DAVIDSON, N.C. – St. Bonaventure finished the regular season on a winning note as the Bonnies scored a road victory at Belk Arena over homestanding Davidson, 64-61, Saturday afternoon.

With the victory, the Bonnies finish the slate with a 21-10 overall record including a mark of 9-9 in Atlantic 10 play.

Graduate captain Noel Brown had an extremely efficient effort of 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting in just 22 minutes of action to power the offense.

Melvin Council Jr. was next in line as he finished with 15 points, eight rebounds and four assists with Jonah Hinton adding 11 points.

After an evenly played first half, Brown took over early in the second period and helped key a 10-point lead, 55-45, with 11:47 remaining.

From there, it was mostly a defensive battle.

The Bonnies led by eight with 4:12 to go following free throws by Brown, but Davidson used the perimeter to pull closer.

Three-pointers from Connor Kochera and Bobby Durkin brought the Wildcats within two and still 1:10 remaining.

Council worked to the line and made the front end of two at the stripe, leaving the door open for Davidson. Durkin's three-point try for the tie went wayward at the buzzer, however, as Lajae Jones pulled down his 12^th rebound to end the contest.

St. Bonaventure shot 43 percent overall but 21 percent from deep while the Wildcats finished at 43 percent and 27 percent respectively. SBU won the battle of the boards, 36-28, and held their turnovers to single digits with just nine.

Kochera paced all scorers with 25 points for Davidson (16-15, 6-12).

GAME NOTES

• Jones' 12 rebounds represent a new Division I career high for the junior. He recorded double-digit rebounds once earlier this year, pulling in 10 boards at Fordham. Six of his rebounds were off the offensive glass.
• Council scored in double figures in every A-10 game this year and in 22 consecutive contests overall.
• Bona scored just their third win all-time at Belk Arena, moving to 3-6 there.
• Chance Moore finished with nine points while Noah Bolanga chipped in seven off the bench.
• The squads shared eight ties and exchanged the lead another eight occasions during Saturday's battle.

QUOTES FROM HEAD COACH MARK SCHMIDT
"We gutted it out. We made that run in the second half and had some opportunities to expand the lead. When we went small with Duane and Lajae at the five, we held in there. That was the difference in the game."

"Noel did a really good job of scoring inside to start the second half. We have to get the ball inside to find success and we did that today. We try to space it out, get it moving and we have guys who that can go off the dribble and attack. We did a good job defending at the end and it's always good to get a victory here where it's difficult to win."

"We competed. We don't have good size with Xander out, but Duane is doing what he can against the bigger guys. We found a way and it was a good victory."

"Momentum is important, but when the ball goes up Thursday against whoever we play it doesn't matter. In tournament play, you have to win that first game. Once you win that first one, you can get it rolling and move on. We had a couple games where we lost buzzer-beaters vs. La Salle and at Rhode Island. In a perfect year you win those games, but we got to 21 wins and we're proud of our guys. Now it's on to the second season."
 
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