RICHMOND, Va. – A battle to the wire between two of the Atlantic 10's preseason favorites went the way of the host Richmond Spiders Friday night, 71-61.
Friday's game closely resembled last year's battle in the Commonwealth of Virginia, with the squads swapping the lead often throughout the evening. Richmond, thanks in large part to Tyler Burton, who led the way with a career-best 36 points, was able to hold a two-possession lead for much of the second half.
Bona trailed by just three with 2:48 to play following a straightaway three from Jalen Adaway, but each time the visitors appeared ready to sway the tide, there was Burton, who went 13-for-20 from the floor.
Ultimately, that would be as close as the Bonnies would get in the final minutes.
Adaway led the scoring for the Brown and White at 16 points with Dominick Welch posting 11. Osun Osunniyi recorded 10 points and seven rebounds.
The first half was back-and-forth as the teams exchanged six lead changes and shared three ties in the opening 20 minutes. The contest was tied, 29-29, late in the half before the Spiders finished the stanza on a 9-2 break to take a 38-31 advantage to the locker room.
St. Bonaventure (12-7, 4-4 A-10) would turn the tide in the second half, though, opening on a 10-4 run, highlighted by a 3-pointer from Dominick Welch for his 1,000th career point as the Bonnies pulled back within a point.
Bona's charge continued as a three from Adaway in front of his own bench gave the Bonnies a two-point edge with 12 minutes to go.
Richmond (15-8, 6-4) finished the game shooting 47 percent overall, the same as SBU. Bona hit three more shots from long range – nine as opposed to six from UR, but Richmond went 13-for-15 at the charity stripe and St. Bonaventure hit two of just five attempts.
GAME NOTES
- Welch became the 46th player in program history to reach the 1,000-point scoring total in a Bonnies uniform. He is now the third active 1,000-point scorer on the roster, joining Kyle Lofton and Jalen Adaway, who accomplished the feat with two programs.
- Richmond won the battle of the boards, 35-24, and held a 15-11 edge in paint scoring.
- Bona's eight free throw attempts were a season-low.
UP NEXT
The Bonnies return home to take on Fordham at 7 p.m. Tuesday night inside the Reilly Center. That game was rescheduled from its original date of Jan. 5.
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