Location: Barclays Center – Brooklyn, N.Y.

Records: St. Bonaventure 18-14   |   Saint Louis 26-6

Box Score (PDF)  |  Final Stats and Play-by-Play | Photos | Social Media Recap

The Short Story:

Jordan Gathers' three-pointer as time expired gave St. Bonaventure a thrilling, 71-68 victory over No. 18/17 Saint Louis and put the Bonnies into Saturday's semifinals of the Atlantic 10 Championship Tournament at the Barclays Center.  Gather's game-winning capped a stunning second-half comeback that saw the Bonnies overcome a 10-point halftime deficit.

The Billikens took their last lead of the game 65-63 with 1:41 remaining following a Dwayne Evans layup. Following a timeout, Charlon Kloof hit a layup before St. Bonaventure held firm on defense. On the ensuing trip down the floor, Matthew Wright canned a triple to give the Bonnies 68-65 lead before Evans answered with a three of his own with just 20.9 seconds remaining. Following a timeout, Charlon Kloof drove to the basket and spotted an open Gathers, who collected the pass from Kloof and calmly drained his first game-winning shot from the top of the key. The ball went through the net as the clock hit zero.

After halftime, St. Bonaventure shot a blistering 59.3 percent (16-of-27) from the floor and 66.7 percent (6-of-9) from three-point range. The Bonnies were led by Kloof and Wright, each of whom scored 22 points. The duo also helped hold A-10 Player of the Year Jordair Jett to just nine points on 4-of-11 shooting with six turnovers. Wright scored 17 of his 22 in the second half.

St. Bonaventure is now in the A-10 semifinals for the second time in three seasons.  The Bonnies also have two wins over ranked teams in the same season for the first time since 1997-98.

St. Bonaventure Starters: #3 G Charlon Kloof, #24 Matthew Wright, #5 G Jordan Gathers, #33 F Marquise Simmons, #35 C Youssou Ndoye

How It Happened:

• Saint Louis used early runs of 7-2 and 8-0 in jumping out to an 18-6 lead with 14:10 to play in the opening period.
• St. Bonaventure would then embark on a 13-2 run, fueled by 11 points from Kloof, in trimming the deficit to 20-17 with 10:30 to play in the first half.
• After the teams traded buckets, the Billikens ripped off 10-straight points in opening up a 32-19 lead at the final media timeout (3:39).
• Kloof kept the Bonnies in the game by registering 14 of the team's first 19 points.
• Matthew Wright snapped the Saint Louis spurt with a free throw and a jumper as Saint Bonaventure went into the half down 38-28.
• The Billikens converted a blistering 57.1 percent (16-of-28) from the floor.
• The Bonnies trimmed the 10-point deficit to three just over three minutes in the second half thanks to a 7-0 spurt.
• Later in the half, St. Bonaventure ripped off a 15-3 run – including 10-straight – to take its first lead of the game at 57-52 with 9:00 to play.
• Wright hit both the tying and go-ahead triples to punctuate the game-changing spurt.
• Saint Louis rallied with five straight points to tie the game up at 61-61 with 4:33 remaining in the game.
• The final four minutes of the game featured three more ties.
• Kloof made two free throws with 4:19 left to put the Bonnies ahead 63-61.
• After two missed shots by SLU and one by Youssou Ndoye, Mike McCall's layup tied the game at 63 with 2:36 remaining.
• With 1:41 to go, Dwayne Evans scored inside to put Saint Louis ahead 65-63.
• Kloof again answered, driving past Jett for a score to knot the game at 65 with 1:18 to play.
• Following a Jett turnover, Matthew Wright, who scored 17 of his 22 points in the second half, drained a three-pointer from the left wing with 39 seconds left to give the Bonnies a 68-65 lead and send the Bonnies faithful to their feet.
• Evans toed the line, stepped back and made a three-pointer that tied the game with 21 seconds left; it was just Evans' fourth three-pointer this season.
• The Bonnies called a timeout to set their final play.
• Kloof waited for the clock to win down to about eight seconds before he drove to the basket on the right side. Cut off by the SLU defense, he spotted Gathers open at the top of the key and threaded a perfect pass to him. Gathers stepped into the three-pointer and it went through the net as the horn sounded, setting off a celebration on the court and in the Bona fan section.

Beyond the Box Score:

• The Bonnies overcame a 13-point first half deficit, its largest in a comeback win this season.
• St. Bonaventure turned 14 Saint Louis miscues into a 23-14 advantage in points off turnovers.
• Kloof has now notched 20+ points three times in his career while his 22-point game Friday was just two short of his career high set earlier this season against Louisiana Tech.
• Kloof also pulled down a career-high nine rebounds while handing out six assists.
• For the A-10 Tournament, Kloof is averaging 18.0 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game.
• Matt Wright scored 17 of his 22 points after halftime; he now has 12 games of 20+ points this season and 14 for his career.
• Gathers is now 3-for-4 on three pointers at the A-10 tournament after going 0-for-8 over the final three regular season games.
• St. Bonaventure has now won five straight A-10 Championship games while advancing to the semifinals for the second time in three years and the sixth time in program history.
• The Bonnies are 3-2 in five previous trips to the semifinals and have won three-straight semifinal games (1984, 2000, 2010).
• In the first two days of the A-10 Championship, the Bonnies shot 52.3 percent (56-of-107) from the floor, including a blistering 57.9 percent (11-of-19) from deep.
• St. Bonaventure has now defeated two ranked teams in a year for the first time since the 1997-1998 season.
• Today was the first ever meeting between the teams in A-10 Championship play.
• St. Bonaventure is now 4-1 this season when playing at a neutral site and have won seven of nine neutral site games since the 2012 A-10 Championship.

Up Next: St. Bonaventure will face Saint Joseph's, which defeated Dayton in Friday's second quarterfinal contest, on Saturday at 1:30 on CBS College Sports Network.