TV: Time Warner SportsChannel with David Miller (pxp) and Richard Walsh
Radio: WPIG 95.7 FM, ESPN Radio 1450 AM (Olean, NY) with Gary Nease (pxp)
Twitter: @BonniesMBB
The Starting Five Notes:
1. St. Bonaventure hosts Fordham in the final game of the regular season. The Bonnies have won three of their last four games and are in a tie for seventh place in the Atlantic 10 Conference with George Washington. The A-10 Championship Tournament is next week at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. This will be the final home game in the careers of seniors Youssou Ndoye, Andell Cumberbatch, Chris Dees and Opeyemi Olomo (the four were honored prior to last Saturday's game against Duquesne).
2. St. Bonaventure's nine Atlantic 10 wins are the program's second-most during Mark Schmidt's eight seasons as head coach. The 2011-12 team went 10-6 in the regular season prior to winning the A-10 Tournament.
3. Andell Cumberbatch has played his best basketball of the season over the last five games. In addition to his usual strong defense, he averaged 14.0 points and 5.2 rebounds per game and made 14 of his 29 three-point attempts (48 percent).
4. Senior center Youssou 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 (10.2) and blocked shots (2.6/game). Seven of his 10 double-doubles this season have been against Atlantic 10 opponents. Ndoye needs 21 rebounds to reach 700 for his career. Only 10 players have reached that plateau in the program's history.
5. Junior forward Dion Wright has scored in double figures 12 of the last 13 games. Over that span, he went 78-133 (59%) from the field and averaged 14.7 points. Classmate Marcus Posley has snapped out of a shooting slump, going 8-15 from three-point range over the past two games. His hot shooting has coincided with his move to point guard. Posley, who is sixth in the A-10 in scoring, had gone 4-40 from long range over the previous five games.
St. Bonaventure vs. Fordham: The Last Meeting: Feb. 12, 2014 at Rose Hill Gym: St. Bonaventure 76, Fordham 65
Andell Cumberbatch and Matthew Wright scored 18 points apiece and Dion Wright had 10 points and nine rebounds to lead the Bonnies to the win. St. Bonaventure shot 49 percent from the field as it led the majority of the night.
Series Notes
This will be the 37th meeting in a series that St. Bonaventure leads 21-15. The Bonnies have won seven of the last eight meetings; the only loss in that stretch did take place at the Reilly Center on March 9, 2013, when Fordham played spoiler and knocked the Bonnies out of the A-10 Tournament.
Fordham Notes:
• Fordham has split its last six games, winning home games against Saint Joseph's and La Salle and also at George Mason. The Rams dropped their last two games, last Saturday at UMass (82-74) and Wednesday at home to Duquesne (81-66).
• Fordham is one of the A-10's better rebounding teams but is near the bottom of the conference in scoring defense and field goal percentage defense.
• Swingman Eric Paschall is one of the top freshmen in the A-10; he is averaging a team-leading 16.5 points and 5.6 rebounds per game. Paschall has made 45 three-pointers this season. Paschall's status is uncertain as he sat out the Duquesne game with an ankle injury.
• 6-8 forward Chris Sengfelder, like Paschall, is a candidate for All-Rookie team honors in the A-10. Last week's A-10 Rookie of the Week averages 11.5 points and 7.3 rebounds per game. Junior guard Mandell Thomas, a native of Rochester, is the Rams' second-leading scorer at 13 points per game. He also leads Fordham in assists with 104. Junior center Ryan Rhoomes is fourth in the A-10 in rebounding at 8.9 per game. He averages 6.5 points per game.
St. Bonaventure's Last Game: Bonnies 64, Saint Louis 48
St. Bonaventure turned in its best defensive effort of the season to earn a 64-48 win at Saint Louis on Wednesday, its third victory in four games. 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.
Ndoye Milestone Watch; Climbing Single Season Rebound List
Youssou Ndoye, who has 276 rebounds this season, needs 10 more rebounds to pass George Carter (285 rebounds in 1965-66) for 10th-most rebounds in a season in school history.
• Ndoye needs 21 rebounds to reach 700 for his career. Only 10 players have reached that plateau in the program's history.
• Ndoye needs 66 points to reach 1,000 for his career.
• With his two blocks at Saint Louis, Ndoye became the third Bona player to record 200 for his career.
