ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – By the time Japhet Medor's heave for the win at the buzzer clanged off the backboard, Bonnies fans could finally exhale as St. Bonaventure held off a second half rally to score an Atlantic 10 win over Fordham, 74-72, Saturday afternoon at the Reilly Center.

The Bonnies never trailed and led by as many as 16, but Fordham chipped away the entire second half to make things far more interesting than most in the sold-out RC would have liked.

Fordham went 5-for-10 from 3-point land in the second half and outscored the Bonnies by nine after intermission despite Bona shooting 58 percent after halftime.

Medor tallied 12 of his 18 points in the second half while Jackie Johnson III recorded 14 of his 20 during the final 20 minutes.

For the Bonnies, their big men dominated the paint enough to thwart Fordham's rally.

Noel Brown matched his career-high with 22 points along with eight rebounds. He was active all day, drawing 12 fouls and went 8-for-12 at the charity stripe. Freshman Xander Wedlow set a new career-best with 10 points, going 5-for-5 from the floor with four boards.

Melvin Council Jr. delivered 13 points and seven assists while Lajae Jones finished with 11 points.

The Bonnies (17-6, 5-5 A-10) controlled from the start, opening the game on a 7-0 run to set the tone.

Later in the half, the Bonnies created separation by embarking on an 18-4 sprint fueled by a quick eight points off the bench from Wedlow.

Bona owned a double-digit advantage for much of the first half and enjoyed a 40-29 lead at the break.

Fordham would begin its task of chipping away from there, however, slowly closing back in during the entirety of the second half.

The Rams (10-12, 2-7) finally evened the tally for the first time since the opening points of the game following a steal and fastbreak by Johnson III for a 68-all deadlock with 2:25 remaining.

Jonah Hinton brought the packed RC crowd back to life on the next possession, though, draining a nothing-but-net deep trey to pull back in front.

Jones followed with a steal on the defensive end, leading to a layup from Chance Moore and a bit of breathing room.

A put-back dunk from Romad Dean with just over four seconds left brought the Rams back within one and, after Jones made the front end of the 1 and 1 but missed the second, Medor's effort at the win came up short.

GAME NOTES

• St. Bonaventure advances to 32-20 all-time against Fordham, winning 20 of the last 25 meetings.
• Brown recorded his 16th game in double figures this season and 23rd of his career. He also posted his third 20-point game of his career, all coming this season.
• The Bonnies never trailed in the game as they owned the lead for 38:09 of game time.
• Council Jr. recorded his eighth game with five or more assists this season.
• Moore finished with nine points and five rebounds.
• St. Bonaventure recorded its 16th game of season out-rebounding an opponent, 30-29.
• The Bonnies tallied double-digit bench points for the 10th time this season. 
• Hinton and Jones played the full 40 minutes. 
• The Bonnies had a season-high 50 points in the paint. 
   

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MARK SCHMIDT
"I thought for the first 15 minutes we played extremely well. We defended, rebounded. We got out on the break. We pushed the ball. We got the ball inside. We were attacking, going downhill. Then they went to the 1-2-2 zone and that stopped us a little bit in the last 4 minutes of the first half."

"You look at the second half and we shoot 58 percent. We shot better in the second half than we did the first, but it was our defense. In the first half 42 percent and in the second they shoot 54 percent and that's the difference. The last 15 minutes of the game we were on our heels and they were attacking us."

"When you have a team down, you have to keep on playing. You can't relax. And give them credit, they're a good team, well-coached. Tray (Woodall) does a good job, and you know, they kept on playing. It's a learning experience. When you have a team down, you can't let them up and we let them up and gave them confidence. They got momentum and it's hard once you give up the momentum to get it back."

"I'm old school. You win the game inside out and Noel has done that, for the most part, all season. Noel will attest, he needs to make those foul shots, but when we need a basket, going inside something good is going to happen. I was really proud of how Xander did. He's getting better. He gave us a lift. He got offensive rebounds. He's got good hands. He has a good feel around the basket. He was a big part of what we did especially in the first half."

UP NEXT
St. Bonaventure heads out on the road to play at Loyola Chicago on Tuesday night. Tip time on CBS Sports Network is slated for 9 p.m. Eastern.

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