BRONX, N.Y. – St. Bonaventure started 2025 much the way the squad finished 2024, with another convincing victory, 86-66, Saturday afternoon over Fordham at Rose Hill Gym.

Melvin Council Jr. continued his tear after taking over the starting point guard duties last month, pouring in 24 points while filling the stat sheet with eight assists and five steals.

Jonah Hinton one-upped his effort from earlier in the week when he set a career-high in scoring in the win over VCU Tuesday by immediately establishing another career-best of 17 points along with a personal high of seven rebounds as well.

The superlatives rolled on as Lajae Jones tallied his first Division I double-double of 16 points and 10 boards while Noel Brown chipped in 14 points.

In all, it was another impressive win for a Bonaventure squad that now stands 14-1 on the year and 2-0 in Atlantic 10 action.

Things were clicking offensively early and often for the Bonnies despite battling first half foul trouble.

Brown was forced to the bench with his second foul just over nine minutes in, but he was replaced by freshman Xander Wedlow who provided quality minutes in the post.

By the under-8 media timeout, Chance Moore and Hinton had two fouls as well – along with Wedlow – but the Bonnies were not deterred.

Fordham (8-7, 0-2) closed within a point following an 8-0 run for a 26-25 tally, but the visitors immediately responded.

A 10-0 Bona sprint fueled by Council and Hinton had the Bona fans in attendance roaring and Rose Hill sounding more like a home venue for the Brown and White.

After starting 9-for-14 from the floor as a team, the Bonnies shot 55 percent for the first half and ran to the locker room with a 43-30 cushion.

Bona kept that momentum up after halftime by stretching its advantage to 51-34 following a steal and fastbreak bucket by Council, but Fordham would momentarily quiet the Bonnies faithful.

An 8-0 stretch by the Rams closed the margin back down to 51-42, however, the Bonnies quickly put an end to the thoughts of a rally.

St. Bonaventure roared back with an 11-0 run, effectively putting the game on ice as Moore pushed the lead to 20 with a corner trey.

Bona led in just about every category including on the boards (34-27), in the paint (40-26) and turned it over just nine times. The Bonnies even led in fastbreak points 16-10, a category that has been the bread and butter of the Rams so far this season.

Jackie Johnson III, one of the A-10's leading scorers, posted 21 points for Fordham.

GAME NOTES

• Council matched his season high of 24 points, also posted in a win over Providence last month, while setting a new career-best of eight assists. His previous best of seven dimes came in the non-conference finale vs. Niagara on Dec. 21.
• Council also recorded his second game of five or more steals – he had seven in a win at Siena.
• Hinton had 16 points for his previous D-I high vs. VCU before posting 17 in Saturday's win. His four 3-pointers are a new career-high as well.
• Bona's top scorer and rebounder, Chance Moore, along with Noel Brown each played under five minutes during the first half due to foul trouble. Moore would finish the day with nine points and four boards.
• Jones posted his first career Division I double-double and bested his previous D-I high of eight on the boards, set three different times.
• Council has 45 points in two career games at Rose Hill Gym – he poured in 21 Nov. 6, 2023 in his Division I debut in that building while with Wagner last season.
• SBU beat the Rams at their own game by recording 11 steals – Fordham had just five steals after entering the day with 8.5 per game.
• The Bonnies moved to 5-0 on the road and extended their winning streak to eight, the nation's fifth-longest active tally.
• Bonaventure has its ninth 2-0 start to Atlantic 10 play including for the third time in the last four seasons.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MARK SCHMIDT
"One of our concerns coming into the game is that they create chaos. Fordham pressures and for us to only have eight turnovers, we had a ninth running out the clock at the end, that was huge. It says a lot. Melvin, eight assists and three turnovers. He was outstanding. Chance got in foul trouble early and the bench really responded. Xander and Noah (Bolanga) came in and gave us a lift."

"We kept the ball in front of us better than we did against VCU and we rebounded the ball. They're a team that's top-20 in the open court in the country so we did a really good job."

"Half the arena was Bonaventure. We had a great crowd. Give our Bonaventure alums a ton of credit; it felt like the Reilly Center in there."

UP NEXT
St. Bonaventure now travels west to take on Saint Louis on Wednesday night. That contest is slated to tip off at 8 p.m. CST/9 p.m. EST with a national broadcast on Peacock.



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