ST. BONAVENTURE (13-12, 7-5 A-10) at DUQUESNE (16-8, 6-5 A-10)
Saturday, Feb. 11 – 12:30 p.m.
Pittsburgh, Pa.
TV: USA Network

• St. Bonaventure meets Duquesne in the second meeting of the year between the Bonnies and Dukes. SBU won the first game at home, 65-56, on Jan. 18.
• The Bonnies had a three-game winning streak snapped by La Salle Wednesday night, 76-70. Bona has allowed 70 points to an opponent in A-10 play just three times, all losses. Entering the week, the Bonnies ranked third in the conference in fewest points allowed per game (66) and led the league, and ranked sixth nationally, by holding opponents to just 27.7% from 3-point shots. La Salle, though, hit nine first half 3s and finished with 10 for the night. No Bona's opponent had hit more than eight 3s in a game since Saint Louis registered 10 on Jan. 7, a span of eight games. Over that span, opponents averaged just over five treys per game before La Salle doubled that total.
• Freshman Yann Farell was named the Atlantic 10 Rookie of the Week for the fourth time on Monday. Farell averaged 14.5 points in two games last week, pouring in a team-best 18 in a win at Richmond before adding 11 points and three assists vs. Dayton. He shot 10-for-16 overall from the floor during the week and was successful on 7-of-10 tries from long distance. He now has more Rookie of the Week honors this year than any other A-10 newcomer and is one of just three players in SBU program history to take the award four or more times, joining Alvin Lott who did so five times in 1983-84 and Andrew Nicholson who owns the program record of six awards in 2008-09.
• All five Bonnies starters have scored in double figures in back-to-back games.
• Chad Venning is averaging 15.8 ppg in the last four games, reaching double figures in each. He's matched a career-best with four straight double-figure efforts, the third time he has done so this year. At nearly 16 points per contest, its his highest-scoring four-game output in his collegiate career.

PREVIOUS MEETING
St. Bonaventure 71, Duquesne 63 (1/18/23)
St. Bonaventure raced out to a big early advantage and had to hold off a Duquesne rally late for a 65-56 victory at the Reilly Center.

Four Bona players reached double figures with Daryl Banks III showing the way with 15 points, four assists and four steals.

Chad Venning added 12 points while Yann Farell chipped in 11 points and six rebounds and Kyrell Luc posted 10 points, eight rebounds and four assists.

St. Bonaventure roared out of the gates, racing out to a 20-3 lead over the game's first seven minutes while sinking seven of eight tries from the floor overall and four of five from long range. The Dukes stumbled to a 1-for-14 start on field goal attempts.

The Dukes made it interesting in the second half as a Jimmy Clark jumper brought the score to 63-56 with 2:24 left, but the Bonnies defense did not allow the Dukes to score the rest of the way.


SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 131st meeting between the longtime A-10 rivals. St. Bonaventure leads the series, 70-60. St. Bonaventure has won 14 of the last 15, and 20 of 23, but nine of the last 15 games have been decided by six or fewer points and this year's first game was an eight-point spread.

In 103 seasons of basketball, the Bonnies have only played Western New York rivals Canisius (170 meetings) and Niagara (160) more than Duquesne. 

St. Bonaventure is 11-1 vs. the Dukes since Keith Dambrot took over in 2017-18, with the one loss being an overtime defeat in 2020 at the Reilly Center. 


ABOUT DUQUESNE

• Duquesne went 10-3 during non-conference play and currently stands 6-5 in A-10 play. The Dukes are winners of two in a row after exploding offensively for a 93-67 win at GW last weekend before dominating George Mason at home Wednesday, 75-52.
• Junior guard Dae Dae Grant leads the team with 15.7 ppg. Grant is in his first A-10 season but scored over 1,100 points in three seasons at Miami (OH). Backcourt mate Jimmy Clark III came to Duquesne from VCU where he played the 2020 and 2021 seasons before leading Northwest Florida to the junior college national title last year. He averages 12.2 ppg this season.
• The Dukes are 13-3 on home court this season and just 2-5 on the road.
• Duquesne was picked 15^th in the A-10 preseason poll, but pollsters had little to go on in their predictions – the Dukes brought in 10 newcomers including five transfers and they needed just eight games to surpass last year's season win total of six (6-24).
• The Dukes rank third in A-10 scoring with 56.0 ppg. Defensively, they're eighth, allowing 69 ppg.

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