ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. – Freshman Andrew Osasuyi posted eight blocks, the most by a St. Bonaventure player since 2012, as the St. Bonaventure men's basketball team fell to Saint Joseph's, 71-65, Wednesday night (Feb. 18) at the Reilly Center. The Magenta, Italy native added eight points and four rebounds in the loss.
 
Buddy Simmons II scored a team-best 18 points while shooting 7-for-18 (4-for-10 3PT) from the field, while Frank Mitchell tallied a double-double with 12 points and 12 rebounds. Dasonte Bowen reached double figures for the sixth straight game with 13 points.
 
FIRST HALF
Daniel Egbuniwe put up the first points of the contest with a driving layup, and the Bonnies held a 10-7 advantage into the first media timeout at 13:41.  
 
Saint Joseph's took its first lead,13-12, off back-to-back triples out the break. A sequence from Osasuyi that featured a block, hook shot, another block and a putback dunk fueled Bonaventure to later tie the score at 16.  
 
The Hawks then crafted a 10-3 surge to take a 26-19 edge with 3:39 remaining. SBU answered with 10 straight points, seven of them coming from Simmons II, to go up 30-26.  
 
Bonaventure ultimately carried a 30-28 lead into half, limiting SJU to 11-for-37 shooting from the field. Simmons II led the Brown and White with 10 points.  
 
SECOND HALF
Saint Joseph's came out firing, hitting its first five of six shots to reclaim the lead at 40-33. The Bonnies fought back, shrinking its deficit to 45-42 with 11:31 to go after a Simmons II triple set up off an Osasuyi block.  
 
After SJU grew its lead to 53-44, Bonaventure responded with a 14-2 surge to go up 58-55 with 6:09 left. Simmons II drilled two more three-pointers, while Bowen hit one of own, in that span.  
 
The Hawks stormed back to take a 71-62 edge with 34 seconds remaining. Bowen nailed another three-pointer to get the Bonnies within six, but they would not threaten closer, with Saint Joseph's claiming a 71-65 victory.  
 
UP NEXT
The Bonnies take on Richmond Feb. 21 at the Robins Center. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. and the game will be streamed on ESPN+.  
 
NOTES:

• Osasuyi became one of just three St. Bonaventure players to have eight-or-more blocks in a single game. Bonnies legend Andrew Nicholson did so three times and currently holds the program record with a nine-block performance in 2008. Recently inducted Bonnies Hall of Fame member Caswell Cyrus had a career-best eight blocks on Dec. 30, 1998. 
• Osasuyi has three games with five-or-more blocks this season, the most by an SBU player since Osun Osunniyi had four games of five-plus blocks in 2021-22.
• Simmons II has now scored 14-or-more points in nine of St. Bona's 13 conference games.
• Mitchell's double-double was his 14^th of the season, twice as many as the next leading A-10 players (GW's Castro & Fordham's Schulte; 7).
• Mitchell, who leads the conference in rebounding and ranks in the top five in scoring, has now led the Bonnies in assists in each of his last three games.
• Charles has tallied at least nine points in 17 straight games, with five-or-more rebounds in 15 games during that span.