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

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

The Short Story
After leading by just one point at intermission, St. Bonaventure surged in the second half and defeated Dartmouth 77-57 on Saturday night in the season opener.

The Bonnies' press played a huge part in the victory, forcing 19 Dartmouth turnovers – 11 in the second half. St. Bonaventure led 28-27 at the start of the second half, but quickly took control with a 15-3 run that made it 43-30 with 12:48 remaining.

The Big Green cut the lead to 51-42 with 6:48 to play, but the Bonnies answered with another spurt capped by consecutive three-pointers by freshman point guard Jaylen Adams to go ahead 64-47. St. Bonaventure made seven of 10 three-point attempts in the second half.

The Brown and White had five players score in double figures led by newcomers Marcus Posley and Jaylen Adams, who scored 16 points apiece. Junior forward Dion Wright added 14 points and seven rebounds. Freshman Jalen Adams came off the bench to score 11 points, and senior swingman Andell Cumberbatch recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bonnies played without senior center and co-captain Youssou Ndoye, who sat out the game because he played in an impermissible summer league game. Ndoye will return for next Wednesday's home game vs. Siena.

St. Bonaventure Starters: #3 G Marcus Posley, #10 G Jaylen Adams, #15 C Chris Dees, #21 F Dion Wright, #23 G Andell Cumberbatch,

How It Happened:

• Both offenses started slowly. After a scoring drought, Marcus Posley drained his second three-pointer of the first half to put the Bonnies up 9-4 with 12:36 remaining in the half.
• Iakeem Alston stole the ball and took it through two defenders for a contested layup to give the Bonnies a 14-7 lead with 8:49 left before the break.
• Dion Wright hit a baseline jumper to make it an 18-9 game.
• After a 5-0 Dartmouth run, Andell Cumberbatch converted both free throws to push the Bonnies back up by six, 26-20.
• A Posley layup gave the Bonnies a 28-24 lead with :58 left in the half.
• Dartmouth's Taylor Johnson hit a three-pointer to close the Bonnies's lead to 28-27 entering halftime.
• Dion Wright converted a layup to start off the second half.
• Jaylen Adams knocked down a three-pointer, his first of the night, at the 16:17 mark to give the Bonnies a 35-28 lead.
• It was a 35-30 game when Adams nailed another three-pointer. Jalen Adams then got to the line twice in a row and made three out of four free throws to push the Bona advantage to 41-30.  
• The Bonnies press created another turnover, leading to a Dion Wright layup at the 12:48 mark that made it 43-30 and capped a 15-3 run.
• The Adams due continued their hot shooting. Jalen drained his third three of the game to give the Bonnies a 54-42 lead with 6:30 remaining; Jay hit another three to make it a 61-45 St. Bonaventure lead with 4:51 left.
• Andell Cumberbatch slammed home a fast break dunk to provide the exclamation point  with 1:32 left remaining. 

Beyond the Box Score

• Prior to the game, it was announced that Denzel Gregg will sit out the first six games of the season as a result of his not following team rules. He will be eligible to return Dec. 6 at Ohio.
• With Ndoye and Gregg out, the Bonnies used five players who had never suited up for the Brown and White before Saturday: three freshmen (both Adams and Idris Taqqee), newcomer Posley and junior college transfer Iakeem Alston. They all played double-figure minutes and combined for 51 points.
• St. Bonaventure has now won 10 consecutive home openers and is now 46-2 all-time in home openers at the Reilly Center. The Bonnies are 8-0 in home openers under Mark Schmidt.
• Jaylen Adams' four three-pointers are the most ever scored by a freshman since Mark Schmidt became St. Bonaventure's head coach and the most by any St. Bonaventure freshman since Mike Gansey made five at La Salle on Jan. 10, 2002.
• Jaylen Adams' 16 points are the most scored in a college debut by a Bona freshman under Schmidt.
• The attendance was 3,837; the Wolfpack student section was full to its 750 capacity.

Quotes from St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt:

• "We knew it was going to be a really difficult game. It was veteran (Dartmouth) and experienced guys against talented guys but with a lot less experience. I thought we did a really good job. Thank God that we had a really great crowd; the students were terrific, and that really helped us."
• On the press in the second half - "We became more aggressive. In the first half, they scored 27 points; our goal is to keep teams below 65, so 27 was right where we needed to be. It was offensively where we struggled. We just wanted to come out at halftime aggressively both on defense and offensively. We attacked the rim a little bit more."
• "We have six guys that have never played here, five that have never played Division 1 basketball before. We've had a lot of freshman, but never had a lot of freshman play a lot. We had them play tonight and they were really effective. They'll have bumps in the road, we know … but it's good to see and it gives you confidence."
• "I thought it was a great team effort … these two guys (Jaylen and Jalen Adams) hit big shots to really stretch the lead. I told the team in the locker room if we continue to be unselfish, thinking about each other, not thinking about ourselves, everyday our guys going to have a day in the sun. These two guys had their day today, and hopefully as we go along in this year more guys will have it."

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Up Next: The Bonnies will host Siena in the annual Franciscan Cup game on Wednesday night at the Reilly Center. Game time is set for 7 p.m.