Location: St. Bonaventure, N.Y.  |  Bob Lanier Court at the 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, #20 F Derrick Woods

The Short Story
In a season full of comebacks and clutch shots, St. Bonaventure came up just short of another last-minute win and fell 79-75 to Wagner on Wednesday in the first round of the NIT. 

The Bonnies ended their season 22-9, while Wagner (23-10) advances to face Creighton this weekend.

Playing a very uncharacteristic first half, the Bonnies fell behind by as many as 17 points and trailed 40-26 at halftime. Behind the urging of a crowd of 4,793, St. Bonaventure rallied midway through the second half, using a 14-4 run to pull within 64-58 with 7:04 to play.

The Bonnies cut the deficit all the way to two points at 69-67 on Jaylen Adams' three-pointer with 3:03 left, but Wagner made critical shots down the stretch. Romone Saunders' three-pointer at the 1:45 mark pushed the Seahawks ahead 74-69. While the Adams and Marcus Posley each made three-pointers in the last nine seconds, Wagner held on with free throws. 

Against Wagner's zone defense, St. Bonaventure took 31 three-pointers and made only nine (29 percent) in a rare off-shooting night. Adams, who was 6-15 from deep, led all scorers with 24 points. Posley finished with 18 while fellow senior Dion Wright finished with 12. Idris Taqqee and Denzel Gregg both score 10 points. Wright snagged 11 rebounds for his 14^th double-double of the season.

How It Happened:

• It was an 8-8 score early when Wagner started to gain momentum, scoring seven straight points to open a 15-8 lead.
• After a Jaylen Adams score, the Seahawks ran off 11 unanswered points to push their lead to 26-11 at the 8:32 mark.
• The lead grew to 17 points at 36-19 on a Saunders three-pointer with 4:05 left in the first.
• The Bonnies trailed 40-26 at halftime as Wagner scored 26 points in the paint.
• Early in the second half, the Bonnies cut their deficit to 50-40, but the Seahawks pushed their lead back up to 16 points by the 10:29 mark.
• A 14-4 Bonnies run ignited the crowd and trimmed the deficit to 64-58. Adams sparked the run with eight points, draining a pair of three-pointers to go with two free throws.
• St. Bonaventure continued to surge, and Denzel Gregg's layup made it a 65-62 Wagner lead with 4:30 left.
• After a jumper at the 3:25 mark gave Wagner a 69-64 lead, Adams made another three-pointer at 3:03 to pull the Bonnies within two at 69-67.
• Saunders made two free throws, but Gregg answered with a floater in the lane to again bring Bona within two points at 71-69 with 2:12 remaining.
• Saunders then made possibly Wagner's biggest shot of the night, a three-pointer with 1:45 left that extended the lead to 74-69 and momentarily quieted the crowd.
• After the teams traded misses and the clock ticked down, Posley and Adams missed back-to-back three-pointers, the latter coming with just 18 seconds left.
• Wagner made two free throws to go ahead by seven and despite last-second three-pointers by Adams and Posley, St. Bonaventure could not close the gap.

Quotes From Coach Mark Schmidt
"I thought we didn't come out well at all. Give Wagner credit. I thought they played really well; they came at us and put us on our heels with the 1-1-3 zone. They hurt us in the first half and we didn't have any energy; they knocked us back."

"In the second half I thought we played hard and we got ourselves back into the game, but every time we got close, Wagner made a play to stretch the lead out a bit."

"We had a great crowd. I give kudos to our community and students for coming to the game and supporting us for a great season. Getting snubbed by the NCAA didn't define our season, and this certainly doesn't define our season. Winning 22 games … 14 in the conference, and winning an A-10 championship are the things that we will remember. It's disappointing how it ended, but that's basketball, not everybody finishes a season with a win."

"I'm proud of what Marcus and Dion have done throughout their careers. We wouldn't be sitting here celebrating such a great season without their efforts this season along with Jay. We really had a special season and I'm proud of what we've accomplished. It's a season that we'll all remember."

Beyond the Box Score:

• Wednesday was the first postseason men's game at the Reilly Center since an NIT win over Southern Mississippi in 1995.
• The brilliant careers of seniors Dion Wright and Marcus Posley came to a sudden end. Wright ends his career with 1,263 points and 683 rebounds. He stands 25^th on Bona's all-time scoring list and 15^th in rebounding. Posley scored a remarkable 1,122 points in just two seasons, good for 30^th all-time at Bona.
• St. Bonaventure finished 13-3 at the Reilly Center this season.
• The Bonnies' 22 wins are the fourth best total in a season in the program's history.