Ticket Promotion: Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce Night; $8 tickets available in select sections by mentioning the GOACC. Also $15 tickets in the "Wolfpack" section which include a food & drink voucher.
The Starting Five Notes:
1. Wednesday night at the Reilly Center, St. Bonaventure closes out 2015 with its final non-conference game of the season, its 156th meeting with Niagara. The Bonnies also look for their second Big 4 sweep in as many years. Home court has been good to St. Bonaventure so far as the Bonnies are 5-1 at the RC.
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 (8.8) and 11th in scoring (16.2).
3. Wright is closing in on several significant career milestones. He needs 11 rebounds to reach 500 for his career and 94 points to reach 1,000. Should he reach both, Wright will be the 24th player in the program's storied history to reach 1,000 points and 500 rebounds.
4. Over his last three games, sophomore point guard Jaylen Adams made 14 of 21 three-point shots and averaged 19.3 points per game. Adams averages 16.2 points (tied with teammate Dion Wright for 11th in the A-10) and is third in the A-10 in assists at 4.3 per game. He improved his three-point shooting percentage to .426 thanks to his hot streak.
5. With wins over Canisius and Buffalo earlier this season, St. Bonaventure has a chance for its second Big 4 sweep in a row. Should the Bonnies be able to defeat Niagara, it would be their third Big 4 sweep – the other was in the 2011-12 season.
St. Bonaventure's Last Game: St. Bonaventure came up just short Tuesday night at the Times Union Center, dropping a 73-70 decision to Siena in the annual Franciscan Cup game. The Bonnies committed three turnovers in the last three minutes of the game, none more critical than a travel called on Jaylen Adams with 10 seconds left when Bona trailed 71-70.
St. Bonaventure led 68-66 with 2:33 left after a jumper by Idris Taqqee. Siena, however, tied the game on a jumper by Marquis Wright and then, after an offensive foul call against Marcus Posley, Brett Bispeng drove for a layup with 40 seconds that gave the Saints the lead for good. The teams combined for 45 turnovers – 25 by Siena. The Saints outrebounded the Bonnies 38-27. Posley and Adams led the Bonnies with 18 points each. Wright finished with 14 points and Denzel Gregg scored 12.
Series Notes:
This will be the 156th meeting between the schools. St. Bonaventure leads the series 86-69. Niagara is St. Bonaventure's second most-played rival after Canisius. The series dates to 1920. St. Bonaventure has won four in a row in the series after dropping eight straight games to Niagara prior to that. Five of the last six meetings were decided by less than 10 points. This is the first time since 2010 that Niagara has played at the Reilly Center; the Bonnies moved the 2012 game to Rochester.
St. Bonaventure vs. Niagara: The Last Meeting
Nov. 29, 2014 at First Niagara Center: St. Bonaventure 74, Niagara 59
Youssou Ndoye scored 23 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Bonnies to a convincing win in the Big 4 Classic. St. Bonaventure held the Purple Eagles to 38 percent shooting. Andell Cumberbatch added 16 points and Dion Wright had 14.
Scouting The Purple Eagles
Niagara has lost four games in a row and six of seven, most recently at Albany on Dec. 23. The Purple Eagles' wins were over Brown, North Carolina A&T and Quinnipiac. Sophomore Matt Scott, who was in a supporting role last year, is now Niagara's leading scorer (16.5 points per game) and rebounder (7.0). Redshirt junior guard Emile Blackman is close behind Scott at 15.2 points per game; no other Niagara player is in double figures. The Purple Eagles attempt almost 20 three-pointers per game but are shooting just .280 from long range.
Wright Approaching 1,000 Point, 500 Rebound Milestones
Dion Wright is closing in on several significant career milestones. He needs 11 rebounds to reach 500 for his career and 94 points to reach 1,000. Should he reach both, Wright will be the just the 24th player in the program's storied history to reach 1,000 points and 500 rebounds. The last Bonnies player to join that exclusive club was Demitrius Conger '13.
Top 5 Nationally in Free Throw Shooting
Traditionally a strength of Mark Schmidt's teams, this year's team has picked up right where last year's left off when in comes to shooting free throws. The Bonnies finished second in the Atlantic 10 last season at .706. This season, St. Bonaventure has made 78.5 percent of its free throws as a team (150-191), which ranks fourth nationally among all NCAA Division I teams. Marcus Posley is fifth in the Atlantic 10 at .875 (35-40). Jaylen Adams is eighth in the conference at 35-41 (.854), Dion Wright is 26-33 (.788) and Derrick Woods is 13-15 (.867).
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. 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 fifth in free throw percentage (.875), sixth in steals (1.7), and 11th in three-point field goals (2.4/game).
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 6.7 points, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals per game. He's shown the abilty to both penetrate defenses and set up teammates as well as make three-point shots, going 17-47 (.362) from long range.
Tyson Returns
Pre-season injuries to Courtney Stockard and Jordan Tyson left St. Bonaventure with eight scholarship players in uniform, plus walk-on Caleb McGuire, over the first eight games of the season. Tyson, who had surgery on his left wrist in early September, made his season debut on Dec. 19 in the win over South Carolina State. He played 14 minutes and had two points and a rebound. His return gives St. Bonaventure depth in the post rotation, and he is the Bonnies' ninth healthy scholarship player. Stockard remains out due to a broken bone in his right foot.
Gregg Seizing His Opportunity
Going into this season, Denzel Gregg knew he would have the opportunity to become a player the Bonnies can depend on heavily. Gregg came on strong at the end of last year, earning starts in the last five games. The lanky, 6-7 forward opened this season with his first career double-double, 15 points and 11 rebounds in the Nov. 13 win over Binghamton. Gregg has continued to be an impact player almost every game, averaging 8.8 points, 6.2 rebounds and 1.7 blocked shots per game (fifth in the A-10).
Adams Keys Bonnies From Point
It's been over 10 years since the Bona program had a four-year starter at point guard; the last was Marques Green (2001-04). Sophomore Jaylen Adams has the chance to become the next. Adams' freshman season ended after 22 games due to a broken finger that required surgery. That injury also likely kept the A-10's coaches from putting Adams on the All-Rookie team – a spot that seemed a sure thing considering he was averaging 10 points and 4.5 assists per game at the time of his injury. Adams also led all A-10 players in assist-to-turnover ratio, and shot a respectable 32 percent from three point range. He's off to a great start to his sophomore season, and ranks third in the A-10 in assists (4.4 per game) and 11th in scoring (16.2). Adams is shooting .426 from three-point range (13th in the A-10).
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).
