ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – With the outcome long decided, the green light finally came for Osun Osunniyi.

For four years, the Bonnies center has put up dominant numbers but the opportunity to shoot from long range had only come with shot after shot in practice and warmups.

But, with the Bonnies leading by 14 and just 1:12 to play Tuesday night, Osunniyi let his second career 3-point attempt fly. It caught nothing but net as the crowd roared in approval.

Fun moments have prevailed for the Bonnies during their six-game winning streak which continued as the hosts downed Rhode Island, 73-55.

St. Bonaventure improves to 18-7 overall and 10-4 in Atlantic 10 play with the victory, reaching double-digit conference wins for the eighth straight year.

Bona's completed its four-game homestand with a perfect record over a furious eight-day stretch. 

Jalen Adaway fueled the attack with a game-high 23 points, just two off his career-high. Osunniyi finished with 14 points and nine rebounds; Kyle Lofton delivered 12 points and five assists.

"Before the game, I was telling the guys to treat this like a tournament game. I'm proud of how aggressive we all came out," Adaway said. "We all know time is running out and we're just trying to leave it all out there every game."

A ragged start for both teams brought a wait for nearly four minutes for either side to see the ball go through the hoop. In the opening minutes, the only points came on a goaltending call against the Bonnies and a 4-2 score stood five minutes in.

The Bonnies eventually found traction thanks to Adaway who delivered 14 of the team's first 25 points and 19 points before halftime as the hosts went to the locker room up eight, 35-27.             

St. Bonaventure came out of half strong, taking control as it grew the lead to 15.

A cold spell made things closer, however, as the Bonnies went scoreless over a 3:49 span that allowed Rhody to close within 53-43.

Osunniyi worked his way to the line to end the drought and a three from Lofton stretched the lead back to 13 with 6:37 to play, effectively ending Rhody's chances.

Makhi Mitchell posted 14 points for Rhode Island.

GAME NOTES

• St. Bonaventure has the longest active streak of 10-plus victories during conference play for any program in the Atlantic 10. Since the start of the 2014-15 season, the Bonnies are 93-44 in conference action.
• The Bonnies shot 45 percent from the floor and owned a 32-28 advantage in rebounding.
• Rhode Island went just 2-for-15 from long range.
•  Reigning A-10 Co-Player of the Week Dominick Welch finished with nine points and nine rebounds.
• Jaren Holmes tallied 11 points and four assists.
• Adaway entered the day averaging 17.3 ppg in A-10 games, fifth among league players, and beat that before halftime.  

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MARK SCHMIDT

"I thought we played really well, our defense was able to carry us tonight. To outplay a team with their ability down low was very important and to hold them to three offensive rebounds was key. Jalen was terrific in the first half; Kyle and Jaren shared the ball well tonight.

"We have a veteran team that has a sense of urgency; our goal was to go 4-0 at home and we did that. We're not finished, we have to keep working.

"The key is to get stuff in the open court and off of turnovers, and it was critical that we were able to do those things.

"I was really proud to see Jalen rebounding on the defensive end tonight and he did a great job, along with 'Shoon and Karim, to defend down low.

"It was fun to see 'Shoon hit a three tonight."

UP NEXT
St. Bonaventure travels to Saint Joseph's to play the Hawks at 6 p.m. on CBS Sports Network Saturday evening.

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