Location: St. Louis, Mo. | Chaifetz Arena

Boxscore (PDF)

St. Bonaventure Starters: #3 G Marcus Posley, #23 G Andell Cumberbatch, #12 F Denzel Gregg, #21 F Dion Wright, #35 C Youssou Ndoye

The Short Story: Thanks to its best defensive effort of the season, St. Bonaventure earned a 64-48 win at Saint Louis on Wednesday.

The Bonnies improved to 9-8 in the Atlantic 10 Conference and remained in a tie for seventh place in the standings with George Washington with one game left in the regular season.  They also earned their eighth road win this season, a new program record.

St. Bonaventure led 26-18 at halftime after limiting the Billikens to 27 percent shooting over the first half. The second half was much the same as Saint Louis went 10-26 to end the game shooting only 33 percent from the field. The 48 points scored by the Billikens was the lowest total the Bonnies have allowed in a game this year.

Andell Cumberbatch led the Bonnies with 17 points while Dion Wright added 16 and Marcus Posley had 10. St. Bonaventure has now won three of its last four games.

How It Happened:

• Marcus Posley got off to a quick start offensively, scoring off a steal and then making his first three-point attempt of the night as the Bonnies led 8-5 at the first media timeout.
• St. Bonaventure led 14-11 midway through the first when it got three unanswered scores to move the lead to nine points at 20-11. Andell Cumberbatch drove for a dunk and then Chris Dees made back-to-back jumpers, the second at the 5:03 mark.
• Dion Wright closed the first half with a jumper from the baseline to make it a 26-18 Bonnies lead at intermission.
• The Bonnies held SLU to 27% FG (6-22) in the first half. SLU's 18 points were tied for fewest allowed by Bona in a half this season.
• St. Bonaventure's lead dipped to 39-35 after a Marcus Bartley three-pointer.
• Marcus Posley and Idris Taqqee then sparked an 11-2 run by St. Bonaventure that pushed the lead to 50-37 with 9:12 remaining. Cumberbatch capped the run with a drive.
• From that point, the Bonnies were able to maintain at least a 10-point cushion.
• Freshman guard Idris Taqqee played 32 minutes off the bench, scored eight points and grabbed six rebounds with three assists.

Beyond The Boxcore:

• With the win, St. Bonaventure is guaranteed no worse than an eighth place finish in the A-10. The Bonnies were picked 10^th in the preseason A-10 poll.
• St. Bonaventure's nine A-10 wins are the second-most during Mark Schmidt's eight seasons as head coach; the high mark was 10 set in 2011-12. It is also tied for the third-best A-10 win total since the Bonnies joined the A-10 in 1979-80. The caveat: this is the first season with an expanded, 18-game slate.
• The Bonnies end the year 5-4 in A-10 road games.
• St. Bonaventure has now won at least 16 games four of the last five seasons.
• Andell Cumberbatch has now scored in double figures five games in a row.
• Posley made his second straight start at point guard; he had five assists and three turnovers to go with his 10 points and five rebounds.
• Youssou Ndoye's two blocked shots give him exactly 200 for his career. He is one of three Bona players to reach that plateau.
• Ndoye now needs nine rebounds to crack the top 10 single season rebound totals in program history.

Up Next: St. Bonaventure will return to Reilly Center for its final home game of the season this Saturday, March 7, against Fordham. Tip time is set for 4 p.m. and the game will air on Time Warner SportsChannel.