St. Bonaventure Men's Basketball Game Preview: Atlantic 10 Championship Semifinals
Opponent: Saint Joseph's University Hawks
Date: Saturday, March 15
Time: 1:30 p.m.
Location: Barclays Center – Brooklyn, N.Y.
St. Bonaventure Record (Seed): 18-14 (9) | Saint Joseph's (Seed): 23-9 (4)
Bonnies Statistics | SJU Statistics
TV: CBS Sports Network (national)
Listen: WPIG 95.7 FM, Olean, NY (Gary Nease and Don Scholla)
Twitter: @BonniesMBB
Opening Tip: Saturday afternoon at Barclays Center, upstart St. Bonaventure takes on Saint Joseph's in the A-10 semifinals. The Bonnies, who make their second semifinal appearance in three years, have the momentum of Friday's last-second win over No. 1 seed Saint Louis. Saint Joseph's, which knocked off Dayton 70-67 on Friday, is the No. 4 seed.
Bonnies Quick Hitters:
- This is St. Bonaventure's second trip to the semifinals in three years; in 2012 the Bonnies won the A-10 Championship behind MVP Andrew Nicholson, who went on to be chosen in the first round of the NBA draft by the Orlando Magic.
- Remaining members of the 2012 title team on this year's team are Matthew Wright, Charlon Kloof, Marquise Simmons (who missed that season due to an injury), Danny Farrell, Jordan Gathers and Youssou Ndoye.
- The Bonnies have won five straight A-10 Tournament games (two this season, three in '12).
- This will be the second meeting in two weeks between St. Bonaventure and Saint Joseph's; on March 1 at the Bonnies' Reilly Center, the Hawks took an 83-74 decision behind 27 points by Langston Galloway and 18 from DeAndre Bembry. Saint Joseph's went 14-22 from the field (63%) in the second half and 54 percent overall.
- The Bonnies have shot a combined 52 percent (56-of-107) from the floor, including 58 percent (11-of-19) from deep, in the first two days of the A-10 Championship.
- Matthew Wright came into the A-10 Tournament on a hot streak, averaging 19 points per game over the final 10 games of the regular season. His eight points Thursday against LaSalle was his first time not reaching double figures since a six-point game against GW on Jan. 18. Friday's 22-point outing was his 12th 20-point game this season.
- Youssou Ndoye's 19 point, 10 rebound double-double in the win over LaSalle was his fourth this season and fifth of his career. Including the quarterfinal against Saint Louis (13 points), Ndoye has scored in double figures 10 of the last 12 games.
- For the A-10 Tournament, Charlon Kloof is averaging 18.0 points, 6.0 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game. His 22-point outing against Saint Louis was one point shy of his career high against an A-10 opponent (23 at Duquesne this season). Kloof's nine rebounds against Saint Louis were a career high.
- The Bonnies' 18 wins are the program's second-most under 7th-year head coach Mark Schmidt. The top mark was 20 wins in 2011-12, when the Bonnies won the A-10 title.
- St. Bonaventure's last NCAA Tournament came in 2012. Prior to that, it had been since 2000 that the Bonnies made the Big Dance.