PHILADELPHIA – During its six-game winning streak heading into Saturday's game, the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team had been dominant for the most part by winning each game in convincing fashion.

There would be no style points against Saint Joseph's on Hawk Hill, just grit, as the Bonnies rallied in the waning minutes to extend their win streak to seven with a 54-52 victory.

"We gutted it out. We found a way to win; it wasn't pretty, but some games are going to be like this, especially on the road," head coach Mark Schmidt said. "It was like a rock fight, but I thought we defended. We gave up too many 3s, but our guys fought. The last 30 seconds, they did a really good job on baseline out of bounds defense. We found a way and this time of year it is about winning games. It doesn't matter how it looks."

With the win, St. Bonaventure improves to 19-7 overall and 11-4 in Atlantic 10 play, continuing to control their own destiny in the pursuit of a double-bye at the upcoming conference tournament.

Saint Joseph's owned a 45-37 lead with under 12 minutes to play as the Bonnies began to chip away.

The complexion of the game changed when Osun Osunniyi exited with an injury with less than 8:30 to play.

St. Bonaventure found a way as Abdoul Karim Coulibaly played key minutes down the stretch. His jumper with just over four minutes left gave the Bonnies their first lead since the early minutes, 49-47, but it would be short-lived as Taylor Funk delivered a three on the Hawks' next trip down the floor.

Following the final media timeout, Jaren Holmes put the Bonnies back on top with a drive of the lane as 2:24 showed on the clock, but Jordan Hall gave the Hawks the lead again with 1:55 left.

As the seconds ticked away, the Bonnies moved ahead for good in emphatic fashion.

Following a timeout, the Bonnies executed their play call to perfection as Holmes tossed an alley-oop to Jalen Adaway and his thunderous dunk gave the Brown and White a 53-52 edge with 38 seconds to go.

Then the defense kicked in.

Dominick Welch drew a huge charge call against the Hawks on a drive by Ejike Obinna with 11 seconds remaining. He would then hit on one of two tries at the line following a Joe's foul, but two defensive stands sealed the victory.

First, with three seconds to go, Coulibaly blocked the game-tying try in the lane from Erik Reynolds II. After the ball went out of bounds to the Hawks, a timeout from the hosts set up one last chance. Holmes tipped the inbounds pass which fell into the arms of Kyle Lofton as time expired.

Cue the exhale from Bonnies fans.

"Karim gave us toughness, rebounding and post defense," Schmidt said. "That's what guys have to do when someone goes down, it's next man up, and that's what he did."

A 12-2 run from the Hawks allowed the hosts to take a 25-24 edge to the locker room which extended to four on a Jordan Hall trey on the first possession of the second half. The Hawks would lead for 23 minutes before the Bonnies finally chipped away.

Adaway led the visitors with 14 points, adding seven rebounds and three steals.

Lofton delivered 12 points, eight rebounds and four assists while Welch finished with 11 points. Osunniyi recorded six points, seven rebounds and five blocks.

Funk logged a game-high 19 points and 10 rebounds for the Hawks (10-17, 4-12).

GAME NOTES

• Saint Joseph's owned a 41-37 edge in rebounding as the Bonnies moved to 4-5 when losing the battle of the boards this season.
• In a game where offense was at a premium, the Bonnies shot 38 percent from the floor and the Hawks finished at 36 percent. Nearly all of the Hawks offense came from the perimeter as 11 of their 19 made field goals for the night came from long range while the Bonnies finished 2-for-18 from deep. Both of SBU's three-pointers came from Welch.
• St. Bonaventure led the points in the paint battle by a 30-10 margin, moving to +226 in the painted area this season.
• Osunniyi passed the late George Carter, '67, for fifth in the Bonnies career record books for rebounding with 854 boards. He moved within two blocks of the school swats record held by Caswell Cyrus, '00 (289). 
• Head coach Mark Schmidt took over sole possession of fifth all-time in Atlantic 10 history for conference victories with his 140th, breaking a tie with former Bonnies and Rhode Island head coach Jim Baron. 
• St. Bonaventure is now 42-14 during the month of February since 2016.
• Holmes finished with nine points, six assists and five rebounds and played a key role defensively, especially on the game's final play.

UP NEXT
The Bonnies remain on the road, heading to play at VCU Tuesday night at 8:30 p.m. in a game televised on CBS Sports Network. 

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