EAST AURORA, N.Y. – A tremendous afternoon round allowed the St. Bonaventure golf team to surge past Canisius and reclaim the Little Three Championship for the eighth straight year with an eight-shot victory Tuesday afternoon on a sunny and hot day at Crag Burn Golf Course.

Canisius made a bid to steal the Little Three trophy early, heading into the second round ahead by four shots after posting 292 in the morning to St. Bonaventure's 296 and a team tally of 297 from Niagara.

In the second 18, however, it was all Bonnies as they soared to a 283 score – 12 shots better than the Griffs. Bona's finished the day atop the leaderboard at 579 while Canisius came home at 587 and Niagara settled for 603.

Junior Michael Bucko tied for medalist honors at 2-under par 142 along with Mikey Takacs of Canisius.

Bucko shot matching rounds of 1-under 71 for his best career showing at Little Three. He opened the day with five birdies in the first round and kept momentum going by making birdie on the par-5 second and par-4 third as the second round got underway.

He had it rolling on the front nine, going out in 3-under 33, but found trouble with a bogey and a double on the 12^th and 13^th. He immediately responded with a birdie on the par-5 14^th and played at even par the rest of the way home to remain in red figures and tie atop the leaderboard.

The story of the second round, though, was Bonnies freshman Dante Bertoni.

In just his second collegiate tournament, the former New York State high school champion shot a disappointing 79 in the morning round after a strong start.

After the mid-day break, however, he was nearly unstoppable.

Bertoni birdied the first two holes of the second round then, after three pars, drained four consecutive birdies to play the front nine in an eye-popping 6-under 30. He got it to 8-under through 13 before ending the day with a sparkling round of 68, the best of the tournament for any of the 23 competitors in the field. His final total of 147 was good for sixth overall.

Ryan Edholm (-1) and Jake Dantonio (+1) of Canisius and Niagara's Ben Hebert (+2) completed the top-five overall.

Junior Caleb Decker responded impressively with a final round of 70 after a morning tally of 78 and tied for seventh with freshman teammate Braddock Damore who was solid all day with matching rounds of 74.

Graduate student Peter Byrne placed ninth (73-76/149). Also in the lineup for the Bonnies was junior Gabe Williams (78-80/158).

Playing as individuals, freshmen Andrew Murray (77-76/153) and Nick Cecchini (80-76/156) placed 12^th and 13^th respectively on the individual leaderboard.

The Bonnies remain undefeated in the Little Three Championship under head coach Ryan Swanson – a perfect 12-0. He won four crowns as a student-athlete and now has led the Bonnies to the title in each season as head coach since taking over the program in 2016 after Canisius won back-to-back in 2014 and 2015.

Tuesday was the 70^th edition of the tournament and the Bonnies continue what is their longest winning streak in the event's history. Bona's has long dominated Little Three Golf, capturing 46 of 70 championships all-time over their Western New York rivals.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH RYAN SWANSON
"Round one was sloppy, we threw some shots away coming in. We were neck-and-neck with Canisius and Niagara for the first 14 holes, but then got sloppy on the greens. We got back out there for the second round and a couple of the guys really got it going."

"Michael is a little disappointed; he feels he gave a couple shots away on the greens coming in, but he was rock solid and just super steady which is what we needed today. He's really been playing well and is continuing to be a leader for us."

"Dante was 8-under in the middle of the 14^th fairway, a par-5 and ended up putting it in the water and made double and made a 3-putt par for 68. It may have been a little fatigue at the end, but to shoot 68 is just awesome around this course. He was going really low and had the other teams looking over their shoulder at what he was doing. We haven't had a freshman play that well in recent memory. He was just on fire for most of the second round in a way I haven't seen in recent years. It was awesome to see him perform the way he did today."

"Canisius is tough and a lot of their guys play here regularly. They played great golf and put the pressure on, but I'm pumped with how our young team responded in the afternoon round. Caleb was first guy out on the course in the second round and to get a 70 in the house was huge to get us going with a tremendous bounce back round. Dante did what he did and Braddock finished birdie-birdie. I couldn't be prouder of these young guys right now. Our goal is to keep the Little Three trophy every year and these guys really responded on a course that a lot of them had never seen before. It was great to see and hopefully sets the tone for the next six weeks."

UP NEXT
The Bonnies head to Nashport, Ohio to play for the first time in the Virtues Intercollegiate held at Virtues Golf Club Sept. 28-29.

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