ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. -- Cayden Charles and Frank Mitchell each recorded double-doubles as the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team overcame a 14-point second-half deficit to defeat Colgate, 85-77, on Wednesday night (Dec. 10) at the Reilly Center.  
 
Charles posted a season-best 20 points with 10 rebounds while shooting 60 percent (9-for-15) from the field. Mitchell had 19 points and a season-best 18 rebounds, becoming the first St. Bonaventure player since Andrew Nicholson in 2012 to tally 18-or-more points and rebounds in a single game.
 
Dasonte Bowen recorded a season-high 15 points and dished out a career- and team-best nine assists. Buddy Simmons II added 17 points, while Joe Grahovac pitched in nine points on 4-for-7 shooting.   
 
FIRST HALF:  
Colgate started the contest a perfect 5-for-5 from the field to take a 12-9 lead through 3:35. 
 
St. Bonaventure responded with an 8-0 run behind scores from Charles, Bowen, Simmons II and Mitchell, taking a 17-12 advantage at the 15:06 mark.  
 
The Raiders broke their scoring drought with a layup by Kyle Carlesimo and proceeded to go on an 18-2 surge over the next 6:17 to go up 32-19.  
 
Grahovac and Mitchell ended the push with layups on back-to-back possessions.  
 
Grahovac cut Colgate's edge to nine points with a dunk at 4:45, but the Raiders pushed their lead to 47-34 heading into halftime.  
 
SECOND HALF: 
The Bonnies sparked a comeback to open the second frame, outscoring Colgate 13-4 through the first 5:27 behind two triples from Simmons II, another from Grahovac and a layup by Mitchell. 
 
At 13:47, Charles nailed an and-one floater to cut CU's lead to one, 53-52. Carlesimo answered with a jumper for the Raiders, but Charles converted another bucket the next play to keep margin at one.  
 
Less than two minutes later, Mitchell sunk a hook shot to give the Bonnies their first lead since 17-16.
  
St. Bonaventure and Colgate traded points over the ensuing 2:50, until the Bonnies pulled away to a 75-67 cushion after five straight points from Daniel Egbuniwe.  
 
Bowen extended SBU's lead to 10, 77-67, on a driving layup with 3:29 to go.  
 
With 3:10 on the and St. Bonaventure in the lead by eight points, Mitchell grabbed an offensive rebound on three consecutive SBU misses, leading to a pair of free throws from Bowen to extend the advantage to 10. The herculean rebounding effort allowed the Bonnies to burn 1:16 off the clock, squashing any chance of a Colgate comeback.
 
In the final two minutes, the Raiders trimmed the Bonnies margin to as little as five, but St. Bonaventure shot 6-for-8 from the free throw line in that stretch to seal the victory, 85-77.  
 
"You find out a lot about a player, a person and a team when adversity hits," St. Bonaventure head coach Mark Schmidt said. "If you're a competitor, you get up and fight. I thought we gathered ourselves, we came back in the second half and we played much better."
 
UP NEXT:
St. Bonaventure will head to the Rock & Roll Capital of the world on Saturday (Dec. 13) to face Ohio in the Cleveland Hoops Showdown from Rocket Arena. Tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m. ET, and the game will be streamed live on Passthaballlive.com.
 
NOTES:
·       Mitchell tallied his fifth consecutive double-double of the season. He is the first Bonnie to have five straight double-doubles since fellow Canadian Andrew Nicholson did so in 2010.
·       Averaging 11.3 rebounds per game, Mitchell is on pace for 350 rebounds on the season, which would be the fifth-most in a season in SBU history.
·       Along with a career-high nine assists, Bowen went 7-for-7 from the free throw line. He is shooting 87 percent (20-for-23) from the line this season.
·       The Bonnies recorded a season-best 50 points in the paint.