TV: American Sports Network with Tim Neverett (pxp) and Tim Scarborough (Western New York: WNYO-2 (broadcast 49.2; TWC 1265)
Complete listing of American Sports Network affiliate stations for this game telecast
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 our nation's capital for its only regular season meeting with George Washington. The Bonnies are fresh off their seventh road win of the season and enter the game in a tie for seventh place in the Atlantic 10 with the Colonials and LaSalle.
2. The Bonnies' overtime win at Saint Joseph's last Saturday was their second OT victory on the road this season; the other was at Duquesne Jan. 22. St. Bonaventure is now 7-5 on the road, tied for the all-time program record for road wins in a season. The Bonnies are 4-3 in A-10 road games.
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. Ndoye is averaging 13.1 points per game in A-10 play. After an 11-12 game at Saint Joe's, Ndoye is now shooting .718 at the free throw line this season.
3. Junior forward Dion Wright has scored in double figures nine of the last 10 games. Over that span, he went 63-108 (58%) from the field and averaged 14.8 points and 6.2 rebounds. Wright helped key the win at Saint Joseph's with 17 points and 10 rebounds – his fifth double-double of the season. Wright ranks 13th in the A-10 in scoring and 11th in rebounding, and he has a .558 field goal percentage in conference games.
4. Andell Cumberbatch has played his best basketball of the season over the last week. He had 10 points and seven rebounds against Richmond, then totaled 15 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals at Saint Joseph's. He went 6-9 from three-point range over those two games and also played strong defense, especially against Saint Joseph's DeAndre Bembry.
Series Notes
This will be the 58th meeting in a series that dates back to the 1926-27 season. All but two of the games between the schools have been since they joined the Atlantic 10 in 1979-80. GW holds a 33-24 advantage in the series, including a 21-6 edge at the Smith Center.
GW Notes:
• Saturday in Richmond, the Colonials dropped their fourth straight game, a 56-48 decision to Richmond. GW shot 39 percent and committed 14 turnovers in the loss. Kethan Savage scored 18 points and 6-10 center Kevin Larsen had 16; no other Colonial scored more than four points.
• George Washington opened A-10 play 6-1 but has gone 1-6 since, although two of those losses were to VCU.
• Junior swingman Patricio Garino leads GW in scoring at 12.9 points per game followed closely by Savage (12.1) and Larsen (10.9). Guard Joe McDonald is at 9.7 points per game. Garino, a preseason all-conference selection, also leads GW in steals and is third on the team in rebounding.
• Larsen, who is 260 lbs., is the Colonials' top rebounder (7.2) and shot blocker (33).
• The Colonials seven players who have made at least 11 three-pointers on the season led by McDonald with 25 and Yuta Watanabe with 23.
St. Bonaventure's Last Game: Bonnies 70, Saint Joseph's 60 (OT)
St. Bonaventure pulled out an important win at Saint Joseph's on Saturday night, prevailing 70-60 in overtime. The Bonnies snapped their three-game losing streak and evened their A-10 record at 7-7. After a Marcus Posley drive was stopped by Hawks defense to end regulation, the Bonnies scored the first seven points of overtime to open a 59-52 lead. Saint Joseph's cut the deficit to 64-60 on a three-pointer by DeAndre Bembry with 33 seconds left, but Youssou Ndoye pushed the lead up to six with two free throws. Dion Wright, who finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds, made four free throws down the stretch to seal the win. Posley finished with 16 points and five steals. Andell Cumberbatch played perhaps his best game of the season with 15 points and seven rebounds while handling the defensive assignment on Bembry all night.
Record-Tying 7 Road Wins
St. Bonaventure is 7-5 on the road this season (3-2 in the non-conference and 4-3 in Atlantic 10 games). The seven road wins are tied for most ever in the history of the program. The record was set by three teams: the 2008-09, 2001-02 and 1994-95 Bonnies clubs. Several of the best Bonaventure teams of the 1960s and 70s played many of their games on neutral sites and at the Reilly Center, and therefore did not accumulate as many road wins.
Dion Wright Backing Up Sports Illustrated's Breakout Projection
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 20 times including nine of the last 10 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 13.1 points per game.
• Wright, who has rarely left the floor this year, is also averaging 6.9 rebounds a game, which ranks 11th among A-10 players.
• He has five double-doubles this season.
• Well-known for his tenacity under the backboard, Wright has snagged 80 offensive rebounds (3.2 pg), which is sixth-best among all A-10 players.
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's average of 7.1 defensive rebounds per game ranks eighth nationally.
• Ndoye has also 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.
• Ndoye had a streak of 10 consecutive games with least 10 rebounds that was snapped in the Dayton game Jan. 8, when he grabbed nine boards. The streak tied for the longest such run in NCAA Division I this season with RaShid Gaston of Norfolk State.
Ndoye Milestone Watch
• Youssou Ndoye needs 94 points to reach 1,000 for his career.
• He needs four blocks to reach 200 for his career. Ndoye will be the third player in program history to reach that mark. Blocks have been recorded since 1975.
• Ndoye needs six rebounds to make the top 15 rebounders in program history.
Cumberbatch Playing With Renewed Confidence
A quiet person off the court, the senior swingman Andell Cumberbatch has become a leader in this, his second season at St. Bonaventure. The former standout at Barton (Kansas) C.C. has played some of his best basketball over the last five games, averaging 9.8 points, 5.4 rebounds while going 9-19 (.473) from three-point range over that span. Prior to scoring 12 points against UMass on Feb. 11, Cumberbatch had not reached double figures in the previous six games. The East Orange, N.J., native played perhaps his2 best all-around game of the season when he Last year, which was his first with the Bonnies after two seasons at Barton, Cumberbatch averaged 8.2 points and 4.0 rebounds in 31 games.
Alston's Opportunity
While Jay Adams is sidelined, junior guard Iakeem Alston has 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. Over the last three games, Alston averaged 28 minutes, 8.0 points and 2.0 assists. 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, and four points, a career-high five rebounds and two assists in the overtime win at Saint Joseph's.
Posley's Scoring Success
Replacing 1,000-point scorer Matthew Wright '14 was certainly not what anyone expected of Marcus Posley. The junior guard, who spent a year at Ball State and then transferred to Indian Hills (Iowa) junior college for the 2013-14 season, entered the year somewhat under the radar. But Posley has flourished at St. Bonaventure, where he has become one of the top scorers in the Atlantic 10. Notes on his season:
• Posley is fourth in the A-10 in scoring at 16.4 points per game.
• He has nine 20-point games this season, the third-most of any A-10 player.
• Posley is tied for second in the A-10 in three-point field goals per game (2.6).
• He has scored in double figures in 20 of 25 games.
Gregg Coming On Strong
An athletic big man who can play either forward spot, 6-7 sophomore Denzel Gregg has played better and better over the last month. Gregg made his first career start on Jan 31 against LaSalle and had two points and four rebounds in that game. He then helped spark the Bonnies in the second half at Davidson when he had two blocks. Gregg, however, was at his best in the win over VCU when he scored a career high 10 points and blocked three shots in 17 minutes off the bench. Sixteen of his 17 blocks for the year have been against A-10 opponents. Like Chris Dees, Gregg gives the Bonnies needed depth on the front line. Gregg, who sat out the first six games of the season under a team suspension, is averaging 3.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.0 block per game. Last season, the Syracuse, N.Y., native played in 26 games and averaged 2.0 points.