PITTSBURGH – To look at the recent series between St. Bonaventure and Duquesne, the simple wins and losses would show a lopsided rivalry with the Bonnies winning 11 of the past 12 meetings.
 
Those numbers would only scratch the surface of the story, though, as six of those games were decided by six or fewer points.
 
The Bonnies and Dukes put together another entertaining battle Friday night in the Steel City as Bona's continued the trend of pulling out hard-fought victories over their Atlantic 10 rival, 64-56.
 
Osun Osunniyi registered a tremendous performance of 21 points and 17 rebounds while Jalen Adaway and Jaren Holmes added complimentary scoring efforts of 16 points each.
 
St. Bonaventure (11-4, 3-1 A-10) dominated the early going with perhaps its best start of the season.
 
A put-back dunk from Osunniyi put the Bonnies ahead, 23-7, with 7:35 left in the opening half as Bona limited Duquesne to 2-for-16 from the floor to open the night.
 
The first half belonged to the Bonnies and, despite a late run from the Dukes to temper some of the visitors' momentum, Bona's ran to the locker room ahead, 33-22.
 
Duquesne (6-10, 1-3) immediately turned the tide out of intermission.
 
A quick 5-0 sprint began the second half to close the score to 33-27 before a Jaren Holmes layup ended a three-minute scoreless spell. Back-to-back drives to the bucket from Adaway – a breakaway dunk followed by a behind the back layup in traffic – pushed the Bonnies lead back to 10.
 
Duquesne continued its rally, however, pushing within three with 12 minutes remaining following a three-ball from Primo Spears.
 
With the margin at three, a pair of Bonnies treys quieted the Dukes crowd – first a rattled-home long ball from Adaway followed by a step-back 3-pointer by Kyle Lofton. Lofton's bucket gave the Bonnies a double-digit edge once more, 54-43, at the under-8 media timeout.
 
The hosts would not go away, though, remaining within 62-56 as the clock ticked down to two minutes. With the shot clock winding, Lofton found Osunniyi for a lob and the ensuing slam effectively put the game on ice.
 
Spears paced Duquesne with 18 points and six assists.
 
GAME NOTES

• Osunniyi made a run at his career-high in rebounding: 22 boards set during his freshman year at Duquesne. He finished the night 9-for-14 from the floor and added six blocks.
• The Bonnies shot 45 percent from the floor while Duquesne finished at a 35 percent clip.
• Lofton tied Glenn Hagan, '78, for 20^th in career scoring (1,396 points)
• Bona owned a 41-37 edge in rebounding.
• The Bonnies improved to 68-60 all-time vs. Duquesne. 

UP NEXT
St. Bonaventure travels to George Mason to complete its three-game road swing, taking on the Patriots Jan. 26 at 7 p.m.