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The Starting Five Notes:
1. Starting the final three-game stretch of the regular season, St. Bonaventure hosts Duquesne in the second meeting of the teams this year. The first meeting, Jan. 22 in Pittsburgh, ended in a 100-97 overtime win for the Bonnies in which Marcus Posley scored a career high 36 points.
2. St. Bonaventure will honor seniors Youssou Ndoye, Andell Cumberbatch, Chris Dees and Opeyemi Olomo prior to the game. Although the Bonnies have one more home game, this will be the last game with students on campus as the University's Spring Break starts March 7. This is also Homecoming Weekend on campus.
3. St. Bonaventure's anchor in the middle, Ndoye, is one of only two A-10 players averaging a double-double. The 7-footer stands second in the A-10 in both rebounding (10.4) and blocked shots (2.6/game). Six of his nine double-doubles this season have been against Atlantic 10 opponents.
4. Junior forward Dion Wright has scored in double figures 10 of the last 11 games. Over that span, he went 68-114 (60%) from the field and averaged 14.4 points. Wright helped key the win at Saint Joseph's with 17 points and 10 rebounds – his fifth double-double of the season. Wright ranks 11th in the A-10 in scoring and 11th in rebounding, and he has a .570 field goal percentage in A-10 games.
5. Andell Cumberbatch has played his best basketball of the season over the last three games. In addition to his usual strong defense, he averaged 11.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per game and made eight of his 14 three-point attempts over those three games.
St. Bonaventure vs. Duquesne: This Year's First Meeting: Jan. 22, 2015 at Palumbo Center -- St. Bonaventure 100, Duquesne 97
Marcus Posley scored 36 points – 12 in the final 2:35 of regulation – and Jay Adams scored the game-winner in overtime to lead St. Bonaventure to a 100-97 win at Duquesne on Jan. 22. St. Bonaventure trailed 89-78 with 2:48 remaining in regulation when Posley took over. He converted a three-point play and made a trio of three-pointers, the last coming with six seconds remaining, to tie the game at 90 and force overtime. In the extra session, Duquesne took a 95-93 lead before Andell Cumberbath made a three-pointer to give St. Bonaventure a 96-95 lead with 56 seconds left. The lead again swung back as Duquesne's Jordan Stevens made a jumper that put the Dukes up 97-96 with 41 seconds to play. Adams' pull-up jumper with 20 seconds left to put the Bonnies back in front 98-97. Youssou Ndoye blocked a Micah Mason layup at the other end and Adams snagged the rebound and was fouled. Adams made two free throws with eight seconds left, and a last-second shot by Stevens was off the mark.
Series Notes
This will be the 114th meeting between the longtime A-10 rivals. St. Bonaventure has claimed five of the last six meetings but trails in the all-time series 58-55. The series dates to 1920.
Duquesne Notes:
• Duquesne won its last two games, a 79-66 home decision over Saint Louis on Wednesday night and an 83-73 upset of Dayton last Saturday at Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center.
• Duquesne is one of the A-10's highest scoring teams, averaging 71.7 points per game. The Dukes also rank second in the Atlantic 10 in three-point field goal percentage at .367.
• Junior point guard Derrick Colter and junior guard Micah Mason form a potent backcourt. Both players shoot better than 42 percent from three-point range and have made at least 56 three-pointers. Colter averages 13 points per game while Mason is at 12.2.
• Freshman forward TySean Powell averages 7.4 points and 3.4 rebounds.
• Guard Jeremiah Jones and forward Dominique McKoy are also regulars in the starting lineup. McKoy is the team's leading rebounder at 5.4 per game and averages 7.0 points per game.
St. Bonaventure's Last Game: George Washington 69, Bonnies 46
Wednesday at the Smith Center, George Washington made 10 of its 18 three-point shots on the night, including seven out of 10 in the first half, en route to the win. GW opened a 23-11 lead by the 7:55 mark of the first half and led 36-18 at halftime. St. Bonaventure could not cut its deficit any lower than 12 points in the second half. St. Bonaventure went 2-15 from three-point range and shot 39 percent from the field overall compared to 57 percent by GW. Marcus Posley led the Bonnies with 12 points while Andell Cumberbatch and Dion Wright added 10 points each.
Dion Wright's Consistency
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 21 times including 10 of the last 11 games.
• Wright is tied for 11th in the A-10 in scoring at 13.0 points per game.
• Wright, who has rarely left the floor this year, is also averaging 6.7 rebounds a game, which ranks 11th among A-10 players.
• 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.
• He has five double-doubles this season.
• Well-known for his tenacity under the backboard, Wright has snagged 81 offensive rebounds (3.1 pg), which is sixth-best among all A-10 players.
Ndoye's Rebounding, Defense Constants
• Youssou Ndoye ranks second in the A-10 in both rebounding (10.4) and blocked shots (2.7 per game). He ranks 12th in Division I in rebounding and 27th in blocked shots.
• Ndoye's average of 7.0 defensive rebounds per game ranks 11th nationally.
• Ndoye has also blocked at least one shot in every game but two (LaSalle/GW) 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.
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 10.4 points, 5.4 rebounds while going 10-21 (.476) 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 his best all-around game of the season when he scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the OT win at Saint Joseph's Feb. 21. 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 four games, Alston averaged 25 minutes, 6.0 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:
• Even through a recent slump, Posley is still eighth in the A-10 in scoring at 16.2 points per game.
• He has nine 20-point games this season, the fourth-most of any A-10 player.
• Posley is third in the A-10 in three-point field goals per game (2.5).
• He has scored in double figures in 21 of 26 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. Eighteen of his 20 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 3.8 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.
