Location: St. Bonaventure, N.Y.  |  Reilly Center

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

St. Bonaventure Starters: #10 G Jaylen Adams, #2 G Matt Mobley, #1 G Idris Taqqee, #12 F Denzel Gregg, #33 F Josh Ayeni 

The Short Story
After a cold-shooting first half, St. Bonaventure looked like a different team in the second as the Bonnies surged past Saint Louis, 70-55, on Wednesday at the Reilly Center.

St. Bonaventure trailed 32-26 at halftime and was behind 43-36 early in the second half before rallying. A 10-2 run gave the Bonnies a 46-45 lead. It remained a close game until the final seven minutes. The Bonnies led by just one at 53-52 with 6:32 remaining but scored six unanswered points – four from freshman center Amadi Ikpeze – to grab control. St. Bonaventure outscored the Billikens 17-4 over the game's final 7:34.

In the second half, St. Bonaventure made 18 of 31 shots from the field (58 percent) as compared to 9-24 (37 percent) in the first half. The Bonnies' defense also tightened in the second half as Saint Louis was 10-27 (37 percent) from the field including 1-13 from long range.

Jaylen Adams led the Bonnies with 20 points and six assists, while backcourt partner Matt Mobley scored 15 of his 19 points in the second half. Senior forward Denzel Gregg notched his seventh double-double of the season with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Ikpeze came off the bench to scored six points and grab a season-high nine rebounds in 23 minutes of work.

St. Bonaventure (15-8), which earned a sweep of the season series with the Billikens, is now 7-4 in the Atlantic 10 Conference. 

How It Happened: 

• St. Bonaventure actually started the night very well. After allowing an opening bucket by Reggie Agbeko, the Bonnies scored the next 11 points highlighted by an emphatic dunk by Matt Mobley.
• A three pointer by Aaron Hines ended the Billikens' drought at the 14:09 mark and sparked the visitors. Saint Louis scored 22 of the next 27 points to grab a 24-16 lead with 5:39 left in the half.
• The Bonnies' shooting struggles would continue as they would convert only five field goals over the last 14 minutes of the first half.
• Down 43-36 early in the second half, the Bonnies went on a 8-2 run capitalized by a three-pointer by Jaylen Adams to give his team a 46-45 lead at the 12:21 mark.
• The Billikens and the Bonnies would trade leads back and forth until a jumper by Adams would put them up for good at the 8:06 mark.
• Amadi Ikpeze sparked the surge that finally put the Bonnies in control for good. He made a jumper, Denzel Gregg slammed home an alley-oop and then Ikpeze made a jump-hook. The 6-0 run gave the Bonnies a 59-52 lead at the 5:02 mark.
• After one Saint Louis free throw, Ikpeze tipped in an Adams miss. Gregg then put-back Mobley's miss and it was a 10-point St. Bonaventure lead, 63-53 with 3:16 to go.
• Mobley drained a three-pointer with 1:25 left that made it a 66-53 game.
• Over the final 7:34, the Bonnies allowed only two field goals by Saint Louis, one of which was in the closing seconds.

Quotes from Head Coach Mark Schmidt:

• "I thought we played hard, even in the first half. I thought defensively, they hit some shots, but I thought that we played hard in the first half. Offensively, we stunk. We couldn't hit foul shots. We couldn't make layups. We just weren't in sync. Give our guys credit that even though we stunk in the first half shooting the ball, we still gave ourselves a chance in the second half. I thought the last seven minutes of the second half, we couldn't have played better."
• On the Bonnies' defense: "The guys are more committed. They understand that in this league, if you don't play defense, you're not going to win. They want to win, they understand, and there's more of a commitment on that end."

• On Amadi Ikpeze "He's really given us a lift … he's coming along. He's not fully there, but he's been giving us a big lift. He's physical inside and he's one of the reasons that we won today."

• On Jaylen Adams and Matt Mobley "Our guards have to play well. When our guards play well, we get a chance to win every game. And when our guards don't play well, it's hard to win …. When they play well, we're a really good team. They didn't play well in the first half, but they really picked it up and played well in the second half and that's what we need."

Up Next: St. Bonaventure will travel to our nation's capital to face George Washington this Saturday, Feb. 11. Tipoff is set for 4:30 and the game will air on NBC Sports Network.

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