St. Bonaventure Men's Basketball Game Preview: Saint Joseph's Hawks
Date: Saturday, Feb. 21
Time: 7 p.m.
Location: Hagan Arena
Records:
St. Bonaventure 13-11 (6-6) | Saint Joseph's 11-14 (6-6)
Bonnies Statistics | Saint Joseph's Statistics
St. Bonaventure Game Notes
TV: SNY (also airing on Comcast SportsNet) with Ed Cohen (pxp) and John Griffin
Radio: WPIG 95.7 FM, ESPN Radio 1450 AM (Olean, NY) with Gary Nease (pxp)
Twitter: @BonniesMBB
The Starting Five Notes:
1. St. Bonaventure visits Saint Joseph's as the teams complete their season series. Both teams come off losses, the Bonnies at home Wednesday to Richmond and the Hawks at Dayton on Thursday. St. Bonaventure won the first meeting with the Hawks, 70-61 on Jan. 18 at the Reilly Center. The game will pit two of the A-10's top scorers, St. Bonaventure's Marcus Posley and Saint Joseph's DeAndre' Bembry.
2. St. Bonaventure's anchor in the middle, 7-foot senior center Youssou Ndoye, is second in the A-10 in both rebounding (10.5) and blocked shots (2.7/game). Six of his nine double-doubles this season have been against Atlantic 10 opponents, including 12 points and 10 rebounds against Richmond on Wednesday.
3. Junior forward Dion Wright has scored in double figures eight of the last nine games. Over that span, he went 57-99 (58%) from the field and averaged 14.5 points and 6.0 rebounds. In the win over VCU, Wright played one of the best all-around games of his career with 19 points and eight rebounds. Wright ranks 13th in the A-10 in scoring and 11th in rebounding, and he has a .550 field goal percentage in conference games.
4. Marcus Posley is the sixth-leading scorer in the Atlantic 10 at 16.4 points per game. He hopes to shake off a cold spell where he went 2-25 from three-point range the last three games.
5. Junior Iakeem Alston is expected to make his third start in place of freshman Jay Adams, who is out indefinitely due to a fracture/dislocation of the ring finger on his right hand. Alston scored a career high 11 points with three assists in 30 minutes of action last Saturday at Dayton, then scored nine points against Richmond.
St. Bonaventure vs. St. Joseph's: The First Meeting This Year: Jan. 18, 2015 at Reilly Center -- St. Bonaventure 70, Saint Joseph's 61
Marcus Posley scored 15 of his 23 points in the second half to lead St. Bonaventure to the win. The Bonnies trailed 29-28 at halftime but took their first lead of the game on a steal and dunk by senior center Youssou Ndoye that made it 37-35 with 15:21 remaining. The lead grew to 48-39 before the Hawks rallied to pull within 48-46. The game remained close the rest of the way, and a three-pointer by Isaiah Miles closed the Bonnies' lead to 55-54 with 5:35 left. St. Bonaventure answered, though, with a jumper by reserve Denzel Gregg followed by a Posley three-pointer to push the lead back to six points at 60-54 with 2:41 to play. The Bonnies went 8-8 at the free throw line down over the final 2:13 to secure the win. Ndoye finished with 15 points, six rebounds, five assists and three blocks. Dion Wright scored 14 points and Andell Cumberbatch added nine for the Bonnies. St. Bonaventure had 18 assists on its 25 field goals and committed only seven turnovers.
Series Notes
This will be the 69th meeting in a series that dates to 1958. The Hawks hold a 49-19 series lead. The teams split the last 10 meetings. The Bonnies are 3-23 all-time at Hawk Hill.
Saint Joseph's Notes:
• Sophomore DeAndre' Bembry is the do-it-all leader for the Hawks. He leads the Atlantic 10 in scoring at 18 points per game, and also averages 7.3 rebounds, 3.2 assists and 2.1 steals per game, all team highs. Bembry has 46 three-pointers and shoots 35 percent from long range.
• Senior Chris Wilson is second on the Hawks in assists with 72 and averages 7.0 points per game.
• Junior forward Isaiah Miles is the Hawks' second-leading scorer (10.9) and rebounder (5.0). He also is a capable three-point shooter at 34 percent for the season.
• Junior guard Aaron Brown averages 10 points per game and has shot more free throws (77-105) than any other Hawk except Bembry.
• Saint Joseph's is 9-3 at Hagan Arena with its only A-10 loss there to George Washington on Jan. 3.
St. Bonaventure's Last Game: Richmond 71, Bonnies 56S
St. Bonaventure could not overcome 19 turnovers and a decisive second half run as it fell to Richmond, 71-56, on Wednesday at the Reilly Center. The Bonnies erased a 32-23 halftime deficit, outscoring the Spiders 19-6 through the first 9:30 of the second half to take a 42-38 lead. Richmond, however, then scored 14 unanswered points to regain control at 52-42 with 7:22 left in the game. The Bonnies could not cut their deficit to less than seven points the rest of the way. Three Bonnies scored in double figures. Youssou Ndoye led the way with a team-best 12 points while Andell Cumberbatch and Dion Wright chipped in 10 points each. Ndoye also grabbed 10 rebounds for his ninth double-double this season. Marcus Posley and Iakeem Alston finished with nine points apiece.
Rebounding, Defense Constants This Season For Ndoye
Youssou Ndoye ranks second in the A-10 in both rebounding (10.5) and blocked shots (2.7 per game). He ranks 11th in Division I in rebounding and 21st in blocked shots. Ndoye has blocked at least one shot in every game but one (LaSalle) this season with 15 games of three or more rejections. He has nine double-doubles this year, five more than he had all of last season. With his 12 rebounds against Maryland Eastern Shore, Ndoye became only the fourth player in school history to record 500 rebounds (he now has 645) and at least 150 blocks (he now has 194).
Dion Wright Version 3.0
Following a sophomore season that could easily been described as a breakout, St. Bonaventure junior Dion Wright was named to Sport Illustrated's list of the "Projected Breakout Players" for this year. The 6-7 forward from Carson, Calif., averaged 8.7 points and 4.8 rebounds per game coming off the bench in all 33 games as a sophomore. Wright more than doubled his per-game scoring and rebounding averages from his freshman season. So far this season, Wright has lived up to the hype. Notes on Wright's season:
• He has scored in double figures 19 times including eight of the last nine games.
• Had back-to-back 20-point games against two of the A-10's best defensive teams – 22 at Rhode Island (tying his career high) and 21 against LaSalle.
• Wright is tied for 13th in the A-10 in scoring at 13.0 points per game.
• Wright, who has rarely left the floor this year, is also averaging 6.8 rebounds a game, which ranks 11th among A-10 players.
• He has four-double-doubles this season.
• Well-known for his tenacity under the backboard, Wright has snagged 77 offensive rebounds (3.2 pg), which is sixth-best among all A-10 players.
Alston's Opportunity
While Jay Adams is sidelined, junior guard Iakeem Alston will have the opportunity to play significantly more minutes. Like Adams, Alston is also a native of Baltimore who is in his first season at St. Bonaventure. Alston played two seasons at Sheridan (Wyoming) Community College before joining the Bonnies. For most of this season, Alston backed up Adams and was playing an average of seven minutes per game. Feb. 11 at Dayton, Alston made the first start of his career and scored a career high 11 points with three assists in 30 minutes of action. He then had nine points in the loss to Richmond.