AMHERST, Mass. – St. Bonaventure enjoyed a bounce back Saturday as the Bonnies men's basketball team led nearly wire-to-wire to finish their Northeast swing with a 73-59 victory at Massachusetts.

Five Bonnies tallied double-figure scoring led by a double-double off the bench by Chance Moore who recorded 15 points and 10 rebounds. He was not in the starting lineup after missing Wednesday's game due to a foot injury but played over 37 minutes of reserve action Saturday.

Lajae Jones (14 points), Melvin Council Jr. (12 points, five rebounds, four assists), Noel Brown (12 points, seven rebounds) and Jonah Hinton (11 points) all added to Bona's balanced scoring effort.

In the first half, the Bonnies (18-9, 6-8 A-10) went against two of their season strengths: few turnovers and even fewer fouls.

Bona committed six turnovers in the first seven minutes and met their season turnover average (11) before halftime.

On the fouls side of things, Bona has rarely found itself in foul trouble by posting the sixth-fewest fouls in the nation yet saw three starters pick up their second whistle before intermission.

As it turned out, those numbers meant little as the Bonnies cruised through the latter stages of the opening period and used a 10-0 run prior to the break to enjoy a 39-26 cushion at halftime.

What helped negate the previous stats was a 54 percent success rate from the floor including 3-of-5 from deep.

During the second half, the Bonnies limited the negatives but continued the positives as they continued to roll.

Within the first three minutes of the half, Bona's lead expanded to 49-32 and the visitors were in complete control for nearly the entire second 20.

The Bonnies built a 20-point lead which would come in handy during a span of four minutes without a field goal.

Despite an 11-1 run, the Minutemen could only get as close as 66-56 during that stretch.

By that time, the Minutemen found themselves needing to foul and free throws from Moore and Jones pushed the Bonnies back ahead by a baker's dozen.

The Bonnies would not sink a field goal in the final eight minutes, but the visitors did not need to as UMass hit just 35 percent of its attempts for the day and went 3-for-17 from distance.

St. Bonaventure led in nearly every statistical category including rebounds (37-31), points off turnovers (23-18), paint points (42-28) and second chance (11-10).

Tarique Foster showed the way offensively with 14 points for UMass (11-15, 6-7).

GAME NOTES

• Moore recorded his fifth double-double of the year and the eighth of his career. He finished the day with 998 career points.
• The Bonnies continued their dominance in the series, now having won 13 of the last 14 games vs. UMass. Saturday's game marked the final contest between the two squads at the Mullins Center as Atlantic 10 foes with the Minutemen moving to the Mid-American Conference next year.
• The three 3-pointers made by UMass represent the fewest by a Bonnies opponent this season.
• Massachusetts native Duane Thompson chipped in four points off the bench.
• SBU committed only four second half turnovers.
• Bona snapped a five-game losing streak on the road with their first road victory since winning at Fordham on Jan. 4.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MARK SCHMIDT
"Coming off a tough loss at Rhode Island, our guys bounced back and it was good to see. We didn't play great, but we found a way to get a victory today."

"Chance got the belt. If we had him against Rhode Island it may have been a different story. That's how we need him to play. He's a guy who needs to get a double-double for us to have success."

"Our offense wasn't great. We got the ball inside. We aren't a great shooting team so we need to get the ball inside. Noel did some good things inside and we got to the foul line. We had 23 points off turnovers and 11 points on second chance; that's how we have to win. We can't win in just the half court; we aren't good enough."

"It wasn't a pretty game in the first few minutes from both sides but we took care of the basketball in the second half and that helped us. We won on the boards. One of the strengths of UMass is their physicality but we were able to outrebound them and that's what you have to do against that team."

UP NEXT
The Bonnies finally enjoy a bye week this week before returning to action next Saturday vs Duquesne. Tip time is slated for 4 p.m. as part of St. Bonaventure Homecoming Weekend.

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