Location: St. Bonaventure, NY  |  Reilly Center

Box Score (PDF)  |  Statistics With Play-by-Play

St. Bonaventure Starters: #10 G Jaylen Adams, #3 G Marcus Posley, #1 G Idris Taqqee, #21 F Dion Wright, #45 F Jordan Tyson

The Short Story
Trailing by 31 points early in the second half, St. Bonaventure battled back but ultimately ran out of time and fell, 85-79, to Dayton on Tuesday at the Reilly Center. 

It was a tale of two completely opposite halves for two teams who entered the night with 4-1 records in the Atlantic 10. The Bonnies saw the Flyers dominate the first half with defense and 65 percent shooting en route to a 45-18 lead.  St. Bonaventure then outscored the Dayton 61-40 in the second half, making 10 of 18 three-point shots. 

The Flyers led 56-25 with 13:07 left, but St. Bonaventure chipped away at the Flyers' lead. Marcus Posley's three-pointer, his fifth of the half, pulled the Bonnies to within 79-70 at the 1:26 mark. However, the Flyers were able to stave off the comeback attempt with four free throws and a Kendall Pollard dunk.

St. Bonaventure dropped to 12-5 overall and 4-2 in the A-10 while Dayton moved to 15-3 and 5-1. The Flyers were 11^th in the national Ratings Percentage Index entering the game.

Posley led all scorers with 31 points, 27 of which came in the second half. He was 12-23 from the field and 5-10 from three-point range. Sophomore point guard Jaylen Adams scored 27 points and added six assists, five rebounds and three steals.

How It Happened:

• It was a 21-15 game midway through the first half when Dayton took control with a 19-0 run.
• The Bonnies finally halted the run with two free throws by Jaylen Adams at the 3:07 mark, but by that point the Flyers were ahead 40-17.
• St. Bonaventure made only seven of 28 shots (25 percent) in the first half and entered halftime trailing 45-18. It was the Bonnies' lowest scoring half this season.
• A three-pointer by Darrell Davis and a free throw by Steve McElvene extended Dayton's lead to 31 at 56-26, its largest of the night.
• The deficit was 24 points at 62-38 when the Bonnies scored 14 of the next 17 points to pull to a 65-52 score with 6:03 left. Adams scored nine points in the surge and Posley had the other five.
• Posley made two free throws with 5:02 remaining to pull the Bonnies within 10 points at 66-56.
• It was a 73-61 game when Dyshaun Pierre made two free throws and then drained a three-pointer late in the shot clock to extend Dayton's lead to 78-61 with 2:34 left.
• Still, the Bonnies refused to go quietly as three-pointers Nelson Kaputo, Adams and Posley sparked a 9-1 run that closed the gap to 79-70 with 1:26 left.
• The Flyers were able to hold off the Bonnies with four late free throws; Adams jumper with 10 seconds left made the final margin 85-79.
• In the second half, the Bonnies were 19-35 from the field, including 10-18 (.556) from three-point range, and 13-14 at the free throw line.

Beyond the Box Score:

• St. Bonaventure's 61 points in the second half was its highest point total in a half this season.
• Prior to Tuesday's game, the Bonnies' previous largest deficit at halftime was two at Siena. 
• Posley's 31 points were four shy of his career high and his third 30-point game this season.
• Posley now has 314 points this season and is averaging 18.4 points per game.
• Adams' 27 point night is his sixth 20-point game this year.
• Adams' 13 free throws were a career high and the most by a Bona player in a game this season. 

Quotes From Coach Mark Schmidt:
"All the credit goes to Dayton. In the first half, I thought they were tremendous from a defensive standpoint. They shot the ball really well from three. They took us out of what we wanted to do. I thought the game was lost in the last 10 minutes of the first half." 

"Our guys showed great character. I'm proud of what they did to come back, cut a 31-point lead to six. It just showed what our guys are made of. They could've just laid down. We were aggressive, our press was effective, we had great effort. But in the end, it was a loss against a very good team."

"When we play hard and aggressive, we're a really good team. We just can't play soft. For whatever reason, we did that in the first half. I think it gives our guys confidence when we go out and play aggressive and in attack mode. Like I said, that's a really good team. (Dayton) is the 11^th-best RPI team in the country."

Up Next: St. Bonaventure will visit VCU this Saturday, Jan. 23. Tipoff will be at 2:30 on NBC Sports Network.