Location: First Niagara Center - Buffalo, 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: The Bonnies came away with their most convincing win of the season Saturday in the First Niagara Center, defeating Niagara 74-59. The Bonnies were led by senior center Youssou Ndoye, who scored a career high 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for his 5th career double-double. The senior center blocked five shots and was a leading force in holding the Purple Eagles to 36.5% shooting from the field.

It was just a 26-23 St. Bonaventure lead late in the first half, but the Bonnies closed the half with a 9-2 run to take a 35-25 advantage. The lead quickly grew to 14 points early in the second half and Niagara never came closer than nine points after that.

Andell Cumberbatch had another strong game, scoring 16 points, six rebounds and four steals. Dion Wright scored 14 points and grabbed six boards on the afternoon.  In all, eight players got into the scoring column and 11 played at least a minute.

How It Happened:
• Andell Cumberbatch got the scoring started, laying in his own rebound to give the Bonnies a 2-0 lead.
• Niagara held an 11-7 lead before Youssou Ndoye stole the ball and took it the length of the court for a layup while being fouled. He converted the free throw to make it a 11-10 game with 12:15 left in the half. 
• Bonaventure took a 17-11 lead on a Cumberbatch runner in the lane. The bucket led to a Niagara timeout with 8:58 remaining. It capped an 11-0 run for the Brown and White.
• The two teams exchanged baskets over the following minutes, with Niagara closing the Bonnie lead to 26-23 with 3:13 left.
• The Brown and White took a 35-25 lead into halftime as they closed out the final minutes on a 9-2 run.
• The Bonnies carried their momentum into the second half, moving their lead to 14 with 13:22 remaining in the game.
• Iakeem Alston hit a jump shot from the foul line to extend St. Bonaventure's lead to 59-39 with 9:02 left.
• Cumberbatch knocked down a deep three to make it a 68-47 lead with 4:39 remaining in the contest, and the Bonnies went on to control the remainder of the game.

Beyond the Box Score:
• After losing eight games in a row to Niagara spanning back to 2004, the Bonnies have won the last four meetings.
• Coach Mark Schmidt moves to 4-4 against the Purple Eagles, with St. Bonaventure leading the overall series 86-69 all-time.
• St. Bonaventure wore orange uniforms with black and white trim in tribute to the Buffalo Braves, which will be auctioned off starting Monday to benefit the Brian Moretti Scholarship Fund. All four teams in the Big 4 Classic are wearing Braves throwback uniforms. 

Quotes from St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt:

"We got Youssou (Ndoye) going, and that was key. They played some man-to-man, they played him straight up in the post and he got some easy baskets inside. Youssou played with some aggression and passion, and that was what we needed."

"I thought for the whole game we defended well and we took a step in the right direction. We got better as a team today."

"It was a good team effort and a good win. We did what we wanted to do defensively. We executed better and for a young team, you want to see that."​

Up Next: The Bonnies return home to take on Big 4 rival Buffalo on Wednesday, Dec. 3. Tip-off is set for 7:00 at the Reilly Center.