ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – The home cooking still works.

St. Bonaventure moved to 8-1 on the season on home court, this time led by backcourt mates Moses Flowers and Daryl Banks III who tallied 20 points apiece to power the Bonnies to a 71-63 victory Saturday afternoon over visiting Richmond at the Reilly Center.

Flowers went 7-for-9 from the floor with a season-best 20, also going 9-of-10 from the foul line while sinking three of four tries from beyond the arc.

The Bonnies (9-9, 3-2 A-10) trailed for much of the first half and were down 29-23 after a sluggish first 20 minutes, but seized control with a 25-6 run over a 10-minute span of the second half.

"It was a great victory for our guys. We've been struggling rebounding and getting to the foul line, but we were able to change those things tonight," St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. "It wasn't always pretty but our defense really carried us. Defense has to be the staple, and I thought we defended really well, especially in the first half when we were struggling offensively."

Kyrell Luc, who finished with 17 points, gave the Bonnies the lead with a traditional three-point play seven minutes into the second stanza.

Richmond followed with free throws, but Flowers delivered a bucket plus the foul on the next trip as the Bonnies were rolling.

During the game-changing sprint, Flowers was at the head of the charge, scoring 15 points after intermission. His three with 7:15 remaining gave the Bonnies their largest lead, 56-41.

Richmond (10-8, 3-2) made one last gasp, pulling within four, 59-55, with 2:50 left following a three-ball from Tyler Burton.

Luc worked his way to the line and made good on both attempts on Bona's next trip down the floor, leading into an Anquan Hill block on the defensive end.

Banks then provided the dagger, a step back three with 1:37 to play, pushing the lead to nine and putting the game effectively on ice.

The game's first five minutes went without a point on either end of the floor before Burton provided the opening points with a dunk for the Spiders, winners of their last three games entering the weekend.

St. Bonaventure's drought lasted longer, until Banks made two free throws at the 14:27 mark. After an 0-for-9 start from the floor, Flowers finally broke through for the Bonnies' first field goal eight minutes into the contest.

While St. Bonaventure connected on just 26 percent of its first half efforts, the offense came alive in a second half that saw the Bonnies sink 15 of 31 tries.

Matt Grace led Richmond with 16 points with Burton adding 15.

"Anquan gave us a big lift. Moses hit some big, big shots. Anouar played really good defense on their big guy and Barry did a really good job on Burton who is one of the best players in our league," Schmidt said. "It was a team victory. Our guys are learning; we are going to get better offensively, but it was a really good win against a strong team."
 
GAME NOTES

• Flowers is averaging nearly 17 points per game over the past three contests, the best on the team.
• Chad Venning provided seven points and two blocks.
• Anquan Hill hauled in a season-best 10 rebounds. His career-high of 11 came nearly a year ago vs. LIU when he was playing for Fairleigh Dickinson.
• St. Bonaventure has won eight of the last 10 meetings with Richmond and has not lost to the Spiders on home court since 2015.
• The Bonnies won the battle of the boards, 34-32, and committed just eight turnovers while forcing 15 from Richmond.
• SBU went 19-for-23 from the line and 8-for-21 from long distance.

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