ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Though the Bonnies had trailed for the entirety of the second half, a three-pointer from Charles Pride brought the Reilly Center crowd to a roar as the hosts pulled within two with 4:30 to play.

Following a Fordham timeout, Japhet Medor's jumper made it a two-possession game again, quieting the crowd.

It was that kind of an uphill battle for the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team as for every punch the Bonnies figuratively threw, the Rams counterpunched and remained one step ahead on the way to an 80-74 decision for Fordham.

Time and again over the final five minutes, the Bonnies would pull within a basket only to watch the Rams come up with a key score to keep the hosts from taking control.

The Bonnies (10-5, 1-2 A-10) tied the game, 70-70, on free throws by Daryl Banks III with 1:41 to play, but Abdou Tsimbila's only bucket of the game followed and Bona would never draw even again.

Chad Venning scored a game-high 22 points, hauling in seven rebounds as well. Pride finished with a double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds.

Venning scored Bona's first seven points and both he and backup center Noel Brown were formidable inside as they combined for 20 of the team's first 34 points for an early lead.

St. Bonaventure led for nearly 11 minutes during the first half, but the Rams began to take control late in the half and took a 44-39 advantage to intermission.

Fordham (8-8, 2-1) would never trail again.

In the waning moments, Pride's traditional three-point play made it a 76-74 score with 13 seconds left, but the Rams made their free throws to ice the game.

Kyle Rose scored 19 points to power the Rams while Medor checked in with 16 and Elijah Gray had 10.

Fordham shot 51 percent for the game to Bona's 40 percent, though the Bonnies owned a 32-26 margin in the paint and 18-7 in second chance points.

GAME NOTES

• Venning was one point off his career-best of 23 points set twice including last month at Buffalo.
• Pride had his 20th career double-double and first with the Bonnies as his 11 rebounds are a new season-best.
• The Bonnies went 20-for-22 at the foul line while Fordham was 15-23.
• Fordham connected on nine threes for the day (9-25) while the Bonnies went 6-18 from distance.
• Mika Adams-Woods tallied 11 points.
• Moses Flowers gave the Bonnies a fourth player with double-figure scoring as he tallied 10 points off the bench.
• Brown finished with eight points in a reserve role.
• Both teams had single-digit turnovers with nine apiece.
• The game snapped what was a streak of six straight wins in A-10 home openers for Bona's.
• Fordham has now won three straight games over the Bonnies for the first time since winning seven in a row from 2005-08.

UP NEXT
The Bonnies will look to rebound when they host Rhode Island Wednesday night at the Reilly Center. Tip time is scheduled for 7 p.m.

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