ST. BONAVENTURE (18-9, 6-8 A-10) vs. DUQUESNE (11-15, 6-7 A-10)
Saturday, Feb. 22 - 4:00 p.m.
Reilly Center 
TV: ESPN+
Radio: Bonnies Online Network / 100.1 FM The Hero

OPENING TIP
St. Bonaventure returns from a brief break this week after finally enjoying a bye week to host Duquesne on Homecoming Weekend Saturday inside the Reilly Center. The Bonnies look to maintain momentum gained from a win at UMass last weekend and gain a season split with regional rival Duquesne after dropping a contest in Pittsburgh last month.

HOMECOMING TICKETS
Tickets for this Saturday's game vs. Duquesne are extremely limited. Fans interested in tickets should email the SBU Ticket Office at: tickets@sbu.edu to inquire about availability.

STARTING FIVE

• St. Bonaventure is looking to snap a five-game losing streak vs. Duquesne dating to February 2023. It is the longest winning streak for the Dukes in the series since also winning five in a row from 1985-87.
• Saturday is Senior Day for the Bonnies. The program will honor its three graduating seniors: Noel Brown, Melvin Council Jr. and Chance Moore. Council still has one year of eligibility remaining should he choose to use it.
• Saturday's game is the penultimate home game of the season for the Bonnies. The home baskets have been kind to junior Lajae Jones who is shooting over 53 percent from 3-point land in home games this season (26-49).
• A win on Saturday would give the Bonnies 11 home wins this season. Bona has scored 11 or more wins on home court in each of the last three years and prior to that went 8-1 on home court during the shortened 2020-21 season.
• Chance Moore missed last Wednesday's game at Rhode Island due to a foot injury but returned in the win at UMass and was key with a double-double of 15 points and 10 rebounds. He enters Saturday's game with 998 career points.

BONNIES SENIORS

• Noel Brown is the veteran-most member of the Bonnies roster, suiting up in 128 career games over the past five seasons. He started his collegiate career at George Washington, playing three seasons there. He has shined since transferring to St. Bonaventure prior to last year, doubling his previous career scoring average by posting 6.1 ppg last year. He's doubled that again this year in his first season as a starter, averaging 12.6 points and 5.6 rebounds this year. In 60 career games with the Bonnies, he has recorded a 62 percent field goal percentage which is among the best in recent program history.
• Council is in his first season with the Bonnies after beginning his collegiate career with two seasons at Monroe junior college where he was an NJCAA Division I First Team All-American before moving to Wagner last year where he was First Team All-NEC. He has scored 877 career points in two seasons at the Division I level including as ranking as one of the Atlantic 10's leaders this season in assists and steals while pacing the Bonnies at 14.2 ppg.
• Moore started his Division I career at Arkansas and was a member of an Elite Eight run before transferring to Missouri State where he was named to the Missouri Valley All-Bench Team after scoring 10.6 ppg as a sophomore and 10.7 ppg as a junior. This year, he's averaged over 13 ppg in a career season while pacing the Bonnies on the boards at nearly seven rebounds per game. He will eclipse the 1,000-point scoring total for his college career as he enters this week with 998 career points.

TRENDING NUMBERS
3 – UMass made just three 3-pointers in last Saturday's win (3-17), the fewest of any Bonnies opponent this year.
5 – Chance Moore recorded his fifth double-double of the season in last Saturday's win at UMass (15 points, 10 rebounds).
19 – Miles Rose played in a career-high 19 minutes in the first matchup this season with Duquesne.
46% – The Bonnies are shooting better than 46 percent overall from the floor in 13 home games this season.
91.8% – Melvin Council has played 91.8 percent of possible minutes this season, a total that ranks 11^th in the country.

SERIES HISTORY
This will be the 136th meeting between the longtime A-10 rivals. St. Bonaventure leads the series, 70-65. St. Bonaventure dominated the series for years, winning 21 of 24 matchups from 2012-23, but the Dukes have turned the tables in the last two seasons with five straight wins. Bona's last win in the series came at home Jan. 18, 2023.

The games between the two teams are often tight: 12 of the last 20 meetings have been decided by six or fewer points, including the first two meetings last year.

Duquesne swept the three games the teams played last year, winning by a 54-50 decision in the Steel City last January before scoring a 75-69 victory in the Reilly Center the next month. The squads then met in the Atlantic 10 semifinals where Duquesne captured a 70-60 win on the way to the conference title. The Dukes recorded their first season sweep of the Bonnies since 2009.

In 104 seasons of basketball, the Bonnies have only played Western New York rivals Canisius (172 meetings) and Niagara (162) more than Duquesne.

ABOUT DUQUESNE

• Duquesne entered this week ranked 14^th in the Atlantic 10 in offense at 68.6 ppg and fourth in defense, holding opponents to under 67 points per contest, a mark that also ranks 44^th nationally.
• The Dukes have often spread the wealth, ranking 39^th nationally in bench points at nearly 28 points off the bench per game.
• Junior guard Kareem Rozier ranks fourth in the country in assist-to-turnover ratio (4.09) while handing out 3.6 apg. Senior guard Tre Dinkins, who started his collegiate career at Canisius, is a threat from beyond the arc, ranking eighth in theA-10 with 60 3-pointers on the season entering this week.
• The defending Atlantic 10 tournament champions, Duquesne is in its first season under the leadership of Dru Joyce III who served on the staff of previous head coach Keith Dambrot the past two years. As a player, Joyce handed out 503 assists for Akron as the team's point guard when Dambrot was head coach of the Zips.