St. Bonaventure Game Notes (PDF)

TV: Fox Sports Midwest with Pat Parris and Scott Highmark  |  DirecTV: ch. 671, Dish: 418
Radio: WPIG 95.7 FM, ESPN Radio 1450 AM (Olean, NY) with Gary Nease
Twitter: @BonniesMBB
Atlantic 10 Standings

The Starting Five Notes + Two
1.  St. Bonaventure completes the regular season with its longest trip of the year, visiting Saint Louis on Saturday. The Bonnies, who have won nine of their last 10 games, can finish anywhere from second to fourth in the Atlantic 10 pending the result of this game and others. A win over the Billikens plus a Dayton win over VCU would give the Bonnies a share of the regular season title with VCU (the Rams would own the tiebreaker).
2.  St. Bonaventure got a critical win Wednesday, defeating Saint Joseph's 98-90 as senior guard Marcus Posley scored 47 points, the most scored in a Division I game this season and four shy of the school record. The Bonnies swept the season series with the Hawks.
3.  This is the first time since 1976-77 that St. Bonaventure has won 20 games in the regular season.  Overall, it is the 14th season of 20 wins or more in school history. St. Bonaventure also has set a program record for Atlantic 10 Conference wins.
4.  As of March 4, St. Bonaventure is 28th in the Ratings Percentage Index list on NCAA.com. The Bonnies are 3-2 against top 50 teams and 3-3 against teams 51-100.
5.  Jaylen Adams continues to make a case for himself to be included in discussions of the most improved players in the A-10. His three-point shooting percentage has improved from .324 last year to .445 this season, contributing to his 8.0 points-per game jump in scoring. He ranks seventh in the A-10 in scoring, second in assists and second in three-point percentage.
6.  The "big three" of senior forward Dion Wright, Posley and Adams is the second-highest scoring trio in the A-10. The three combine to average 53.7 points per game. They all rank in the top 15 scorers in the Atlantic 10 with Posley (19.3) second, Adams (18.0) seventh and Wright (16.4) 15th.
7.  This game will be a homecoming for Posley (Rockford, Ill.) and Courtney Stockard (St. Louis). Posley expects 40-50 family and friends to attend. 

St. Bonaventure vs. Saint Louis: The Last Meeting
Feb. 7, 2016 at Reilly Center: St. Bonaventure 65, SLU 62
Jaylen Adams' three-pointer from the right wing found all net as the horn sounded, lifting the Bonnies to a 65-62 win over Saint Louis.  Adams' shot capped off a day in which the Bonnies had to battle back from a 50-42 deficit with 8:43 left. Adams tied the game at 57 with 3:44 remaining, and it stayed tight into the closing minute. The Bonnies led 62-60 after a Marcus Posley free throw with 27 seconds left, but Saint Louis tied the game on a back-door layup by Mike Crawford 11 seconds later.  Adams finished with 19 points while Posley had 15 and Dion Wright scored 14. Wright grabbed 10 rebounds for his 11th double-double this season. 

Posley's 47 Point Game
Senior guard Marcus Posley has had many high scoring games in his almost two seasons at St. Bonaventure, but none like March 2 against Saint Joseph's. Playing on a neutral court – Rochester's Blue Cross Arena – Posley got off to a fast start, scoring 18 of the Bonnies' 41 points in the first half. In the second half, he was fairly quiet until his team needed him most. After the Hawks had rallied to take a 55-53 lead, Posley scored 14 points in a 21-5 run that put the Bonnies ahead 74-60. He made two more three-pointers to get to 46 points, then added a free throw with 30 seconds left to end the night with 47 points -- the most scored in a Division I game this season (ironically, that was tied later the same night by Andrew Andrews of Washington). It also was the most points scored in an A-10 game since 2003 and is four off the school record of 51 set by Bob Lanier in 1969. 

Quality Wins
St. Bonaventure has three wins over top 50 RPI teams: Dayton (currently #22) and Saint Joseph's (25) and three more over top 100 teams, GW (60), Davidson (68) and Ohio (82). In all, the Bonnies are 5-5 against Top 100 teams. The Bonnies have also beaten Rhode Island (103), Richmond (119) and Buffalo (120). Five of the Bonnies' seven losses came to top 100 teams including two inside the top 50, Dayton and VCU (44). 

20 Wins For Sixth Time
This is only the sixth St. Bonaventure team to reach 20 wins in regular season play -- and the first since 1976-77.
20 Win Regular Seasons, St. Bonaventure Basketball History (95 seasons)
Wins       Season                   Postseason
22           1969-70                 NCAA
22           1967-68                 NCAA
22           1960-61                 NCAA
21           2015-16                
20           1976-77                 NIT
20           1958-59                 NIT 

Record For Atlantic 10 Wins
St. Bonaventure 12 Atlantic 10 Conference wins this season are tied for the most ever in the 37 years the Bonnies have been members of the A-10. The top A-10 win totals and winning percentages in the program's history:
Wins       Season                   W-L  (Pct.)
13           2015-16                 13-4  (.764)
11           1999-00                 11-5  (.687)
10           2014-15                 10-8  (.555)
               2011-12                 10-6  (.625)
               1985-86                 10-8  (.555)
               1982-83                 10-4  (.714)

Adams Playing At All-Conference Level
Last season, a broken finger ended point guard Jaylen Adams' superb freshman season prematurely. The injury likely kept the A-10's coaches from putting Adams on the All-Rookie team – a spot that had seemed a sure thing. This year, he has played at an All-Conference level.
• Adams is second in the A-10 in three-point percentage (.445) and ranks seventh in scoring (18.0), second in assists (5.1 per game), sixth in three-pointers per game (2.7) and first in free throw percentage (.883). Adams' three-point percentage ranks 15th nationally.
• Adams has a chance at the school record for three-point field goal percentage in a season of .456 set by Rich McCormick in 1986-87.
• He's proven to be as clutch as possible, scoring 31 points in road wins at Dayton and Saint Joseph's, and draining a buzzer-beater to top Saint Louis.
• Adams has been named the A-10 Player of the Week twice this season, most recently for the week ending Feb. 7. He made the game-winning three-pointer as time expired in the 65-62 decision over Saint Louis. His first POW selection was for the week of Dec. 28. 

Three-Point Threat
Thanks to a hot streak the last four games, St. Bonaventure is now first in the A-10 in three-point field goal percentage at .376. Over their last four games, the Bonnies made 39 of 85 three-point attempts -- a 46 percent clip. As the season percentage attests, that kind of shooting is not an abberation. The Bonnies have a chance at the school record for three-point percentage of .378 set by the 1988-89 team.

Second In Nation In Free Throws
Traditionally a strength of Mark Schmidt's teams, St. Bonaventure has taken its free throw shooting to a new level this season. As of Feb. 29, the Bonnies rank second the nation in free throw percentage at 77.7 percent. Guards Jaylen Adams and Marcus Posley both shoot better than 80 percent at the line and are in the top five in the A-10 in free throw percentage. At .888, Adams leads the A-10 and is 11th nationally. 

Offense Trending Toward Best Under Schmidt
The Bonnies are averaging 77.6 points per game, which is on pace for the best average during coach Mark Schmidt's nine seasons. Schmidt's highest-scoring team to this point was in 2013-14 when the Bonnies averaged 73.4 points per game.