-14 lead as Matthew Wright began to lead his club. Wright scored seven points in a row as the lead grew to 10 points at 27-17 with 5:17 left until halftime.
• St. Bonaventure pushed its lead to 13 points at 30-17 on a jumper by Andell Cumberbatch.
• It was a 10-point game after Cedric Lindsay made a three-pointer, but Wright drained a deep three-pointer – his third of the first half – from the left side just before the buzzer to send the Bonnies into the locker room with a 40-27 lead.
• Richmond opened the second half with a 18-3 run, tying the game at 43-43 on a traditional three-point play by Lindsay and then taking its first lead of the second half on a jumper by Trey Davis at the 14:55 mark.
• Charlon Kloof answered Davis' score with a drive for a bucket that tied the game at 45.  From there it remained tight over the next five minutes with four ties.
• Davis drove for layin with 9:03 left that put the Spiders ahead 57-55.
• The Bonnies then answered with a layin by Matthew Wright and a three-pointer by Jordan Gathers that head coach Mark Schmidt called one of the biggest scores of the game for his team. Gathers' shot put the Bonnies in front 62-57 with 7:33 remaining.
• Re-energized, St. Bonaventure started going inside to its 7-foot center, Ndoye. He made two free throws to make it 64-57, then scored inside, then made two more free throws that put the Bonnies ahead 68-58 with 4:48 left and brought the RC faithful to their feet.
• After trailing 57-55, the Bonnies outscored Richmond 13-1 over a span of 5:47. Over the final 4:48 Richmond could not pull any closer than nine points.
• The win not only kept St. Bonaventure undefeated at home this season, it gave the Bonnies their best start (7-0) at home since the 2001-02 campaign.
• Ndoye's 19 points and 11 rebounds was his third double-double of the season and fourth of his career. After struggling at the free throw line earlier this year, Ndoye converted 11 of 17 there against Richmond.  He also blocked three shots.
• 16 of Wright's team-leading 20 points came in the first half. He finished 7-12 shooting (4-6 from three-point range).
• Free throw shooting also keyed the win. While the Bonnies did miss 12 on the night, they got to the line 39 times including 26 in the second half. They made 19 of those 26 (73 percent).
  The Bonnies held a 41-35 advantage in rebounds; in addition to Ndoye's 11, Dion Wright grabbed seven boards, Andell Cumberbatch had six and Gathers five.

Beyond the Box Score:

• St. Bonaventure's 84 points were the most allowed by Richmond this season.
• The Bonnies survived foul troubles for Charlon Kloof. The senior point guard picked up two in the first five minutes of the game and had to sit for long stretches; he wound up playing just 22 minutes on the night but was a key in the second half as he was able to penetrate and draw multiple fouls.
• The win evened Bonnies head coach Mark Schmidt's record at St. Bonaventure. He is 99-99 in his seventh season; the Bonnies' next win will make Schmidt the sixth coach in Bonaventure basketball history with 100 wins.
• The Bonnies are now 10-2 when leading at the half and 9-1 when they win the rebounding battle.
• In the series, Richmond still holds a 12-5 lead; the Spiders had won four of the last five meetings prior to Wednesday.
• This game was the second half of St. Bonaventure vs. Richmond at the RC - a rare weeknight doubleheader - that SBU swept.

Up Next: St. Bonaventure will visit #23-ranked Massachusetts this Saturday, Jan. 11. NBC Sports Network will televise the 12:30 contest.