PHILADELPHIA – A dominating second half sent Saint Joseph's to a 75-64 victory over the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team Wednesday night at Hagan Arena.

Melvin Council Jr. posted 18 points, eight rebounds and four assists to lead the Bonnies (19-10, 7-9 A-10).

Lajae Jones finished with 14 points, five rebounds and four steals and Noel Brown chipped in 13 points and eight rebounds.

The Bonnies started out hot, opening by hitting 10 of their first 15 field goal attempts for an early 20-12 lead.

Bona and Saint Joe's then exchanged matching 8-0 runs as the Bonnies pulled back out in front, 28-20.

The Hawks took momentum into the half, though, as the Bonnies finished 1-for-7 from the field before intermission while the hosts pulled back to a 35-all tie.

Saint Joseph's (18-10, 9-6 A-10) went on a pair of 10-2 runs as the second half began, pulling ahead by a dozen with eight and a half minutes left.

The Bonnies had 26 points in the paint during the first half, but they could not convert inside on several opportunities after intermission as their paint dominance subsided to just 16 points in the painted area after the break.

Council did his best to keep the Bonnies in the game, doing a bit of everything to help cut the deficit back to single digits as his assist on Jones' 3-pointer with 2:25 to play pulled Bona back within 71-64.

A dunk from Rasheer Fleming on the next Hawks possession effectively ended the rally, however.

Bona went just 10-for-33 from the floor during the second half – and for the game finished 2-of-12 from deep.

Joe's had no such struggles in the second period, shooting 52 percent overall after intermission.

Xzayvier Brown was the player of the game for the Hawks as he tallied a double-double of 22 points and 10 rebounds while Fleming had an impressive night of 19 points and six rebounds, adding three blocks.

Saint Joseph's owned a 41-31 edge on the glass while both teams had tidy turnover numbers – the Bonnies turned it over only five times while the Hawks finished with nine miscues, though they led to 14 points of offense for Bona.

GAME NOTES

• Saint Joseph's snapped a 10-game losing streak vs. the Bonnies dating back to 2018.
• Bona's two 3-pointers represent a season-low. Joe's went 9-30 from distance. The Bonnies entered the day shooting 29.5 percent from distance in road games compared to 36 percent at home this year.
• Chance Moore recorded nine points and Noah Bolanga tallied six off the bench.
• Jones has swiped nine steals in the last two games.
• In a matchup between the two teams with the fewest fouls in the A-10 this season, the Hawks were whistled for just seven fouls (all in the second half) while the Bonnies were above their season average with 15.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MARK SCHMIDT
"They're a really good team. We got off to a good start, our offense was going. We were playing well against their drop defense, against (Justice Ajogbor), Noel was getting some stuff. We were up early, but then they made a run. At halftime, I thought, we'll take that. But we came out in the second half and we missed some easy ones. They started attacking us, got us in the open court and they have really good 1-on-1 players."

"You can't fight on your heels. They got us on our heels. They were going downhill and gave us a hard time. We had some open looks, but we got outscored by 21 from beyond the arc, and that makes it extremely difficult to win anywhere, but especially on the road."

UP NEXT
St. Bonaventure has the weekend off before hosting UMass at the Reilly Center in the second half of a home-and-home series with the Minutemen on Wednesday, March 5. Tip time is slated for 7 p.m. in the Bonnies home finale.