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

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

St. Bonaventure Starters:#3 G Marcus Posley, #10 G Jaylen Adams,  #21 F Dion Wright, #23 G Andell Cumberbatch, #35 C Youssou Ndoye 

The Short Story:
In another hotly-contested edition of the St. Bonaventure-Canisius rivalry, Marcus Posley scored 20 points to lead the Bonnies to a 59-53 win over their Big 4 rivals on Saturday afternoon at the Reilly Center.

After scoring the first 10 points of the game to threaten a runaway, the Bonnies saw the Griffs battle back behind red-hot three-point shooting. 

St. Bonaventure had to be resilient, as they wound up down 30-28 at halftime. Canisius made eight of its 18 three-point shots in the opening half. St. Bonaventure continued to battle, outscoring the Griffs 31-23 in the second half.

The Bonnies led by two points when Posley drained a critical three to extend the lead to 54-49 with 1:36 to play. Posley scored nine of his 20 points in the final 3:16 of the game.

Junior Dion Wright played all 40 minutes for the Bonnies, contributing 12 points and nine rebounds. Freshman Jay Adams knocked down 3-6 from behind the arc on his way to scoring 11 points. Senior center Youssou Ndoye scored eight points, grabbed 12 rebounds and blocked four shots in a strong defensive effort.

How It Happened:

• Jay Adams knocked down a three on the opening possession to get the Bonnies on the board.
• Andell Cumberbatch slammed home a fast-break dunk to put the Bonnies up 10-0, leading to a Canisius timeout with 16:15 left.
• After the 10-0 start, Canisius proceeded to go on a 28-10 run over the next 13 minutes to take a 28-20 lead.
• After exchanging baskets for the latter part of the first half, Posley drained a buzzer-beating three to end the half that trimmed the deficit to 30-28 at the break.
• The Bonnies and Griffs went basket-for-basket over the first seven minutes of the half before Cumberbatch made two free throws at the 13:01 mark to give St. Bonaventure a 37-35 lead. It was the first time the Bonnies led since the 9:05 mark of the first half.
• Canisius was ahead 39-37 when Jay Adams hit a transition three-pointer to put the Bonnies back in front, 40-39, with 8:40 left in the game.
• The Griffs were back ahead when Adams hit another three that put the Bonnies up 45-43 with 5:48 remaining. The Bonnies never trailed again after that point.
• Posley stole the ball and converted a layup with 3:09 left to give the Bonnies a 51-47 lead.
• Following a Canisius basket to close the Bonnies' lead to two, Posley drained a critical three from the left wing to put give the Bonnies some breathing room at 54-49 with 1:36 to play in the game. Posley scored nine of his 10 second-half points in the final 3:16.
• Over the final 30 seconds of the game, the Bonnies made five out of six free throws to seal the win.
• In the second half, St. Bonaventure limited the Griffs to a pair of three-pointers on seven attempts. The Griffs shot just 31 percent overall in the game, including 36 percent in the second half. Over half (10 of 19) of their field goals came from long range.
• The Bonnies went 16-21 at the free throw line while Canisius only got to the line nine times, making just five.

Beyond the Box Score:

• There were three ties and eight lead changes throughout the course of the game.
• The Bonnies are now 5-3 against Canisius under Mark Schmidt.
• St. Bonaventure moves to 32-5 all-time against the Griffs at the Reilly Center.
• The Bonnies now lead the all-time series 98-65.
• Dion Wright played a career high 40 minutes in the winning effort.
• Andell Cumberbatch tied his career and season high assists with six.

Quotes from St. Bonaventure Coach Mark Schmidt:

"It was a hard-fought game, a typical Little 3 game. Give Canisius credit -- especially in the first half, they shot the heck out of the basketball. We didn't do a good job of keeping guys in front of us, but they played extremely well offensively. They made 8 threes in the first half and we were lucky to be down by two."

"We talked at halftime that we just have to get better defensively on the ball; keeping the guy in front of us ... I thought defensively in the second half we played much better. We played better, more solid, more fundamental man defense. We made plays at the end; we hit our foul shots. Jay hit a big 3, Marcus hit a big 3."

"We got off to a great start and they fought their way back; it was just like two blue collar guys going after each other and we prevailed at the end."

On Marcus Posley: "Marcus can put the ball in the basket. (Canisius) played a 2-3 zone and we need to make some shots. Marcus hit a couple big ones and I thought Jay (Adams) hit a big one to put us ahead."

"We did a little bit better job of attacking the 2-3 today than we did against Siena; got the ball in the middle a little bit better, were still a work in progress but it's good to win a game like this when were behind and not playing too well but we fought back and we blue collared it."

On Youssou Ndoye: "In my opinion Youssou is the ultimate team player. He's the most unselfish guy we have on our team; all he cares about is winning, it's not about him -- his mannerisms are good and he was positive the whole time, he was urging his guys on and that's what you need from a senior leader."

Up Next: The Bonnies will host Jackson State this Tuesday, Nov. 25, in the Reilly Center. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m.