St. Bonaventure Game Notes (PDF)

TV: Time Warner SportsChannel
Radio: WPIG 95.7 FM, ESPN Radio 1450 AM (Olean, NY) with Gary Nease (pxp) and Don Scholla
Video Streaming: SienaSaints.com / ESPN3
Twitter: @BonniesMBB

The Starting Five Notes:

1.  St. Bonaventure heads to Albany to face its sister school, Siena, in the annual Franciscan Cup game. The Bonnies have won their last four while the Saints have won two in a row and are undefeated (4-0) at the Times Union Center.

2.  Seniors Dion Wright and Marcus Posley are both off to strong starts to their final seasons in the Brown and White. Posley is sixth in the Atlantic 10 in scoring (18.1); he has four 20+ point games. The shooting guard also leads the A-10 in minutes played (38.0), is second in free throw percentage and sixth in steals. Wright leads all A-10 players with five double-doubles, is second in rebounding (9.1) and 11th in scoring (16.4).

3.  Prior to sitting out the South Carolina State game (team suspension), sophomore point guard Jaylen Adams made 12 of 17 three-point shots over his last two games. Adams averages 16 points and 4.9 assists and improved his three-point shooting percentage to .420 thanks to his hot streak.

4.  St. Bonaventure's 7-2 start mirrors its record at the same point last season and is the program's best start under ninth-year coach Mark Schmidt.  The Bonnies' four-game winning streak is their longest since a five-game unblemished run last November-December.

5.  Redshirt freshman forward Jordan Tyson made his season debut last Saturday against South Carolina State. His return from offseason surgery on his left wrist gives the Bonnies needed depth in their post rotation. Tyson also gives the Bonnies nine healthy scholarship players. 

St. Bonaventure's Last Game: Behind its best defensive effort of the season and a dominant first half, St. Bonaventure topped South Carolina State 64-45 on Saturday at the Reilly Center. The Bonnies got their fourth straight win and improved to 7-2. Playing its first game since Dec. 8, St. Bonaventure jumped out to a 17-6 lead seven minutes into the game. It was a 24-11 lead when the Bonnies surged ahead with a 12-0 run that made it a 36-11 game with 4:15 left in the opening half.  The first half ended with the Bonnies ahead 40-21 after they limited the Bulldogs to 7-31 (22 percent) shooting.  The teams played an even second half as South Carolina State could not mount a serious challenge. St. Bonaventure held the Bulldogs 30 points under their season scoring average as SC State shot just 28 percent from the field, a season low by a Bonnies opponent. Marcus Posley scored 26 points to lead the Bonnies. Dion Wright finished with 14 points and 10 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season. Freshman point guard Nelson Kaputo, starting in place of suspended sophomore Jaylen Adams, played all 40 minutes and had season highs of 12 points, seven assists, seven rebounds and three steals.

Series Notes:
This will be the 38th meeting between the schools; St. Bonaventure leads the series 28-9. The series was re-started in 2010 and a new Franciscan Cup was created for the teams to play for each season. Siena has won the past two meetings in this series. Prior to that, the Bonnies had won five in a row.

St. Bonaventure vs. Siena: The Last Meeting
Nov. 19, 2014 at the Reilly Center: Siena 73, St. Bonaventure 70
The Bonnies trailed most of the night and eventually fell behind by 17 points with 12:28 to play. It was still a 12-point Siena lead with 4:13 remaining when St. Bonaventure mounted a comeback. An 8-0 run capped by consecutive three-pointers by Marcus Posley and Jaylen Adams pulled the Bonnies within 65-61 with 2:05 left. That was as close as St. Bonaventure was able to make it.

Kaputo Catching On Quick
St. Bonaventure's shorter-than-normal bench, plus his obvious talents, have allowed freshman guard Nelson Kaputo the opportunity to play meaningful minutes right away.  Known for his quickness and ball-handling, Kaputo has acquitted himself well, averaging 7.2 points and 3.4 assists per game. He's shown the abilty to both penetrate defenses and set up teammates as well as make three-point shots, going 17-43 (.395) from long range.

Posley Puts Slow Start in Rear View
The seasons's first two games were uncharacteristically quiet for senior guard Marcus Posley. A preseason All-Conference selection after he averaged 16.7 points per game last season, Posley scored only five points in the season opener and nine at Syracuse. He was 5-26 from the field over those two games (4-18 from three-point range) and did not attempt a free throw. Since the Loyola game, however, Posley has looked more like himself. He scored 26 points against Loyola, then dominated at Canisius, scoring 35 points, which was one shy of his career high, and scored 22 against Hofstra. Posley scored 13 points at Buffalo thanks to a tough shooting night but he did make the game-winning jumper with eight seconds left, then he scored 19 points against Ohio. After a 26-point performance in the win over South Carolina State, Posley is averaging 18.1 points per game, which ranks sixth in the Atlantic 10. He also leads all A-10 players in minutes played (38 per game) and is sixth in steals (1.9), 11th in three-point field goals (2.3/game) and 15th in assists (4.0). 

Schmidt Moving Up Wins Chart
Now in his ninth season as head coach at St. Bonaventure, Mark Schmidt has 131 wins with the Bonnies, which ranks sixth on the program's all-time coaching wins list. He needs two wins to pass Jim Baron and three to pass Mike Reilly. Schmidt is the fourth-longest tenured coach in the Atlantic 10 behind St. Joseph's Phil Martelli (now in his 20th season), LaSalle's John Giannini (12th) and Richmond's Chris Mooney (10th).