Location: Bob Lanier Court -- Reilly Center

Box Score (PDF)  |  Statistics With Play-by-Play

St. Bonaventure Starters: #10 G Jaylen Adams, #3 G Marcus Posley, #1 Idris Taqqee, #21 F Dion Wright, #20 F Derrick Woods

The Short Story
Capitalizing on almost every opportunity, St. Bonaventure posted an impressive, 81-68 win over Ohio on Saturday afternoon in the Reilly Center.

Jaylen Adams scored 22 points, Marcus Posley had 19 and Dion Wright 14 to lead the Bonnies to their fifth win of the season. The play of freshman guard Nelson Kaputo and junior forward Denzel Gregg should not be overlooked, however, as they both scored nine points. Kaputo hit all three of his three-point shots during a pivotal stretch in the second half when St. Bonaventure turned a five-point deficit into a commanding lead. 

St. Bonaventure trailed 45-40 early in the second half but turned that around with a 10-0 run. Bolstered by hot shooting and several easy scores off Ohio turnovers, the lead grew to 16 points by the 4:53 mark. The Bonnies made six of their 11 three-point shots in the second half. The defensive effort St. Bonaventure gave may have been more impressive, as they limited an Ohio team averaging 84 points per game. The Bonnies also outrebounded the Bobcats 37-32 and committed only six turnovers.

Wright led the Bonnies with 12 rebounds for his fourth double-double this season.

How It Happened:

• There were nine lead changes and four ties in an evenly played first half.
• St. Bonaventure led by five points at 33-28 with 1:57 left until halftime; Ohio rallied to take a 35-34 lead.
• Marcus Posley, as he is more than willing to do, beat the halftime buzzer with a three-point that gave the Bonnies a 37-35 lead at the break.
• Ohio, however, grabbed the momentum at the start of the second half, taking a 45-40 lead thanks to six points by center Antonio Campbell and four from Treg Setty.
• Ohio led 50-46 when the Bonnies rallied. Denzel Gregg nailed a three-pointer to kick-start a 10-0 run that ended at the 10:07 mark with St. Bonaventure ahead 56-50. Jay Adams had a three-pointer and also drive the left side for a tough layup in that run.
• It was a 62-56 Bonnies lead when three-pointers by Kaputo, Gregg and Adams keyed another 10-0 run. Adams' three-pointer, his fifth of the game, capped the run at the 4:53 mark.
• Ohio was not able to get any closer than 12 points the rest of the day.

Beyond the Box Score:

• St. Bonaventure had a big edge in the specialty statistics, in particular second chance points (16-0) and points off turnovers (20-5).
• Jaylen Adams' five three-pointers are a career high; Nelson Kaputo tied his season best with of three from long range.
• St. Bonaventure's 10 three-pointers were one shy of their season high of 11 set at Syracuse.
• After he spent Friday attending the funeral of his grandmother, Marcus Posley played all 40 minutes and had five assists and two steals to go with his 19 points.
• The Bonnies have now out-rebounded five of their seven opponents this season.

Quotes from St. Bonaventure coach Mark Schmidt:
"I was extremely proud of our effort today. We beat a really good Ohio team with very good players. They were much bigger than we were … defensively we played better."

"In the second half we got off to a rocky start but I thought the guys recovered when we went to the 2-3 zone."

"I thought Nelson came in and gave us a huge lift with three big threes along with Denzel who I thought played a really good second half. When we have our big three of Marcus, Dion, and Jay playing the way they did offensively, we're a pretty good team."

"Playing against a set defense it's hard to score; when you can get easy baskets off of turnovers, then you start to get numbers … I thought we did a really good job in that six minute span of not taking tough shots and forcing turnovers that we made into open threes or easy layups."

"Size in the paint is overrated. If you have guys that have that a blue collar mentality, who go after it and be physical, you can out-rebound a team that is physically bigger than you and that's a big reason why we won."

Up Next: St. Bonaventure will host Vermont on Tuesday, Dec. 8, at the Reilly Center. Tipoff will be at 7:00 and the game will be televised on Time Warner SportsChannel.