ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – St. Bonaventure entered Saturday's regular season finale controlling its own destiny, in need of a win to secure its first-ever regular season MAAC title.

With rival Canisius in town, though, things were anything but easy as both teams exchanged thrilling rallies before the Bonnies finally held on for a drama-filled 13-12 victory in front of a large Marra Athletics Complex crowd.

Bona's locked in the top seed in the MAAC Tournament, wrapping the regular season at 10-3 overall and 5-1 in conference play.

"It means the world and it's absolutely incredible. I'm just so proud of our guys," St. Bonaventure head coach Randy Mearns said. "It's been four years and we've taken a lot of lumps. We lost momentum and to see our guys respond was great. To win the conference regular season championship in four years, no one can take that away. We're going to celebrate now, but there's still a long way to go and we'll get ready for the conference championship on Thursday."

On a day where the Bonnies honored their 23 seniors, three players who helped set the foundation for the program as part of Bona's initial recruiting class proved to be the heroes.

Seniors Sean Westley (five goals, six total points) and Jackson Rose (three goals, five total points) combined for 11 points and classmate Ben Mazur got his shining moment by making six saves off the bench to secure the win.

St. Bonaventure seized momentum following the emotion of introducing its memorable senior class in pregame, scoring on the first possession on a strike from Westley.

Bona's owned the first half and led by a 6-2 tally after 30 minutes.

Canisius (2-12, 1-5) had little to play for besides a rivalry win with the Griffs eliminated from postseason competition, but the visitors would not go away quietly.

The Griffs scored seven times before the third quarter was 10 minutes old, roaring ahead 9-7, powered by three goals from Jacob Buck.

Westley, assisted by Cian Collins, snapped the Griffs run momentarily to get back within one, but Ethan Coughlin scored for a 10-8 score heading for the final quarter.

Zach Owens and Conor Murphy connected for a much-needed score to begin the fourth quarter, then, after winning the ensuing faceoff, Westley took a pass from Rose for a 10-10 tie just 12 seconds later.

Westley and Rose combined again with 12:35 to play with the MAAC's goals leader serving as a facilitator once more for an 11-10 Bonnies edge.

The pendulum would swing back in favor of the Griffs as Hunter Parucki tied things up once more with 9:46 left.

Rose would put the Bonnies ahead for good, this time working with another freshman, the reigning MAAC Rookie of the Week Anthony Cimino, with 7:05 to play.

Westley netted what would end up being the game-winner with 6:02 to play for a 13-11 score that stood for over four minutes before Andrew Schermerhorn brought Griffs back within one as 1:50 showed on the game clock.

Austin Holley won the next key faceoff, allowing the Bonnies to drain the clock to 30 seconds before a Murphy shot was denied by Griffs goalie Matt Vavonese.

The Bonnies defense forced a failed clear and Griffs turnover, though, caused by Murphy which allowed a Brady Wijbrandts groundball to all but seal victory.

St. Bonaventure will play fourth-seeded Siena in the MAAC semifinals Thursday with game time to be determined. The MAAC final four will be hosted by Marist in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Second-seeded Marist will play Manhattan in the other semifinal. Bona's and Marist tied at 5-1 in the league standings, but the Bonnies earned the tiebreaker via its win at Marist last month.

Mazur stepped up in a clutch role over the final 20 minutes, taking over after Canisius surged ahead 9-7. 

"Hats off to Ben Mazur. When we needed a spark, he gave it to us," Mearns said. "He's been such an incredible leader and is an inspiration to our team. When it was his time to have his name called, he answered the bell."

Buck delivered four goals for Canisius and Vavonese made eight saves. Brett Dobson started and made 10 saves for SBU.

GAME NOTES

• The Bonnies extended their home winning streak to 10 straight games, finishing with a 6-0 record on home turf this season. 
• Jake Emmick added a goal for the Bonnies while Murphy had a goal and an assist.
• Mazur earned his first career win in net.
• Belter posted three caused turnovers and three groundballs. Wijbrandts had a team-high eight groundballs. 
• Anthony Cimino handed out two assists. Rose also had two assists, giving him three on the season along with 34 goals, a program record.
• Andrew Hersey had a caused turnover and three groundballs. Jack Almond won seven faceoffs. 
• Westley's five goals tie his own mark for a Bona's season-best and were one off his program record of six set vs. Siena last year.
• Thursday's semifinal matchup will be a rematch of an April 16 game won by the Saints in comeback fashion in Albany.