ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Wearing the familiar brown, white and gold trimmed uniforms made famous by the 1969-70 Final Four squad, the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team matched the impressive start that team raced out to 55 years ago by finishing non-conference play at 12-1.

To get there, the Bonnies again led nearly wire-to-wire in a rivalry game as they dispatched Niagara, 71-52, Saturday afternoon at the Reilly Center.

Lajae Jones matched his Division I career-high in scoring with 16 points to go along with eight rebounds while Chance Moore also finished with 16 points to pace the scoring.

All five Bonnies starters reached double-figure points: Melvin Council Jr. filled up the stat sheet with 14 points, eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals; Noel Brown recorded 13 points as well as seven rebounds and Jonah Hinton posted 10 points.

The story again was Bona's stifling defense which has been one of the best in the nation through the non-conference schedule.

SBU held Niagara to just under 26 percent shooting during the first half as the Bonnies pulled away.

A 22-5 run over a nine-minute period ending the first half and opening the second put the hosts in complete control. After a nothing-but-nylon trey from Council finished an 8-0 break out of the locker room to start the second half, the Bonnies lead stood at 43-22.

Melvin beats the buzzer ?? pic.twitter.com/toCf7CZO2w

— Bonnies Men's Basketball (@BonniesMBB) December 21, 2024

The Bonnies came out fast out of the blocks, opening the game on a 13-3 run, seemingly buoyed by the energy of their 1970 Final Four throwback uniforms.

That cushion quickly shrank to 13-11, however, as Niagara immediately answered.

Things remained within two possessions for nearly the entire half from that point before the Bonnies went on another 12-2 run to end the half. Bona seized all the momentum heading into the locker room as Council drained a three just before the halftime buzzer for a 33-20 lead.

From there, the Bonnies never truly let control slip away.

It helped that the Bonnies were sinking threes at a not-before-seen rate thus far this year – their 11 triples were three more than in any game prior to Saturday this season.

Jones was extremely efficient from the floor, sinking six of his eight tries overall including four of five three-point attempts. Council drained four treys and Hinton connected on the remaining three.

Olumide Adelodun kept things respectable for Niagara as he caught fire in the second half, hitting five threes and finishing with a game-high 19 points for the Purple Eagles (5-7).

St. Bonaventure out-rebounded Niagara 36-30 and turned the ball over just seven times. While Niagara had only 12 turnovers, the Bonnies finished with 17 points off turnovers to NU's zero.

GAME NOTES

• St. Bonaventure matches the 12-1 start through 13 games tallied by the 1969-70 Final Four squad. Bona's last start to a season that was better came in 1967-68 when SBU started 23-0. Only twice has Bona opened up with a stronger record through the first 13 games of a season: '67-68 and 1951-52 (16-0). The Bonnies also have their best non-conference record in the program's Atlantic 10 era dating to 1979-80.
• Bona's defense held an opponent under 60 points for the eighth time in 13 contests.
• SBU improved to 91-71 all-time against Niagara.
• With a 26-14 margin of points in the paint, the Bonnies have not been outscored inside in any game this year, standing +158 in point paints through non-conference play. The 26 paint points tie the team's season low, however, matching the total in the season-opening win vs. CSUN.
• Bona had five players in double figures for the third time this year, also doing so in wins at Canisius and vs. Le Moyne.
• Council tallied a season-high seven assists just one game after registering seven steals Tuesday at Siena.
• Adelodun's 19 points are the most points scored by any Bonnies opposing player since the second game of the season at Canisius.
• Jones was named the Bonnies Player of the Game, earning the team's WWE title belt. 

 

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MARK SCHMIDT
"We got off to a great start, then went into a bit of a lull. I thought Melvin's shot going into halftime was a big momentum swing and a key for us. The first five minutes of the second half were critical to our win today."

"I thought our defense was good for the most part. Give (Adelodun) a lot of credit; he shot the ball really well. but our guys really locked in from a defensive standpoint. We aren't going to make 11 threes every game, we have to play winning with defense, rebounding and taking care of the basketball. Today we had only seven turnovers, 13 assists, those are good numbers."

"We're going into our second season starting Dec. 31. It's great to be 12-1, but that's not going to help us when we play VCU. When we play, there are portions of the game where we play really well and portions where we don't. We have to play better individually and as a team to get where we want to be. VCU was picked to win our league, so we will have a huge test right out of the gates."

UP NEXT
St. Bonaventure will break for the holidays before returning home to open Atlantic 10 play vs. VCU at the Reilly Center on Dec. 31. Tip time is scheduled for 2 p.m. and tickets are available by clicking here. 

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