ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – St. Bonaventure's Thanksgiving eve contest vs. visiting Bucknell in the Reilly Center wasn't the prettiest, but in the end, the result was tasty enough as the Bonnies held on for a 67-61 victory Wednesday night.

Moses Flowers and Mika Adams-Woods each tallied 16 points apiece to power the win, with Adams-Woods handing out four assists. Charles Pride did a little bit of everything as he registered 11 points, seven rebounds, five assists, and four steals.

Points were not easy to come by, however, especially at the start of both halves.

The Bonnies went 6:06 before scoring their first point – a free throw from Daryl Banks III – and the first field goal from the hosts did not come until the game was nearly seven minutes old.

Luckily for Bona, though, the shots weren't exactly raining in from Bucknell either as the two teams combined to start 1-for-19 from the floor and the Bison mustered just three points before Banks finally got the Bonnies on the board.

The ice finally thawed, though, as the Bonnies used a 9-2 run to take a 32-26 lead into halftime.

Unfortunately for the Bonnies, the second half started much like the first as they went the first four minutes out of the locker room without a point as the Bison struggled to move closer.

With the game at a 41-39 score at the halfway mark of the second period, the Bonnies finally opened things up with a 13-3 sprint fueled by a pair of treys from Adams-Woods and another by Banks.

Bucknell (2-5) continued to hang around, closing to within 56-60 with 3:47 left, but Adams-Woods answered again with a floater in the lane.

Bona eventually extended its lead back to double digits, 61-50, with 1:59 to go following a three ball by Flowers, but the Bison clawed back to within 63-59 with 29 seconds on the clock.

Forced to foul, the Bison sent Adams-Woods to the line where he made good on both tries, ultimately sinking four in a row at the charity stripe down the stretch to put the game away.

Jack Forrest posted a game-high 18 points for Bucknell, adding seven rebounds. Ian Motta also added 12 points for the visitors.

GAME NOTES

• Adams-Woods was honored in pre-game for reaching 1,000 career points last time out vs. Auburn. He is now one of four 1,000-point scorers on the Bona roster along with Banks III, Pride and Flowers. Only St. John's and TCU have more active 1,000-point scorers on their rosters.
• The Bonnies improved to 6-2 all-time vs. Bucknell, avenging a 2018 loss to the Bison at home. The recent contests have all been close – the last two meetings between the schools went to overtime.
• The Bonnies forced Bucknell into 17 turnovers and held an 18-5 margin in points off turnovers on the night.
• Bona won the battle of the boards, 31-24, including 11 offensive rebounds to Bucknell's three.
• Bona's bench contributed 22 points, 16 of which came from Flowers who accounted for 54 percent of the Bona bench scoring while serving as the team's sixth man a year ago.
• Barry Evans added six points, six rebounds and two steals off the bench as well.

 
QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MARK SCHMIDT
"Their 1-2-2 matchup gave us some problems even though we knew they were going to do it and we practiced against it, we just didn't get the ball into the high post the way we needed to. I thought Moses and Barry were big contributors in the first half and they gave us a big lift."

"We shot the ball much better in the second half. Did a decent job on the backboards. Did a decent job on their nose at the three. We're nowhere near where we need to be. Offensively, we're disjointed. Nothing's really smooth, but I thought we played hard on defense."
 
"I thought defensively we hung in there. When you're not scoring you better defend. That's what happened against Auburn and Canisius we didn't score and we stopped playing defense. Today we played defense and that was a positive."
 
"Our defense was consistent. That's always going to be the staple. It's just offensively we're not making the shots; we're not creating the shots for other guys. We have to get much better on offense."
 
QUOTES FROM BONNIES STUDENT-ATHLETES
"I'm just trying do what I can to help the team win. Help give energy to the guys. That's my job coming off the bench just hit shots, play defense, and bring energy." – Moses Flowers
 
"I'm just getting comfortable with the new guys. Everyone welcomed me with open arms. I'm getting more comfortable  every day. Just keep working everyday and learning.  We started making shots down the stretch and we defended. That led to offense. Games like that you have to keep playing hard, keep getting in the paint. If your shots aren't falling early just keep getting shots. We just have to keep working together and keep finding each other and as the year goes on we'll get more comfortable." – Mika Adams-Woods
 
UP NEXT
The Bonnies remain at home to host Miami (OH) Saturday afternoon. Tip time at the Reilly Center is scheduled for 2 p.m.

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